The Josh Innes Show - An Incredible Rescue Story

Episode Date: February 3, 2026

This episode started with me reading a story about a Ring Doorbell Super Bowl Commercial. I'll eventually get to that. But, there was a missing child in my area and the story of how he was found was actually pretty remarkable. I'd say it was damn near a miracle. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, so I might be making a mistake here, but Ring Doorbell has a Super Bowl commercial. And this Super Bowl commercial, apparently, centers around finding a lost dog. Ring will air its first Super Bowl commercial this Sunday during Super Bowl 60, using the national broadcast to highlight its search party feature designed to help locate lost dogs. The 32nd ad shows the story of a young girl and her puppy Milo. who goes missing and is later found with the help of the feature. Search party is now available to all pet owners, including those who don't own ring cameras through the ring neighbors.

That's fucking phenomenal. That is awesome. I tell you, man, that's cool shit. You know? The search party feature allows users to post photos of missing dogs, which participating outdoor ring cameras in the area, then scan using AI-powered computer vision to identify potential matches. If a possible match is detected, the camera owner can review the footage and choose whether to share it with the pet's family, the commercial ends with Milo being identified on a neighbor's camera and safely reunited with his owner.

That sounds like something that's going to make me fucking cry, and I'm going to make the mistake of watching this damn video. Just the idea of it. I mean, I'm getting emotional thinking of it. Like, I really am a monster of a person, and I don't like the way that I am. Like, I don't like that I'm this kind of surly, curmudgety, angry. constantly mad at the world guy because I wasn't always like that but I am now and actually somebody that I work with said something that like I think he was half joking but it actually kind of hurt my feelings and not hurt my feelings like when I say hurt my feelings I mean it kind of makes you

realize like what people actually think of you and maybe you need to change your ways and it's not that you are the way you are on purpose it just sort of happens but actually first of all let me play couple commercials and I'll continue. Boarding for flight 246 to Toronto is delayed 50 minutes. Ugh, what? Sounds like Ojo time. Play Ojo? Great idea. Feel the fun with all the latest slots in live casino games and with no wagering requirements.

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The score bet. Trusted sports content, seamless sports betting. Download today. 19 plus, Ontario only. If you have questions or concerns about your gambling or the gambling, gambling of someone close to you. Please go to conicsontario.ca. So I was sitting in the other studio with the morning show on the top 40 station and I really like the morning guy Mojo. He's been around a long time and he's good at what he does and he's successful. And I like the people on the show with him.

And he's been very nice to me and offered me advice. And some of the advice he's offered me is like, just like you can't keep walking around telling people you suck all the time and that your ratings suck all the time because it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. And I'm the king of self-fulfilling prophecies. Everybody that's ever listened to me knows that. When I was in St. Louis, I constantly said that the show wasn't doing well and then eventually I was going to get fired. And then after 15 months, I got fired. I am a great self-fulfilling prophecy.

And I wish I wasn't that way, but I am. That's just who I am. And I'm sitting there and we're joking around and I have this giant box of sex toys like dildos and fake vaginas and shit that were given away on the air for Valentine's Day. And at one point we're kind of riffing and he goes, I'm not going to lie, Josh, you come in here and you put me in a bad mood all the time. Like you just put me in a bad mood. Like your negativity puts me in a bad mood. And like I really kind of felt like shit.

And I don't want to be that kind of person. It's just how I am. Like I don't want to be someone who puts people in a bad mood. And I don't want to be someone that people don't want to be around. But like for whatever reason, I just can't get out of it. Like I'm just, I think the weather plays a. factor. Not to make excuses, but I think the weather plays a factor. I think when I come in here every day and I feel like nobody's listening to the radio show, that plays a factor. And like,

I just constantly operate in this curmudgety mood. And last week, he and I were talking and he goes, just stop being negative because people are going to start to believe it. And he shared a story about how, like, he knew somebody that just constantly walked around and said this shit all the time, like, hey, I have no ratings. Hey, I have all these issues. And eventually, salespeople who are the lifeblood of the company that need to sell the show are kind of like, I can't go on and sell this guy. Apparently, he has no ratings. You know, like, and I get it.

And I'm listening to him, tell me this story. And I'm like, fuck, Josh, what a dope. But anyway, I bring all that up to tell you this. For as horrible as I am, I am a very emotional person when it comes to certain things. And animals are one of those things. Like I just, like, for whatever reason, dogs particularly, I don't really like cats, cats are assholes, you get that. But like dogs, anything involving dogs gets me kind of emotional. So I feel like if I watch this ring doorbell commercial, I'm probably just going to sob while I

watch it. But I'm going to make the mistake of doing this. Now, another thing, this is not dogs, but like things that make me emotional. So the other night, it was Sunday night and there was a, there was an Amber Alert, like a missing child message that kept coming to our phone. It was a big story. There was a missing kid, six years old, nonverbal autistic and was missing. It's cold. It's like five degrees. And he just went missing from the neighborhood. And he was outside for a second. They left him outside for a second. He just disappeared. And nobody could find the kid for hours, hours and hours. And we kept getting Amber alerts, Amber alerts, nonstop Amber alerts on this. To the point that if I wasn't hammered already, I would have gotten in the car and driven the, you know, two or three miles down the road to kind of help find this kid. I say two or three miles, probably three or four miles down the road. This kid was missing because we live in a little area called Hazel Park and, you know, a couple of miles down the road is Madison Heights and that's where this kid was missing.

