Buford, dog who rescued 2-year-old boy lost in Arizona wilderness, showered with gifts
The dog that led a 2-year-old boy to safety after he spent a night alone in the Arizona wilderness last week is being praised for his heroism with an influx of gifts from strangers.
Scotty Dunton, who owns the 6-year-old Anatolian Pyrenees named Buford, said gifts have been arriving at his doorstep since Boden Allen's rescue.
"Toys, chew toys, snacks, you name it, just a little bit of everything," Dunton told NBC affiliate KPNX of Mesa.
Dunton added that he has heard from people all over the world since his dog's rescue mission and that Buford is now an honorary member of the Yavapai County Search and Rescue Team. The team even gave Buford a vest. Boden wandered off from his family's Seligman home on April 14. His father, Cory Allen, said he was working on the roof while his wife, Sarah Allen, tended to their 1-year-old child, KPNX previously reported.
The couple called family members for help searching for the toddler and eventually contacted the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office. More than 40 rescuers and a Department of Public Safety helicopter were brought in to assist in the search effort.
"I didn't even know how to process," Sarah told the news station. "I looked at his empty bed in the middle of the night, and I'm like this isn't real, he's not — how is he not here? How is he out by himself somewhere in the dark?"
Dunton, a local rancher, said that about 16 hours after Boden disappeared, he found the toddler on his property. According to KPNX, Buford, the dog, found the child sleeping under a tree and led him back to Dunton's ranch, which is about 7 miles from the Allens' home.
The rancher previously told the news station that he had traced the child's steps and found that Buford had escorted him for at least a mile.
Cory told the news station that he feels like "God sent that dog to rescue my son."
"It's unreal and it's unbelievable," Sarah added.
On Monday, Boden was reunited with Buford, KPNX reported. Cory said life is back to normal for his family, and Boden is "active" and "exploring all the time."
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
38 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Sen. Cory Booker calls Los Angeles riots 'peaceful,' slams Trump for deploying National Guard
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., suggested the Los Angeles riots that have wreaked havoc on the city are "peaceful" on NBC's "Meet the Press," Sunday, and accused President Donald Trump of "sowing chaos" with his nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration. "The reality is, we see peaceful protests launching in Los Angeles," the New Jersey senator said, "A lot of these peaceful protests are being generated because the president of the United States is sowing chaos and confusion by arresting people who are showing up for their immigration hearings." The City of Angels was plunged into chaos over the weekend after hundreds of rioters violently clashed with federal immigration authorities, attempting to impede their ability to carry out deportations. Federal Officials Slam Democrats For 'Dangerous' Rhetoric As Ice Agents Face Violent Mobs In La, Nyc Federal agents attempted to disperse the belligerent rioters with flash grenades and tear gas on Saturday. In Compton, rioters set a car on fire and two motorcyclists circled the flaming wreck while waving a Mexican flag. Elsewhere, anti-ICE rioters attempted to block a federal bus carrying illegal immigrants, physically pushing against the vehicle as it inched forward. One rioter hurled rocks through the windshield of a Border Patrol pickup truck, wounding the agents inside. Images released by the Department of Homeland Security show buildings throughout LA that have been defaced with graffiti of violent messages like "Kill ICE." Read On The Fox News App "Now they know that they cannot go to anywhere in this country where our people are, and try to kidnap our workers, our people – they cannot do that without an organized and fierce resistance" a rioter told Reuters. Trump deployed 2,000 federalized National Guard troops to the scene against the wishes of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who the president claimed weren't doing their jobs. "If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can't do their jobs, which everyone knows they can't, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!" Trump posted on TruthSocial. Newsom spoke out against Trump's deployment, saying that the president was only sending in the National Guard because he wanted a "spectacle." "The federal government is taking over the California National Guard and deploying 2,000 soldiers in Los Angeles — not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle,' Newsom posted on X. Click Here For More Coverage Of Media And Culture Booker called Trump's response to the LA riots "hypocritical at best" due to his pardoning of the January 6 Capitol rioters. The Garden State senator said that Trump's deployment of the National Guard was a break from tradition and would only "incite" the situation. While Booker called the protests against ICE deportations "peaceful," he also called the attacks on law enforcement "unacceptable." Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth threatened to deploy active-duty Marines to the scene if the violence was not quelled. Hegseth mocked Newsom in a post on X showing a picture of a group of rioters posing in front of a burning car waving a Mexican flag, saying, "Another 'mostly peaceful protest' brought to you by @GavinNewsom. DEPORT."Original article source: Sen. Cory Booker calls Los Angeles riots 'peaceful,' slams Trump for deploying National Guard
Chicago Tribune
a day ago
- Chicago Tribune
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is back in the US, charged with human smuggling as attorneys vow ongoing fight
