BROWN CO. – A Brown County Sheriff’s Department police dog, Knox, was credited with locating two missing 11-year-olds who became lost in the thick woods of the Hoosier National Forest on Sunday afternoon.
The search began around 5:48 p.m. Sunday after rescue workers were called to the Sundance Lake area. The two children had separated from their mother and quickly lost their bearings in the dense terrain.
Deputy Cody Loncaric and his canine partner, Knox, immediately began tracking the children. In what marked Knox’s first-ever successful track in the field, the police dog led rescue workers across approximately 550 yards, pointing them in the correct direction to locate the missing kids.
The coordinated search effort involved multiple local agencies, including conservation officers from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, the Nashville Police Department, and personnel from the Harrison Township and Southern Brown County Volunteer Fire Departments.
Knox, a former stray puppy who lived in a parking lot and survived on chicken nuggets thrown from car windows. He was living in a field near a Shelbyville truck stop. The dog was reportedly seen catching chicken nuggets tossed his way by truck drivers. Knox was rescued in 2024 by the nonprofit group Redemption Ranch K9. The group’s founder, Officer Rob Prichard, said Knox’s story holds a valuable lesson: Knox is living proof that second chances save lives.
