SC boy missing for 5 days found safe 3 ½ hours away in North Georgia -- but how did he get there?

RABUN COUNTY, Ga. — A South Carolina boy who disappeared nearly a week ago has been found safe.

Aiden Conatser, 15, was last seen on July 12 in Aiken, South Carolina, according to WFXG-TV.

He was found on Monday in Rabun County, but investigators have not released how he got there and why he was there.

“I actually got a phone call this morning that he’d been found, and burst into tears,” Gretchen Iakovidis told WJBF-TV, who is also a friend of the Conaster family.

Iakovidis started a Facebook page to help find Aiden.

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“As soon as I heard word that he was missing, my daughter was like ‘Mom, we’ve gotta go find him,” Iakovidis told WJBF. “So as soon as I found out that Aiden was missing, I was like ‘Oh my gosh, wow, let’s start finding this kid.”

Hundreds of people gathered over the weekend to look for Aiden, but with no luck. Then Monday morning, police got a phone call – Aiden had been found in North Georgia.

Investigators have released few details about his disappearance but told WJBF that the case has turned from a missing person case to a criminal one.

Aiden was taken to an Augusta hospital to be checked out, but according to a news release from the Aiken Department of Public Safety obtained by WFXG, “Aiden appears to be in good health.”

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