Google Earth Ad Tells Lost Boy’s Miraculous Story | brandinglosangeles.com : But for 25 years, he was intent on finding the family he inadvertently left behind. Brierley acknowledges that it was exactly like searching for a needle in hay stack, but that he knew that the needle was at least there. Armed with nothing other than the memories his five-year-old self harvested of home, Brierley fruitlessly searched. And searched. And searched.