Dena Burns Drowns in Pond

SWAINSBORO, Ga. -- Emanuel County sheriff's officials say a 6-year-old girl with autism has drowned in a pond.

Sheriff Tyson Stephens said Thursday that foul play is not suspected in the death of Dena Burns.
Investigators say her parents reported her missing Thursday morning and they told authorities they believed she walked away from their home in Swainsboro.

Officials found the girl unconscious in a nearby pond and were unable to revive her.
(Associated Press)

Read here.

Hannah Ross, Age 7

***UPDATE SUNDAY, APRIL 29TH, 4:55 P.M.** We have a tragic update to bring you on the story of the missing 7 year old at Fort Gordon. Dive teams discovered the girl's body around 3:15 Sunday afternoon at the lake behind the girl's home. We will have more on this story tonight on WJBF News Channel 6 at 6. _________________________________________________________________ The Augusta Richmond Dive squad is still searching for a missing 7-year-old girl at Fort Gordon. The dive team is looking for Hannah Ross, who investigators say went missing near her home, Saturday evening. The Ross family moved into Fort Gordon from California just last week. A PIO for Fort Gordon says Ross has no shoes on, and was last seen wearing a purple shirt and white shorts. Investigators at Fort Gordon police, the Columbia County Sheriff's office, the Richmond County Sheriff's office, as well as hundreds of volunteers spent Saturday night looking for Ross. K-9 units also assisted with the search. Investigators searched for Ross behind the Lakeview housing area on Fort Gordon. Several hundred volunteers, mostly soldiers, combed the area and searched into the night. A helicopter crew also assisted with search efforts. Ross suffers from autism and was last seen behind her home on Fort Gordon at approximately 6:45 p.m. Saturday evening. Hannah is 4 foot 8 inches tall, 80 pounds. Anyone with any information on Hannah's whereabouts, please contact Fort Gordon authorities at 706-791-9747. WJBF News Channel 6 will have much more on this story tonight at 6, 10 (CW) and 11.

Cushing, Oklahoma: Blake Murrell, age 4, drowns in duck pond

Blake Murrell, age 4

Cushing Police: Body Found In Pond Is Missing Autistic Child
Body Pulled From Pond
POSTED: 1:48 pm CDT April 19, 2011

CUSHING, Okla. -- Cushing police confirmed to Eyewitness News 5 that the body found in a local duck pond was that of an autistic boy who was reported missing on Tuesday.

Investigators said the child, who was unable to speak, was reported missing sometime after noon.
Blake Murrell, 4, was last seen wearing blue pants with a green stripe down the side.

Ida Township, Michigan: Jackson Kastner, age 4, drowns after wandering from home

Boy wanders from home, drowns in river
by Ray Kisonas , last modified March 28. 2011 11:36AM

IDA TOWNSHIP — An intense search and a dramatic helicopter rescue attempt ended in tragedy and sorrow Sunday afternoon when a missing 4-year-old boy with autism drowned in the River Raisin after he wandered from his home.

Counselors were on hand this morning for the students and staff at the Riverside Early Learning Center where Jackson Kastner was a student.

“It’s just tragic,” said Donald Spencer, superintendent of the Monroe County Intermediate School District. “We’re sick about it. The staff works so closely with the kids and their parents. They’re just devastated.”

An autopsy was scheduled for this morning but Monroe County Sheriff Tilman Crutchfield said there was nothing suspicious involving the boy’s death, which he expects to be ruled as an accidental drowning. That’s why there was no Amber Alert issued.

“There was no reason for it,” the sheriff said this morning. “It was never a case of suspected foul play.”

Jackson was outside playing in the back yard of the family home on S. Custer Rd. west of Raisinville Rd. when his mother reportedly went inside the house for about four or five minutes, said Sgt. Jeff Kemp. The river is about 300 yards behind the house, police said.

“When she came back out, he was gone,” Sgt. Kemp said.

Jackson apparently enjoyed a neighbor’s playscape and that’s the first place his mother looked. But when he wasn’t there, she called 911 and that launched a search involving 40 to 50 volunteers from area fire and police departments, including three tracking dogs.

Paul Metz, chief of the Ida Township Volunteer Fire Department, coordinated the firefighters’ search. Jackson’s autism was such that he did not respond to his name and he often liked confined spaces, he said.

Chief Metz said firefighters, neighbors and others looked along the river bank.