To hear the Trump administration tell it, Kilmar Abrego Garcia smuggled thousands of people across the country who were living in the U.S. illegally, including members of the violent MS-13 gang, long before his mistaken deportation to El Salvador. In allegations made public nearly three months after his removal, U.S. officials say Abrego Garcia abused the women he transported, while a co-conspirator alleged he participated in a gang-related killing in his native El Salvador. Abrego Garcia's wife and lawyers offer a much different story. They say the now 29-year-old had as a teenager fled local gangs that terrorized his family in El Salvador for a life in Maryland. He found work in construction, got married and was raising three children with disabilities before he was mistakenly deported in March. The fight became a political flashpoint in the administration's stepped-up immigration enforcement. Now it returns to the U.S. court system, where Abrego Garcia appeared Friday after being returned from El Salvador. He faces new charges related to a large human smuggling operation and is in federal custody in Tennessee. Speaking to NBC's Kristen Welken in a phone interview Saturday President Donald Trump said it was not his decision to bring Abrego Garcia back. 'The Department of Justice decided to do it that way, and that's fine,' he said. 'There are two ways you could have done it, and they decided to do it that way.' Trump said it should 'be a very easy case.' In announcing Abrego Garcia's return Attorney General Pam Bondi called him 'a smuggler of humans and children and women' in announcing the unsealing of a grand jury indictment. His lawyers say a jury won't believe the 'preposterous' allegations. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who visited Abrego Garcia in El Salvador, said his return to the U.S. was long overdue. 'As I have repeatedly said, this is not about the man, it's about his constitutional rights – and the rights of all,' the Maryland Democrat said in a statement. 'The Administration will now have to make its case in the court of law, as it should have all along.' Abrego Garcia grew up in El Salvador's capital city, San Salvador, according to court documents filed in U.S. immigration court in 2019. His father was a former police officer. His mother, Cecilia, sold pupusas, flat tortilla pouches that hold steaming blends of cheese, beans or pork. The entire family, including his two sisters and brother, ran the business from home, court records state. 'Everyone in the town knew to get their pupusas from 'Pupuseria Cecilia,'' his lawyers wrote. A local gang, Barrio 18, began extorting the family for 'rent money' and threatened to kill his brother Cesar — or force him into their gang — if they weren't paid, court documents state. The family complied but eventually sent Cesar to the U.S. Barrio 18 similarly targeted Abrego Garcia, court records state. When he was 12, the gang threatened to take him away until his father paid them. The family moved but the gang threatened to rape and kill Abrego Garcia's sisters, court records state. The family closed the business, moved again, and eventually sent Abrego Garcia to the U.S. The family never went to the authorities because of rampant police corruption, according to court filings. The gang continued to harass the family in Guatemala, which borders El Salvador. Abrego Garcia fled to the U.S. illegally around 2011, the year he turned 16, according to documents in his immigration case. He joined Cesar, now a U.S. citizen, in Maryland and found construction work. About five years later, Abrego Garcia met Jennifer Vasquez Sura, a U.S. citizen, the records say. In 2018, after she learned she was pregnant, he moved in with her and her two children. They lived in Prince George's County, just outside Washington. In March 2019, Abrego Garcia went to a Home Depot seeking work as a laborer when he and three other men were detained by local police, court records say. They were suspected of being in MS-13 based on tattoos and clothing. A criminal informant told police that Abrego Garcia was in MS-13, court records state but Prince George's County Police did not charge the men. The department said this year it had no further interactions with Abrego Garcia or 'any new intelligence' on him. Abrego Garcia has denied being in MS-13. Although they did not charge him, local police turned Abrego Garcia over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He told a U.S. immigration judge that he would seek asylum and asked to be released because Vasquez Sura was pregnant, according to his immigration case. The Department of Homeland Security alleged Abrego Garcia was a gang member based on the county police's information, according to the case. The immigration judge kept Abrego Garcia in jail as his case continued, the records show. Abrego Garcia later married Vasquez Sura in a Maryland detention center, according to court filings. She gave birth while he was still in jail. In October 2019, an immigration judge denied Abrego Garcia's asylum request but granted him protection from being deported back to El Salvador because of a 'well-founded fear' of gang persecution, according to his case. He was released; ICE did not appeal. Abrego Garcia checked in with ICE yearly while Homeland Security issued him a work permit, his attorneys said in court filings. He joined a union and was employed full time as a sheet metal apprentice. In 2021, Vasquez Sura filed a temporary protection order against Abrego Garcia, stating he punched, scratched and ripped off her shirt during an argument. The case was dismissed weeks later, according to court records. Vasquez Sura said in a statement, after the document's release by the Trump administration, that the couple had worked things out 'privately as a family, including by going to counseling.' 