And I was like, this makes me sad because, you know, I have an autistic nephew. And I mean, I don't act like I know a lot about autism, but, you know, I kind of get the vibe. And like, I can only imagine like what my sister or somebody would be feeling. of my nephew, who also might be like a pyromaniac, but like my nephew were missing and they, you can't communicate with them because they don't really talk. He talks, but like when you get these kids that are nonverbal and like the parents must have been scared shitless. And like for whatever reason, I had just the right amount of alcohol in me during that that I was just legitimately sad about it to the point that I was trying to sober up so I could get in the car

and go drive to be part of the search party. Because one of the stories they said about this kid is that his comfort area is like curling up in cold, dark areas. I'm like, oh, God, did this kid, like, go out and, like, lay down in a cave or some shit? And, like, they're not going to be able to find him. So, actually, let me play you a little bit audio of that story, now that I bring this up, a news story about how they actually found the kid. The good news is they found the kid. But this story is so bizarre.

So they end up finding the kid in a neighbor's house. He had wandered to a neighbor's house. Six years old. Wander to a neighbor's house. went into the house proceeded to sit in the bathtub and run water in the bathtub and just sat in the tub for hours

playing with toys. Like imagine you're the parents, I think he has foster parents. Imagine you're the, and by the way, saints, by the way, I don't know the whole backstory, but being a foster parent is about the most selfless fucking thing you could do. Adopting a dog is very selfless. Imagine being a foster parent. And imagine being the foster parent to a kid

that is autistic. Like, these people should go to the fucking heaven Hall of Fame. You're on the Mount Rushmore of people. When you adopt a kid, that's one thing. You adopt a teenager, that's something. Adopting a kid that's got autism and maybe, I don't know if they knew the kid had autism when they adopted them or not.

I don't know the whole story. But that's fucking saintly. You want to talk about a saintly thing to do? Adopt a kid with autism. Because, like, I'm not, again, they're not looking at it this way. But there is a struggle that comes along with having a kid that has any sort of disability, right? Like if there's a kid that's got, you know, whether it be Down syndrome, whether it be autism, whether they be in a wheelchair, a cerebral palsy, whatever.

Like, there are people that have to be a special kind of special person to do that. Like, and they don't do it to win a medal, but that's fucking something, man. And that's a cool thing. So, but anyway, here's a little bit of the story about this kid going missing on the local news. Kyle R Russell just sat down with the man who spotted him and joins us live from Madison Heights. Kyle? Hey there. Yeah.

I sat down with LeBron. Brinkley and he and his family. Also, what year do you think LeBron Brinkley was born? LeBron came into being in 2003, 2003, so 23 years ago? Like, do we believe that this guy was a LeBron before LeBron? How many LeBron's existed before the LeBron that we all know? They lived just behind where that six-year-old lives. Yesterday, the Brinkley family was headed home after a full family Sunday. That's when they walked inside their house and upstairs toward the bathroom and made a shocking decision. There was a kid inside of the bathtub. They shared the moment.

They captured on camera with me. Watch here. This is remarkable. Like, remarkable. Imagine you come home. You hear water running in your house. You're like, who the fuck's in the house? It's this kid that's been missing for hours, this autistic kid.

Like the shock. Like the fucking shock that must have come over you. Like, holy shit. Hey, buddy. We have positive ID. We found him. Words the neighborhood had been holding its breath to hear. He must have been here for a while.

LeBron Brinkley shot that video inside his bathroom, an ordinary Sunday, turning into an unforgettable surprise. Now, let's rewind, and I'll walk you through it. We left the house at about five, no, it was about 6.15 a.m. He's a worship pastor at a nearby church. I mean, it's everything about this. Like, it's just bonkers. When you think about a story like this, like my thought was this kid's going to die.

Well, my first thought was how far could he have wandered? Right? You know, he's a six-year-old kid. Like a six-year-old kid can scoot, but a six-year-old kid, how far are they going to make it? You know, how far, like, on foot can a six-year-old kid make it through the snow in the cold, right? That was my first thought.