“The whole time we were totally optimistic,” Chief Metz said, who wanted to thank the community for the effort. “We thought he was going to be fine. There were real high emotions.”

Around the same time, the sheriff’s aviator unit was deployed and searching from above. Pilot Joe Schumaker and deputies Don Duncan and Brian Francisco were in the Raptor about 300 feet above the ground when the two deputies spotted something yellow in the water, which was relatively clear.

It was part of the boy’s clothing.

“You could tell it was him,” Deputy Duncan said.

The boy’s body was spotted at a small island in the middle of the river across from Carrington Farms about 1½ miles downstream from the family home. Mr. Schumaker carefully landed the helicopter on the island.

“It took some fantastic flying skills to get there,” the sheriff said.

Just as he touched down, the two deputies jumped out of the chopper and retrieved the boy. They began life-saving efforts, then decided the best course of action was to fly him across the river to a waiting ambulance.

While police closed traffic on S. Custer Rd. in both directions, Mr. Schumaker landed the chopper in the middle of the road and the boy was taken to the ambulance, which rushed him to the hospital.

Doctors could not save him.

“It’s always extra difficult when it’s a young one,” Deputy Duncan said. “It’s tough.”

The sheriff said that although the rescue ended in tragedy, at least the boy was found quickly. The river’s currents were strong and there is no telling how long it would have taken for a recovery.

“It’s important that we were able to retrieve him and have quick closure for the family,” the sheriff said. “If it hadn’t been for the helicopter and the crew we would not have found him. It was a tremendous effort, but it’s sad.”

Lawton, Oklahoma: Savanah Lawton, age 7, drowns after wandering from home

Savannah Martin, age 7

Girl, 7, who drowned in Lawton had struggled to overcome autism

A girl who drowned in a Lawton pond struggled with autism but had learned to talk. She was also trying to learn to swim. Her 2-year-old brother was rescued from the pond and has been released from a hospital.

BY ROBERT MEDLEY rmedley@opubco.com
Published: February 23, 2011

LAWTON — Doctors once said Savannah Martin would never talk, but she defied the early diagnosis and started to speak. Then she learned to read. She even tried to learn to swim.

But on Sunday, Savannah, 7, who was autistic, slipped away from her home in Lawton and headed for a chilly pond nearby. Her brother, Tommy Martin, 2, who was wearing a bicycle helmet, may have followed her to the pond, said the children's' aunt, Ruth Sanchez, 35.

Savannah was found face down in the pond, which was about 50 yards from her home. Her brother was floating upright next to her, buoyed by the Styrofoam in his helmet.

“We can't believe this little angel is gone,” Sanchez said.

The children's mother, Beth Martin, 31, swam into the pond but was unable to pull her daughter out of the water. A neighbor, Hector Figueroa, 45, swam in and pulled both children to the bank.
It was too late to save Savannah, despite her mother's efforts to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Lawton firefighters also tried CPR, but Savannah was pronounced dead at Southwestern Medical Center.

Tommy Martin has been released from OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City, where he was treated for hypothermia, a hospital spokesman said Tuesday.

Lawton police Capt. Craig Akard said he doesn't know how long the children were in the water. He said officers are still interviewing witnesses and he couldn't comment on the investigation.
Beth Martin had recently separated from her husband, Thomas Martin, who is in the Oklahoma National Guard, and had been looking for a new place to live because of concerns about the pond, said Sanchez, who is Beth Martin's sister.

Beth Martin wanted to get a house with an alarm system because Savannah had recently figured out how to unlock doors, Sanchez said.

Savannah was diagnosed as autistic when she was 2, Sanchez said. Her mother worked to get her daughter to speak. But Savannah had not quite gotten the hang of swimming.

“She loved the water and playing in the bathtub and swimming. Water was a big draw to her, just the movement of it and the shimmering of the water in the sun outside,” she said.

A family friend, Juliet Burk, of Tahlequah, said Beth Martin worked doggedly with her daughter, even traveling to therapists in upstate New York.

She said Savannah started to say a few words and short sentences by the time she was 5.

In a Feb. 8 Facebook post, Beth Martin wrote: “Savannah looked at me straight in the eyes and said, ‘Give me a hug!' And ran into my arms. Can never thank those in her life that have helped get her to this point enough. Your work is never unnoticed or forgotten.”

Sanchez said her niece was on track to be mainstreamed into a first-grade class at Cache Elementary School. Once a week, Sanchez drove Savannah to the ACI Learning Center in Edmond, a therapy school for autistic children.

