At 6 p.m. Diana Moore saw her son James riding bikes with Steven and Chris. Chris was on the back of Steven's bike.
At 6:30 p.m. John Byers arrived back at home after picking up Chris's brother, Ryan. Chris was not there. John, his wife Melissa, and Ryan, Chris's brother, left the house to search for Chris. While they were searching, John told a police officer that Chris was missing. The officer told him to wait until 8 p.m. before filing a report at the police station. John explained that he was worried because Chris had never ran off like this before, but in a later interview, Chris's mother, Melissa, reported that Chris often ran off for hours at a time.
John called in the formal report at 8 p.m. An officer was sent to the Byers' home. Diane Moore spoke with John, saying that she had seen the three boys at 6 p.m. that night. This was the first time that John had been aware that Chris was not alone. Together with Diane Moore, the Byers' returned to the woods to search again for the boys. At some time between 8:30 and 10:30 that night, John went home alone to change.
When he arrived at home around 11, he called the police to request a search and rescue team. The Sheriff told him to call Denver Reed, the leader of the county's search team the following morning. After driving around for a while, he decided to go home. He was met there by Ryan, Melissa, Diane, and Terry Hobbs, Steven's grandfather. They decided to make another attempt at searching the woods in the Rodin Hood Hills area, which is the last known location of the boys. The searching lasted well into the early hours of the next morning.
The next morning began early for John Byers. After waking up at 6:30 a.m. he called Denver Reed for a search and rescue team. He arranged to meet him at 8. The search lasted until 1:45 p.m.
