If ever there was a celebration, there was one Sunday night when a group of officers and fire fighters finally found the man missing in the woods south of Grantsburg for exactly a week.

There were happy faces, handshakes and hugs all around as the news quickly seeped into the Trade Lake Camp that had become search headquarters.

Finding an autistic man who had been lost in the woods without food, water or his medications was amazing enough, but finding him alive was not only a happy conclusion, but a celebration.

"We were at the end. We had come up with absolutely no leads in one week's time and we had the state patrol officers stopping every car, north and south and we were trying to find more leads," said Burnett County Sheriff Dean Roland.

"We were trying everything we possibly could. I told those guys when they went into the woods, don't come out until you find him. They made their pass, it took them almost three hours and they didn't find him and (Chief Deputy) Don Taylor said, "I'm not done yet, we're going back in."

According to Sheriff Roland, Taylor said to officers, "Anyone who wants to come, come," and a group followed.

"Then they found him," said the sheriff.

"I know Don (Taylor) said, 'I'm not done, we've got daylight and I'm going back in,'" said Sheriff Roland.

The sheriff made it known a day earlier that Sunday would be the last day of the organized search.

They started a week ago and while he hated to quit, without leads, it seemed hopeless.

So Taylor's search group was making probably the last search before they shut down the operation.

"It was the firemen, the volunteers, the staff, the cooks, it was everything and I'm glad we kept going and we have him," said the sheriff.

According to the sheriff, Keith Kennedy was found, "In the open, about a half to three quarters of a mile from here." He reported Kennedy was dehydrated, but awake, alert and, "For the week he spent, not bad, not bad at all."

The helicopter was called the moment word came he was found.

"We wanted to stabilize him and get him to the University of Minnesota Transplant team. That was the plan all along. I just decided if we had a place for a helicopter we'd cut out the middle man and load him up and send him to the transplant team," the sheriff said.

What followed, said the sheriff, "Was such a cheer. It was absolutely wonderful."

What made it so amazing was the way officers found him the fourth time they went through the area — and at the very last minute.

Sheriff Roland said 70 officers (including DNR wardens and firefighters) were on the final search for Kennedy.

"We wanted people who could gather evidence and we were making one last ditch effort," he said.

"We wanted a reason to keep going," he said.

The sheriff paused with a tear trickling down his face and said, "This is one of the happiest days of my career."