Motherly instincts prompted Rutherford County Sheriff's Deputy Denise Smith to volunteer with other co-workers to search for missing 2-year-old Noah Chamberlin last Tuesday in Chester County.

"Being a Mom and knowing my child is safe and knowing a little boy out there is lost, it's just sad," Smith said Monday. "I would hate to know that my child was out there all alone and cold."

Noah was found Thursday about 1.5 miles from his home after he disappeared seven days earlier. Hundreds of searches tried to locate him.

Smith joined fellow Deputies Lindsay Hales and Greg Tollison and his fiancée, Krista Adrichem, a Sheriff's Citizens Academy alumni in the four-hour search with the Jackson County Fire Department. They prepared for the cold temperatures by buying gloves, blankets and water. They traveled through dense woods and through creeks searching for Noah.

Tollison, who was a Madison County Sheriff's deputy for 15 years, wanted to join his former co-workers searching for Noah. He enlisted the three women to help.

Sheriff Robert Arnold said he was proud the deputies and alumni member volunteered to help on their off-duty day.

"They are among many Sheriff's Office employees who volunteer when needed," Sheriff Arnold said.

Adrichem said they were assigned with a team of other law enforcement officers and taken to an area that had been previously mapped out. The area was directly behind the house where Noah went missing had been previously searched. They were asked to check the area for missed clues and focus on where the search dogs had indicated a hit.

The team had about 11 members and searched along several creeks in a low wooded area surrounded by hills and ditches.

"We noticed that all the people there were very united and determined to find Noah," Adrichem said. "Some people in our team had been searching for days already and we wished we could have stayed longer and done more to help."

Hales said she wanted to help and an opportunity presented itself when Tollison said he was going to go out there.

"It was just something I wanted to do," Hales said. "I wanted to help. There really isn't any other reason than that. I wish I could have stayed longer to help like some of the other people there."

They later learned Noah died.

"We were all really devastated when he was found dead," Smith said. "It was sad."