Missing boy found safe; man dies in extreme cold

A 2-year-old boy who wandered out of his Kingston home yesterday into the bitter morning cold in bare feet and wearing only a light jacket was flown to Boston Medical Center and is expected to fully recover, police officials said.

He was believed to be outside for 30 to 40 minutes.

The boy, whose name was not released by police, slipped through a sliding glass door at his home about 10:45 a.m. and into the 17-degree weather, which had walloped the region with wind chills that made the air feel like 2 degrees below zero.

He had wandered out with his dog, a yellow Labrador retriever, police said in a statement. After they were alerted, police sent an electronic phone message to dozens of neighbors, alerting them about the missing child, said Susan Macy, a Kingston dispatcher. Several joined in the search.

As several troopers and local authorities searched for the boy, his father found the dog, which led him to his son. The boy, who was alert and conscious, according to the police report, was lying on the ground in a fetal position.

Karen, a neighbor, said she received an automated emergency call about 11:10 a.m., informing her that a child was missing and describing his clothing, name, and his age, and asking neighbors to check their yards.

After getting the call, she said she searched her backyard. which abuts that of the missing child's family. "I was only out there for 20 minutes, but I was freezing, and I was all bundled up," she said.

Meanwhile, Boston officials are looking for relatives of one homeless man whose lifeless body was found wrapped in blankets Sunday on a basketball court near Chinatown. Officials also said that three homeless people were being treated for hypothermia.

"I've known this man for 15 years," said Jim Greene, Boston's Emergency Shelter commissioner. "We tried many, many times to help him and keep helping him. And he was someone who was, in his own way, very appreciative and who really struggled."

Because the man was found in the frigid cold, it may take days for the state medical examiner to determine how he died, Greene said. "Although we don't know what happened, anyone can be vulnerable in this kind of deep, deep cold."

Temperatures are not expected to be as bitterly cold today, said Frank Nocera, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton, who predicted highs of 25 degrees.

Still, Greene said, agencies will redouble their efforts by sending more vans to patrol the streets.

"The three who came in pulled through," he said of the hypothermia patients who sought treatment at the Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program. "But it's a bit of a heart-breaker that one person didn't."

David Abel of the Globe staff and Globe correspondent Michael Naughton contributed to this report.