The perfect hiding place should have everything a person would need. For a 14-year-old boy in Corsicana, Texas, that's the local Wal-Mart.
When Wal-Mart employees found the boy, he had already built for himself two forts: one was along the baby products aisle behind boxes of strollers while the other was behind stacks of toilet paper and paper towels. Customers didn't notice these hidden compounds although the particular Wal-mart branch was a 24-hour supermarket.
To survive, the boy stole food and drink inside the store. He even took a fish from the pet department so he would have company during his stay. For fear of being spotted, he also frequently changed clothes, even wearing diapers so he wouldn't have to go to the bathroom and arouse suspicion. However, he did so by being careless with his trash. It was trash that piqued the curiosity of Wal-Mart employees, prompting them to follow a trail which led them to one of the boy's hideouts.
Police were called in and authorities released the boy to his relatives. According to reports, the boy had run away from his aunt's house where he was staying. The boy's parents were out of town but when the police got in touch with them they said their son had a history of running away. This isn't the first time that the boy hid in a business establishment, but he can now add Wal-Mart to his list of hideouts, alongside abandoned houses and creeks.
It doesn't look like Wal-Mart will be pressing charges, but Wal-Mart spokesman Brian Nick said that the situation is sad and that the company is still going over the details of the incident. "As soon as our manager learned that the child was hiding in our store we contacted authorities for help. We hope the child is safe," he adds.
Child Protection Services is also looking into what happened, but was not contacted when the police found the boy. According to the police, they were not notified because it was not standard procedure. The only time that Child Protection Services should be called in is when there is indication of possible neglect and abuse or when a juvenile has been living in a dangerous environment. Since there were no signs of such when the boy was found, the police saw it fit to release the boy to his family without trouble.
