MILWAUKEE — Roughly 24 hours after helping to find missing 8-year-old Nante Niemi in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Eli Talsma, a high school student from Niemi's hometown of Hurley, Wisconsin, is sharing his remarkable story.
"We got into the woods at about 11:00 a.m. [Monday]," said Talsma. "We ended up finding him at 12:30. I think he was in such shock of finally being found and just so much relief from being found. He was a little dirty and had a few cuts on his hands, but besides that, if you didn't know he was in the woods for 2 days, you probably wouldn't have known [by looking at him]."
Police said Niemi and his family were camping over the weekend at the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, a 40-minute drive from Hurley, when the boy wandered off Saturday afternoon. A massive search had been underway since Saturday evening and it didn't take long for word to spread Monday that Nante had been found, alive and well.
"He was reunited with his family immediately [Monday] after being found early in the afternoon," said Niemi's principal at Hurley Elementary, Steve Lombardo. "I know he's with his family and they're taking things pretty slow and processing things, but the last information I got has him doing very well, and of course his family is elated that he's back with them."
Watch the full interview above.