Jeffrey Crocker family 'through the moon' after missing nephew found safe

The family of a St. John's man, found safe Monday after being missing for three nights, feel like they have hit the jackpot.

"Winning the lottery wouldn't be as good," said Tom Crocker after his nephew Jeffrey Crocker walked out of a wooded area near a pumphouse on Bay Bulls Road around 10:15 a.m.

"All you could hear was cheering and all you could see was tears," Crocker told CBCTelevision's Here & Now.

He and his wife are "through the moon," he said.

According to Crocker, his nephew was tired and dehydrated but appeared to be fine. He asked for a cheeseburger and a Sprite.

About 70 searchers over the weekend

Jeffrey Crocker, 34, is on the autism spectrum, and was with a caregiver when he wandered away around 4 p.m. Friday, his uncle said.

Over the weekend, about 70 volunteers, police officers and Rovers Ground Search and Rescue scoured the area where they believed Crocker could have been.

A helicopter was dispatched from Gander, and search crews also had a drone out looking for the missing man.

Crocker lost his father in a house fire in Burnt Cove in March. Months prior, he lost his mother to cancer. Since the death of his father,he's been living with his brother in theGoulds.

Posters asking for help were displayed throughout the area, with people being asked to check their properties under their sheds, decks, etc. for any sign of the missing man.

"A happy ending," tweeted the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Monday, after reported that Crocker was safe.

"He was guided by two angels up there. I'm pretty sure it was his mom and dad protecting him," said his uncle, who was waiting to hug Jeffrey after a hospital checkup.

The area where Crocker was located is near a construction site, where work resumed after the weekend.

"He was coming up from the treeline, where there was a dumpster, and one of the workers spotted him," said Tom Crocker, who said he believes a city councillor who was passing by in his truck asked the office to call 911.

"He had to be tucked away in the woods down there."

Crocker said he worriedat times the search would end badly.

"I was wrong, and I'm so happy I was wrong."

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