Editor’s note: Please see “Sheriff’s department finds body believed to be missing boy” for the latest in this investigation.

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office is searching for a 3-year-old boy who has been missing since Thursday night, July 6, from the southeast part of the county.

Israel Powell went missing last night from the 5100 block of Laurel Springs Drive. 

The child is Black, 2’2” and 35 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a black shirt and multicolored socks. 

John Morris, spokesman with the sheriff’s office, said a neighbor spotted Powell and his 4-year-old sister at about 1 a.m. Friday morning around a nearby lake, called Jamieson Lake, in the Laurel Tree subdivision.

His sister was found and taken to the hospital in non-critical condition.

Deputies, search and rescue units, SWAT units and K-9 dog sniffing units are canvassing the area, Morris said.

“I hope everybody will keep this boy in your thoughts and prayers,” he said.

Morris said it was not clear who was in the house at the time of the disappearance. The children’s mother reported them missing around 5 a.m.

At noon, law enforcement officers were still combing the subdivision and the small lake.

Much of the subdivision is blocked off to the public.

Anyone who has information about his whereabouts is encouraged to call law enforcement immediately.