So, but I'm also sitting there thinking, what the fuck this kid made? Like, I'm getting, Amber Alerts, nonstop. Like, every 10 minutes, Amber Alert, full details on the kid, nonverbal. six years old, blue jacket, black pants, all this shit. And I'm like, I hope this kid's not dead, but deep down I didn't think he was because I just don't know how far a kid, a nonverbal autistic kid's going to make it on foot,

but I don't know this. Some of these kids have fucking superpowers. After service, they stopped home for a bit, then headed back out at 252 in the afternoon to spend time with family. Their home sits just behind the home where the six-year-old lives. About a half an hour later, foster parents were reported the child missing and a massive search surged into motion. God, imagine how scary that must be for these people, man.

I thought we lost our dog. So, like, Ross, like I dropped his leash on accident and he just took off at a park. And I was scared shitless. Like, I played cool because you have to around Jilly because Jilly's like losing her mind. But fortunately, he ran right up to some people. And I said, grab his leash, please. And they grabbed him. Because if not, he probably would have ran for days.

Of course, I can't tell Jilly that. I have to be like, oh, I think he would have stopped. And she was, like, despondent. like sobbing at the park she's like he was going to be gone i'm like oh my god and like and of course i have to play it cool like on everything's fine but i was scared shitless too that he was going to run away that's a dog imagine you're these people who have this adopted nonverbal autistic kid and you have no fucking clue where he is and it's not like he can like call you and say hey i'm okay six years old and he's nonverbal even involving the fbi i at about 13 to quinder area

we start getting amber alerts and we're like wow like that is that's our that's where we live When they pulled in, the alerts weren't just buzzing. They were hitting close to home. He steps inside and realizes their sliding glass door had been accidentally left unlocked. And what if they wouldn't have left the door unlocked? What happens if, like, this door is unlocked or it's locked? This kid wanders over to this house, tries to get into the house and the door isn't unlocked. Where does he go next?

Like, all of these things have to work out perfectly for this kid to still be alive. Like, if you ever question whether or not, like, there's a lot. higher power, and I do all the time, and I'm not trying to tell you what to believe, because you know how I operate. Like, I'm not some big religious person or anything. But, like, do you believe in fate? Do you believe in things happen for a reason? Are you one of those people?

Do you believe that things happen for a reason? And if you do believe things happen for a reason, what if that door would have been locked? Where does that kid go next? Now, maybe he just turns around and goes home. But maybe he doesn't. Maybe he just wanders off, and they don't find him. Maybe he wanders off and somebody in a dittle wagon picks him up. I don't know.

But, I mean, wow, wow. Have this clothes, but when I walked in from behind, it was like that. I don't leave this open. Then another clue cut through the quiet. He could hear water running. Walked up, I heard the ruckus, and I turned, and he was literally sitting in the bathtub, and I'm like, I'm like, okay. And then I just...

Like, his first thought's got to be, holy shit. Like, you got this black dude that lives in this house. there's a white kid just sitting in his fucking bathtub. I guess he doesn't know the kid, despite the fact they live right next door. Apparently he doesn't know the kid. Imagine this black dude that walks into your house. Your bathtub is running. You walk in and there's a nonverbal white kid sitting in the fucking bathtub.

Just ran back out. Flag down officers outside the house. Inside, the bathroom was flooded. The six-year-old surrounded by toys from LeBron's son's bedroom. And their family dog Nala was right there too. Calm, close, and keeping him coming. Like, can you believe that? Like, and you want to think that dogs aren't the greatest fucking creatures on the planet?

Like, that dog knew. You will not convince me otherwise. That dog knew. He knew that that kid needed him. He knew it, and he stood there next to him. Are you shitting me? And he just stands. I mean, because, I mean, look, that's somebody walking into your house.

If, like, there's a dog. Like, if a kid walks into a house or anybody walks into somebody's house, and that's that dog. house? Come on. Like that dog could have done anything. He could have scratched him. He could have attacked him. He could have barked him. Could have scared the shit out of him. No. That kid goes and that kid sits in the tub, starts the tub. He's got some toys that he found in another kid's room and that dog sat next to him the entire time. It's remarkable. This story is a goddamn miracle. We gave them towels to wrap him up in. They actually laid him right here on this very couch. Now, I did speak to the foster parents of the six-year-old.

They tell me they're just grateful and thrilled that he is okay. And, of course, we are grateful too. Remarkable story. Now, of course, Jilly, she's a more pessimistic person than I am. She's like, what the fuck's going on here? Something's a foot here. There's something off about this story. Like, how did this kid just get into the house?

And how was the door just left unlocked? Like, Jilly, I don't believe that this is some sort of diddler here that lured the kid into his house. but what a story. I mean, just everything about it. Like, if you don't believe, like, that's a miracle to me. I'm not a big miracle guy. That's a miracle. Anyway, all that, and I never even got to the damn,

the thing that started this whole thing about the damn, about the ring doorbell commercial. Shit, I never even got to that. So hold on. Let me do that then. After all that, after spending all that time, sharing this miracle story about this kid here locally that, you know, was found in this.

person's house.