All too often, by the time police are called to search for a missing child, it's too late. But recently a happy ending occurred in Des Moines.

In fact, several police officers, who were in the right place at the right time, recently found a missing 3-year-old boy before anyone noticed he was missing.

According to Des Moines Police Officer Stiger, the officers were wrapping up a mid-afternoon call to an apartment complex parking lot when they heard a muffled voice calling for help.

"It sounded like a small child's voice," Stiger said.

The officers quickly determined the voice was coming from the locked trunk of a car parked nearby.

"We saw that the car was unlocked so we reached inside, opened the trunk release, and out popped this little 3-year-old boy," he continued.

An older child playing in another area of the parking lot identified the boy as his brother, and helped officers find their mother.

Stiger said the young boy, who was unsupervised, apparently climbed into the trunk and pulled the lid closed.

The case was referred to state Child Protective Services, which "got involved because of a lack of supervision," he added.