It's not the first time Nicolas Briggs has pulled his disappearing act.
"He's a little Houdini," his mother Christina Adkins said of her tall, skinny three-year-old.
He's known for walking away without notice from family garage sales and wandering off at other times.
But on Sunday, he was really lost. The best efforts of his mother, his sister, his grandmother and his neighbors could not find him. He also had the Sacramento police scratching their heads in wondering where in the world was Nicolas.
In the end, it was a determined group of officers and one strong cop who found the little boy. But, along the way, Nicolas' mother sobbed and fretted as she searched the streets of South Natomas.
It began about 3 p.m. when Adkins and daughter Samantha, 9, were clipping coupons from The Bee at the kitchen table. Nicolas was watching the Wow Wow Wubbzy cartoon in living room.
After a while, Grandmother Linda Adkins, wondered where the little boy had gone. He was not in front of the television. That set off an hour-long search of the house, the backyard, the neighborhood.
Neighbors joined in. The house was searched multiple times.
"Everybody was looking for him," she said.
After an hour, Christina Adkins was desperate. It was time to call in the police.
Officers arrived within five minutes. They conducted their own search, combing the house on Brookstone Way several times.
Officers also went door-to-door. They looked in the cupboards. In the closets and under the couch.
"The fifth time they searched my room one of the policemen decided to lift up my bed," she said. "My gosh, I could not believe the strength of this gentleman. He picked up the bed with one arm, lifting it straight up."
Resting in the liner at the bottom of the box springs, as if the cotton material was his own hammock, was 42-pound Nicolas. He had apparently climbed through a hole in the liner and decided to take a nap.
"With his free hand the officer pulled Nicolas' leg out and said: 'Nicolas. Get out of there you little guy,'" Adkins said. "He suggested we put a GPS on Nicolas."
She thinks her son followed the family cat into the box springs. A little Tylenol given earlier in the day for a bump might have caused him to sleep so soundly that searchers'cries didn't awaken him.
"Oh my goodness, I was so happy," said Adkins. "He just wanted to go back to sleep. He said later he was sorry. I told him it was not his fault."
She plans a barbecue for the neighbors. And she is very appreciative of officers.
"We are just thankful to have found the child," said police spokeswoman Officer Michele Gigante.
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