'After surviving domestic violence in a previous relationship, I acted out of caution after a disagreement with Kilmar,' she stated. She added that 'Kilmar has always been a loving partner and father, and I will continue to stand by him.' In 2022, according to a report released by the Trump administration, Abrego Garcia was stopped by the Tennessee Highway Patrol for speeding. The vehicle had eight other people and no luggage, prompting an officer to suspect him of human trafficking, the report stated. Abrego Garcia said he was driving them from Texas to Maryland for construction work, the report stated. No citations were issued. Abrego Garcia's wife said in a statement in April that he sometimes transported groups of workers between job sites, 'so it's entirely plausible he would have been pulled over while driving with others in the vehicle. He was not charged with any crime or cited for any wrongdoing.' The Tennessee Highway Patrol released video body camera footage this May of the 2022 traffic stop. It shows a calm and friendly exchange between officers and Abrego Garcia as well as the officers discussing among themselves their suspicions of human trafficking before sending him on his way. One of the officers said: 'He's hauling these people for money.' Another said he had $1,400 in an envelope. An attorney for Abrego Garcia, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said in a statement after the release that he saw no evidence of a crime in the footage. Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador in March despite the U.S. immigration judge's order. For nearly three months, his attorneys have fought for his return in a federal court in Maryland. The Trump administration described the mistaken removal as 'an administrative error' but insisted he was in MS-13. His abrupt release from El Salvador closes one chapter and opens another in the months-long standoff. The charges he faces stem from the 2022 vehicle stop in Tennessee but the human smuggling indictment lays out a string of allegations that date back to 2016 but are only being disclosed now. A co-conspirator also alleged that Abrego Garcia participated in the killing of a gang member's mother in El Salvador, prosecutors wrote in papers urging the judge to keep him behind bars while he awaits trial. The indictment does not charge him in connection with that allegation. 'This is what American justice looks like,' Attorney General Pam Bondi said in announcing Abrego Garcia's return and the unsealing of a grand jury indictment. Speaking to NBC's Kristen Welker in a telephone interview President Donald Trump said it was not his decision to bring Abrego Garcia back. Abrego Garcia's attorney disagreed. 'There's no way a jury is going to see the evidence and agree that this sheet metal worker is the leader of an international MS-13 smuggling conspiracy,' attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg said.
Miami Herald
a day ago
- Miami Herald
You Can't Skip the Latest Step in Florida's Driver's License Process
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a new law requiring anyone at least 15 years old to complete a driver's education course to receive a learner's permit. Students had previously faced less stringent mandates by only needing to complete traffic law and substance abuse education classes. Florida's new law, taking effect July 1, also requires teens seeking a license to receive parental approval, complete a Traffic Law and Substance Abuse Education course, and pass a vision and hearing test along with a written driver's exam, according to NBC. Drivers can apply for a license after driving with a permit for one year or when reaching 18, whichever comes first, if they receive no moving violations and log 50 hours of driving experience with an adult 21 or older, 10 hours of which must be at night. Some schools, including Florida Virtual, already offer driver education for permits, but many dialed back the program years ago to save money, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Debbie Adams, Principal of Driver's Education at Florida Virtual School, said: "The legislators really got this right. They really took the time talking with each other and [are] really taking a look at the dangers that we are facing in the state of Florida along our roads," The Mirror US reports. Many Florida high schools offer driver's education, but there isn't enough space for every student. Florida Virtual School offers driver's education for free and is the state's largest driver's education provider, with 55,000 enrolled students, many of whom can't find a spot in their local school. Defensive driving and hazard prevention are among the program's core skills. In May 2024, 205,000 Florida teens aged 15-19 were driving with a learner's permit, according to The Florida Teen Safe Driving Coalition. In 2022, Florida teen drivers were involved in 56,091 crashes, resulting in 345 fatalities and 1,945 serious injuries. Nationally, teen drivers in 2022 were involved in 1,477,694 crashes, resulting in 7,639 deaths and 439,271 serious injuries. The Florida Teen Safe Driving Coalition cites an NHTSA study highlighting how teens are two and a half times more likely to engage in potentially risky behavior when driving with another teenager vs. alone, and this likelihood increases to three times with multiple teen passengers. Seat belts weren't worn in one-third of the fatalities and serious injuries involving these drivers. In 2023, Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) noted a 1.93% decline in 15-19-year-old driver crashes in the state but a 0.92% increase in this age group's traffic fatalities. Incapacitating injuries for 15-19-year-old drivers decreased 8.05%, and other injuries went down 2.92%. While some states, such as Kentucky, have been loosening certain requirements for young drivers, the general trend in recent years has been toward stricter laws. On March 11, a new Kentucky law lowered the state's age to obtain a learner's permit from 16 to 15. Additionally, young Kentucky drivers only need to hold a permit for six months before applying for an intermediate license. However, since February, New Jersey has implemented a 50-hour supervised driving requirement for permit holders until age 21, after previously having no policy. North Carolina is even stricter with a 60-hour supervised driving requirement. Florida's law, which took effect on July 1, is the most recent example of the U.S. states tightening young driver laws. Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
