A 12-year-old boy from Wildwood was reported missing on Tuesday evening, and a St. Louis County Police helicopter crew went searching for him by 11:30 p.m. for approximately 2 hours.

Capt. Kenneth Williams, commander of the St. Louis County Police Department-Wildwood (6th) Precinct confirmed the Wildwood boy rode away from his home on his bicycle at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. Williams said the boy's parents went looking for the boy when he didn't return on time, but alerted police at 9 p.m. when they could not locate him.

Williams said the boy's parents contacted the boy's friends, which turned up no leads on his whereabouts, but later discovered he had sneaked into the home of one of them without that set of parents realizing it.

The unidentified youth was returned safely to his family.