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Searcher finds missing 9-year-old near Raymond: 'The look on her face was priceless'

RAYMOND, Minn. -- The last light of the day was fading when Daniel Kiecker of Lake Lillian came to the rescue of a 9-year-old girl lost for about two hours Saturday in a corn field north of Raymond.

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RAYMOND, Minn. -- The last light of the day was fading when Daniel Kiecker of Lake Lillian came to the rescue of a 9-year-old girl lost for about two hours Saturday in a corn field north of Raymond.

  “And then when she saw me the look on her face was priceless,’’ said Kiecker Sunday while recounting how he discovered the missing girl near the town about 100 miles west of Minneapolis.

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He was among the volunteers who answered a call to area fire departments to join in a search for the missing girl organized by the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s Department.

She was located about 50 yards into a cornfield at 6:43 p.m. Saturday, according to information from Kandiyohi County Sheriff Dan Hartog.

Her mother had reported her missing at 4:32 p.m. She informed the sheriff’s department that her daughter was autistic and that they had been searching for her for about one half hour.

Sheriff’s deputies responding to the report mobilized a search effort in corn fields near her home, which is north of Raymond and a few miles south of Minnesota Highway 40. Two local pilots volunteered to fly over the field, and the Willmar canine unit joined the search.

Volunteers with fire, ambulance and rescue units in Raymond, Pennock, Prinsburg, Kerkhoven, and Murdock joined officers with the Kandiyohi and Chippewa County sheriff’s departments, Minnesota State Patrol and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

Kiecker, a member of the Lake Lillian fire department, was in Willmar when he heard the call for help on his pager. He told his son they should lend a hand with the search, and that they could pheasant hunt on the way over there.

Searchers were fanning out to check large fields of standing corn near the girl’s home. Kiecker said he decided to check around the buildings of a farm place on the opposite side of the gravel road from the girl’s home.

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Kiecker said he doesn’t know why, but that “something told me to check around this farm place.’’

As he checked around the buildings, Kiecker said he thought he heard a scream. He believed it came from the farm place where the searchers had gathered, and didn’t pay any attention to it. A couple of seconds later, he heard another scream. A little bit later he heard a third scream. It sounded like it came from the corn field near him.

He slowly made his way into the corn and started yelling to the girl. She screamed back. Kiecker called 911 on his phone and continued into the corn. He caught sight of the girl’s red sweatshirt. “We found her just in time before it got too dark. She jumped right into my arms. She was excited,’’ said Kiecker.

A father of four children, Kiecker said he felt pretty good about being able to find the girl.

She appeared scared but had no sign of any physical harm from her ordeal, he said. From what he heard at the scene, she had been playing with other kids outside her home and apparently wandered off.

Only seconds after the young girl flew into his arms, other searchers responding to the information from his 911 call arrived at the site and assisted.

Kiecker said he remains amazed that something told him to check the area north of the gravel road from where the main search was taking place.

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