missing Tennessee boy found alive hidden in family attic after 8-hour search

Tyler Hall’s disappearance turned into a frantic eight-hour search, and it ended in the most unsettling place possible: the attic of his own home. Clarksville police said the 3-year-old was found alive Tuesday evening in the Woodlawn Estates area near Aurelia Lynn Drive, where a Tennessee AMBER Alert had been triggered after he was reported missing around 11:30 a.m.

The search quickly pulled in a wide net of help. Clarksville Police worked alongside the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Fort Campbell CID, Clarksville Fire Rescue and several emergency management agencies, with K-9 teams and drone teams joining the effort. Crews searched wooded areas, went door to door, reviewed surveillance video and coordinated from Life Church of Clarksville as the hours passed. The AMBER Alert system, created in 1996 in Dallas-Fort Worth as a legacy to Amber Hagerman, is reserved for the most serious child-abduction cases, and federal records show it has helped recover 1,312 children as of December 31, 2025.

Tyler’s former daycare teacher, Kelsey Haley, said he was a kind, affectionate child who loved comforting other people, and she joined the search after hearing he was missing. Police said responders searched the residence several times on Tuesday before Sergeant Fatula and Detective D. Smith made another detailed sweep that finally led them to the attic. The space was not a standard walk-in attic, police said, but a confined, dark area reached by an attached wall ladder and packed with electrical wiring, ductwork and thick blown insulation. Tyler was found in the farthest section from the entrance, lying between rafters and concealed behind additional ductwork. Officers repeatedly called out for him during the searches, though it remains unclear why he did not respond.

After he was located, Montgomery County EMS evaluated Tyler and took him to Vanderbilt Clarksville as a precaution. He was released around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday and was reported to be doing well. Clarksville Police Chief Ty Burdine said he was moved by the response from citizens and first responders, and the department thanked state and federal partners, dispatchers, volunteers and local businesses that provided food and drinks to crews. By Tuesday evening, the child who had vanished from Woodlawn Estates had been found alive in the very home that had already been searched, and the attic had finally given up its secret.