{"id":23475,"date":"2025-08-14T16:48:43","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T16:48:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=23475"},"modified":"2025-08-14T16:48:43","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T16:48:43","slug":"a-missing-teen-has-been-found-alive-at-the-bottom-of-a-steep-ravine-days-after-vanishing-without-a-trace-rescue-crews-say-its-nothing-short-of-a-miracle-he-survived-but-now-the-figh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new50.info\/?p=23475","title":{"rendered":"A missing teen has been found alive at the bottom of a steep ravine\u2014days after vanishing without a trace. Rescue crews say it\u2019s nothing short of a miracle he survived, but now the fight isn\u2019t over. His mother says he\u2019s clinging to life, hooked up to machines, every breath a battle. What began as a desperate search has turned into a tense wait, with family and friends holding on to hope that he\u2019ll pull through. One wrong step nearly cost him everything\u2014now, every second could decide his future."},"content":{"rendered":"

Dakota \u201cCody\u201d Trenkle Jr.\u2019s mother tells PEOPLE she has \u201cbeen at the hospital, by his bedside\u201d the entire time<\/p>\n

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A 13-year-old boy was found alive at the bottom of a ravine after surviving for days without food or water. Since then, his mom hasn\u2019t left his side as he remains hospitalized in critical condition.<\/p>\n

Dakota \u201cCody\u201d Trenkle Jr. went missing on Sunday, July 27, after he was last seen skateboarding in Goose Creek Lake, the unincorporated community in Missouri about an hour outside of St. Louis, according to the\u00a0St. Francois County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking with PEOPLE, his mother, Stephanie Neely, claims that she contacted police right away, but that detectives thought he was a \u201crunaway\u201d and didn\u2019t immediately launch a search for him.<\/p>\n

Instead, she says her sister, Brittney Van Volkenburg, a volunteer firefighter, was the one to reach out to the fire department and \u201cformulate a search team\u201d for the first two nights. \u201cWe had volunteers bring in their drones, and offers of dogs,\u201d Neely says. \u201cWe never stopped looking for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dakota \u201cCody\u201d Trenkle Jr. and his brothers. courtesy Stephanie Neely<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Things changed on Wednesday, July 30 \u2014 the day Dakota was eventually found \u2014 when his brother discovered his skateboard a half a mile from their home.<\/p>\n

After calling detectives again, the mom says officers requested help from the county\u2019s K-9 unit, but the dogs \u201crefused to enter\u201d the ravine, she says. Fortunately, the Farmington Correctional Center (FCC) K-9 unit was able to deploy their bloodhound named Darrell.<\/p>\n

Once Darrell caught the scent, the dog was able to locate Dakota in 21 minutes.<\/p>\n

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Dakota \u201cCody\u201d Trenkle Jr. courtesy Stephanie Neely<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The teen was found alive at the bottom of the ravine \u201cin approximately one foot of water in a wet weather creek, 540 yards from his skateboard, with a 240-foot elevation change,\u201d local police wrote in their news release.<\/p>\n

The St. Francois County Sheriff\u2019s Office did not immediately respond to PEOPLE\u2019s request for additional comment.<\/p>\n

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Dakota \u201cCody\u201d Trenkle Jr. courtesy Stephanie Neely<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Dakota was then airlifted to a St. Louis hospital, where he was placed in a medically induced coma with a brain bleed, his mom tells PEOPLE.<\/p>\n

Neely says that the shaded area that Cody was lying under helped protect \u201chim from the direct sun.\u201d She also says that because he was found \u201cpartially in the water, it did allow his body temperature to stay cooler, and helped him absorb some of the water to keep him partially hydrated.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dakota \u201cCody\u201d Trenkle Jr. and his brothers. courtesy Stephanie Neely<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

But as she told local NBC affiliate\u00a0KSDK, the water caused him to contract \u201ca lot of infectious bacteria,\u201d which led him to develop pneumonia, and she said that being submerged for so long is why \u201che has such severe wounds on his back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSince then, I have been at the hospital, by his bedside in PICU watching him fight for his life in critical condition,\u201d Neely tells PEOPLE. \u201cThere is no leg injury, but severe head trauma, including several brain bleeds. Right now he is on a lot of mechanical support, and will be for quite some time.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Dakota \u201cCody\u201d Trenkle Jr. courtesy Stephanie Neely<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Neely confirms that as of Wednesday, Aug. 6, Cody is \u201cstill in critical condition\u201d and his \u201ckidneys are starting to weaken.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are actively fighting to try and get him stable, but all the cards are stacking against him,\u201d she says. \u201cHe is still not breathing on his own, and we have found another fracture on his skull, creating a massive soft spot on the right side of his head.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neely has since created a\u00a0Facebook group\u00a0<\/a>to provide updates for the larger community, titled \u201cDakota Strong,\u201d while her sister made a\u00a0GoFundMe<\/a>\u00a0to help with the family\u2019s unexpected medical bills.<\/p>\n

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Dakota \u201cCody\u201d Trenkle Jr. courtesy Stephanie Neely<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cThere is still no real progress in his recovery. This is going to be a long, slow, uphill battle,\u201d she wrote in an update earlier this week. \u201cCody will make some progress for a few hours, but then he will decline rapidly, and it will take his team several hours to get him stable-ish again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, for now, we do our best to keep him as comfortable as possible. and help his body keep fighting,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dakota \u201cCody\u201d Trenkle Jr.\u2019s mother tells PEOPLE she has \u201cbeen at the hospital, by his bedside\u201d the entire time A 13-year-old boy was found alive at the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23476,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nA missing teen has been found alive at the bottom of a steep ravine\u2014days after vanishing without a trace. Rescue crews say it\u2019s nothing short of a miracle he survived, but now the fight isn\u2019t over. His mother says he\u2019s clinging to life, hooked up to machines, every breath a battle. What began as a desperate search has turned into a tense wait, with family and friends holding on to hope that he\u2019ll pull through. 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