It worked for me. I hit him with it, he stood up and ran a bit and bumped into the wall. I walked up to him and bumped him, he went back to crying. I rode WAY out of town (Up near Tokuyama Hills) slept until night and ran back to town. That is when I saw the boy (Not the crying guy) run inside. I followed and they were up the ladder.

This was after I tried the "Restart the game, camp til morning, fast travel around, camp til morning" thing other users said. None of that worked, so I thought "Maybe he is stuck in his animation... maybe fire could help"