Sheriff: "There is not a greater feeling in the world." - WAFF-TV: News, Weather and Sports for Huntsville, AL

An empty 18-wheeler was the final scene in a dramatic operation Tuesday morning where a missing 2-year-old was found safe and his father arrested.

A clearly emotional Clarendon County Sheriff Randy Garrett described the moment when officials finally located the 2-year-old.

"I could stand up here all day and tell you what this feels like, but until Donny Drose put that 2-year-old boy in my pick-up truck and we got him to the hospital, there is not a greater feeling in the world," Garrett said.

According to Garrett, the boy, Brandon Lee Dubose, ll. was abducted by his father, 32-year-old Brandon Dubose, at a gas station on Raccoon Road and Highway 261 West around 1:30 p.m.

Garrett says Dubose's common-law wife, her daughter, and the 2-year-old were filling up their car with gas when Dubose showed up and grabbed the toddler.

The boy's 11-year-old sister tried in vain to stop Dubose in the abduction, according to the sheriff, but Dubose tripped her and he managed to get away.

The incident was just the latest in the rocky relationship between Dubose and the child's mother.

Eleven days earlier, Dubose had been released on bond for a criminal domestic violence charge and began to harass the mother through text messages saying that he would harm his son.

The search began immediately for the the child and his father, who was said to be armed and dangerous.

A short time later, a deputy spotted Dubose's vehicle and initiated a traffic stop. According to the deputy, he could hear the child screaming when he approached the vehicle.

Dubose then yelled at the officer that he "was not going back to jail" and took off once again.

A pursuit ensued into Sumter County, where Dubose turned into a cornfield and exited the vehicle with the child.

Deputies thought they eventually cornered Dubose in a swamp on Sammy Swamp Road, but he was not there.

Instead, a tip about a missing ATV helped deputies get pointed in the right direction. Garrett says law enforcement officials received a tip from a local farmer that an ATV was stolen, and the track lead them to the ATV and the 18-wheeler. That prompted investigators to search the tractor trailer.

There, in the truck's cab, was Dubose and his son.

"I was at the back of my pick-up truck and I could hear the agent shouting, 'Let me see your hands!'" Garrett said.

Agents took the boy from Dubose's arms then handed him off to safety. Garrett watched and then had a moment at the back of his truck.

"I thank God for answering my prayers, that's what I did," Garrett said, "and everybody else's."

A deputy then loaded the child into Garrett's truck for a ride to the hospital.

"He never said a word," Garrett said of the child. "We talked to him -- Donnie and I did -- told him how happy we were to see him, was he okay and all that. He just looked at us and, you know, you could tell he just didn't know what all this was about and what was going on. I just know that was a beautiful ride to Manning. That's all I can tell you."

Garrett says the boy is doing fine, but he did have some minor cuts, scrapes, and bruises. The boy is now at home with his mother.

As for Dubose, Garrett says he would at least be charged with assault and failure to stop for blue lights, but also said he would "charge him with everything he can."

"That kind of man don't need to be walking the streets with us," Garrett said.

Dubose now sits in a Clarendon County jail cell where investigators are questioning him about the incident.

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