About 100 people show up to help find the missing Marina child

MARINA, Calif. (KION) Phillip Saldivar saw post on social media about a missing child in Marina and at first thought, there was nothing he could do to help. He saw lots of people were already volunteering to search. Yet, Saldivar, a father himself, felt compelled to head out the door thinking at the possibility if it was his child missing.

Saldivar says he and a find joined the search for Emery Johnson on Saturday evening. Saldivar remained on the phone with his wife the entire time.

His biggest fear was that the six-year-old child would vanish into the water reservoir.

"I thought of all the possibilities that can happen, the good and the bad, you just want to be out there helping," said Saldivar.

He was one of about 100 people who thought the exact same thing and drove out to the area of Windy Hill Park, where the child was last seen.

Saldivar said he drove down an access road by the airport and around strawberry fields.

In the darkness, he says he spotted her. He described the child as looking cold yet not "terrified."

"I just stopped my car, hung up with my wife and she (Emery) just ran up to my passenger window and began tapping on my window. I was just hesitant at first to react. I called 911 and she walked around to my driver side door," said Saldivar.

The dispatcher heard the child respond to her name, even though she is non-verbal, it was clear that she was responding.

Both Saldivar and the dispatcher expressed relief he said.

Marina police confirmed a good samaritan found the child and said they received an overwhelming response from people all over the area.