Kidnapped Boy Found Alone, His Head Shaved

3-year-old Briant Rodriguez had a mop of curly brown hair before he was kidnapped at gunpoint from his family's home – when he returned to his mother his head was shaved.

Still, investigators say Briant seems healthy.

"A 3-year-old goes missing in this country for 2 weeks, sometimes it has an unhappy ending.  This one didn't," San Bernardino Sheriff Rod Hoops said. "We're very happy he's alive."

Briant is back is back at his San Bernardino home after being found in the Mexican border town of Mexicali.

Sheriff's Lt. Rick Ells said a municipal police officer in Mexicali found the boy wandering the streets by himself late Thursday.

The officer initially thought the child was from the neighborhood and took him to several houses seeking his family before leaving him in child protective custody, Ells said.

Hoops did not know how long Briant had been left alone in Mexicali, but said he appeared unharmed and was in good spirits. His long curly locks had been shaved off.

After an agonizing separation, mother and son were reunited in the US city of Calexico.

“As you would expect it was emotional -- tears even came to Briant’s eyes and it was a beautiful thing,” Sgt. Doug Hubbard said.

Hoops said authorities believed they were closing in on at least two men suspected in the abduction when the boy was found.

"We identified some suspects," he said. "I can't specifically say if the suspects let him go or if he wandered away, but I have to think the suspects let him go."

Millan said the two men who burst into her modest, single-story home about 60 miles east of Los Angeles tied up the family and stole money and other property before leaving with her youngest child.

Briant is back home after physical and emotional evaluations at a hospital. Officials say he’s fatigued but otherwise in good physical condition.