Missing 3-year-old Grimes County boy has been gone for 3 days with no clear trace to follow

GRIMES COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- As the sun sets on the third day of search and rescue efforts for a 3-year-old in Grimes County, there are still no indications on the child's whereabouts.

According to officials, the young boy was last seen following a family dog into the woods near his home Wednesday afternoon.

Throughout the day Friday, search crews continued their efforts for Christopher Ramirez near Plantersville, while investigators continued to look at every possibility surrounding his disappearance.

Information even led officials to a part of the Mexico border in Brewster County where another child with the same name and age crossed with two adults. After questioning, it was determined that little boy was not the Christopher they were looking for.

Grimes County Sheriff Don Sowell also said all of Christopher's immediate and extended family have been ruled out of potentially being persons of interest.

"We're doing everything we can with all our partners to check out every remote lead we have, which is very few," Sowell said.

Authorities also said they're checking Christopher's stepdad's employment log to ensure he was at work at the time of the boy's disappearance.

Hundreds of officials, from the local to state level, gather at the command post each day as the search continues.

On Thursday night, they finished a fifth round of coordinated searches in the wooded area, including the use of canines around the perimeter of the area where Ramirez was last seen.

Crews also searched vehicles in the neighborhood after it was learned the boy was known to hide in cars, according to authorities on the scene.

While the search drags on, Sowell said it remains a rescue effort.

On Thursday, his mom pleaded with the public to help find him and bring him home. She said she believes someone has her son. But it's something Sowell said they have no facts of.

"She had emotions running rampant and she felt that way but we have no facts, no clues, or no evidence of that being true," Sowell said Thursday.

Tim Miller, founder and director of Texas EquuSearch, added that they have no evidence of foul play in Christopher's disappearance, but they are holding on to hope to find him.

"We know where he's not. We're holding to hope that we're going to get him back," Miller said. "The one fact is that he's missing. We really don't know what happened. There's a lot of speculation. We don't have anything. We'll be here until we find him or until we run out of every resource possible."

During the search, authorities said they searched three bodies of water and drained one pond that was a concern and found he was not in there.

"He's not in the lake. That's good news." Sowell said. "This is still a rescue. It is not a recovery. We are still looking for that young man."

According to deputies, the family had returned from grocery shopping on Wednesday to the area at FM-1774 near Foxfire Road in Grimes County, just past the Renaissance festival grounds when Ramirez was seen playing with a family dog. It's believed he followed the pet into the woods around 2 p.m. Wednesday.

The dog returned, but the toddler did not.

He was last seen wearing a lime green shirt and Mickey Mouse shoes.

Sowell said they had divers search a specific pond Wednesday where the dog is known to go.

At one point, search crews said the dogs had his scent, but lost it. The search is located in a very thick, wooded area, making it difficult.

"We have an enormous amount of volunteers from different agencies, the search team, civilians, citizens," Sheriff Don Sowell said. "We'll stay here until we find him."

Multiple agencies have been in the area since Wednesday, including the FBI, the Grimes County Sheriff's Office, the Texas Department of Public Safety, Texas Parks and Wildlife game wardens, a number of fire departments from as far away as Bryan/College Station, search dogs from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and volunteers.

The forest is so thick, crews say it's impossible to search by ATVs, and there is a heavy canopy, so it's hard to see the ground from above.