“Savannah had made tremendous strides,” Sanchez said. “She'd come home and give us hugs and kisses.”

Savannah loved Disney princesses and fairies and her favorite singer was Taylor Swift. Her brother Tommy was her “cohort,” who would go everywhere with her, Sanchez said.

About 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Beth Martin couldn't find the children in the house and ran to the pond, but didn't see them at first, Sanchez said. Then their older brother, Tristen, 11, went to the pond and heard them screaming.

Beth Martin climbed a barbed-wire fence to get to the pond, but was not strong enough to get her daughter to the bank, Sanchez said.

Martin went into shock at the hospital and has not been able to talk about her daughter's death, Sanchez said.

“Beth had told me she was planning to spend the rest of her life taking care of Savannah so she could give her the best life she could,” Sanchez said.

Fort Lupton, Colorado: 3-year-old drowns in golf course lake

FORT LUPTON - A toddler wandered out of his home Saturday morning to a nearby golf course, where he drowned in a pond.

Fort Lupton Police Chief Kenneth Poncelow says the three-year-old was being watched by his grandmother at a home in the 200 block of Ponderosa Place. He says she stepped away for a moment as the toddler was watching cartoons. When she returned, he was gone.

She called police at 9:18 a.m. and according to Poncelow, officers quickly created a search party. Around 9:30 a.m. they found the little boy in a nearby lake at the Coyote Creek Golf Course.

The boy was airlifted to Children's Hospital in Aurora where he later died.

Barling, Arkansas: 3 year old Sevanna Houser drowns in creek

Tuscon, Arizona: 5 Year old boy drowns in a golf course pond

Autistic boy drowns in Tucson pond

Aug. 19, 2010 05:05 PM
Associated Press

TUCSON - A 5-year-old autistic boy has drowned in a pond at a Tucson golf course.

Authorities say the boy was pulled from the pond at the Santa Rita Golf Course on Thursday afternoon.

The victim and his family live in a home near the golf course and the boy apparently wandered away from the house sometime before 1 p.m.

The boy's father called 911 to report him missing. Pima County Sheriff's deputies arrived in the area and began searching for the boy and he was found by deputies in the golf course pond.

Deputies begin CPR on the boy until paramedics arrived. He was taken by helicopter to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The name of the victim has not been released yet.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/08/19/20100819tucson-autistic-boy-drowns-in-pond.html#ixzz0xAfPJAhD

Austintown, Ohio: Nathan Kinderdine, 7, drowns in pool at school

Nathan Kinderdine, age 7

WKBN
Nathan Kinderdine, who had autism, has spent the past six weeks taking part in a summer enrichment program at the Leonard Kirtz School in Austintown.

It took less than five minutes for the Boardman 7-year-old known as a "runner" to wander away from his teachers and classmates and end up at the bottom of the school's indoor pool Tuesday.

While workers tried to revive him, Nathan later was pronounced dead at St. Elizabeth's Health Center. Now, police are trying to determine how he got into the pool and if a problem with one of its self-closing doors was the reason Nathan was able to enter that area.

"We're not rushing into it," said Austintown detective Sgt. Raynor Holmes. "We're trying to find the victim's whereabouts, and try and retrace where he went and where everything went from there. It's not the easiest thing to do, but that's what we have to look at."

A timeline in the police report shows that the doors to the pool area were locked just before noon. The last adult left the pool about ten minutes later.

About 12:35 p.m., two instructors took a group of six children into the nearby gym. One instructor first took in three kids, including Nathan because "he is a runner." The instructors then momentarily went into the hall to get three more children and, that's when they noticed Nathan was missing.

After a quick search, by 12:40 p.m. a custodian had unlocked the pool doors and found Nathan floating face down in about three and a half feet of water. The custodian jumped in to get him, and the boy was taken to the school's clinic, where nurses performed CPR.

After the incident, an officer fully opened a door leading from the boys' restroom into the pool 10 times. The door is supposed to lock from the outside whenever it closes. That door closed and locked, like it's supposed to, only once.

Officials with Leonard Kirtz are doing everything they can to find out what happened as well.

"We're waiting on the coroner, and Austintown Police Department report to see what they believe was the cause and the time frame involved," said Superintendent Larry Duck. "From there we'll try to look at what needs to be done to prevent this from ever happening again."

Linda Finlay's son, 13-year-old Joshua Finlay, attended the same program as Nathan. While the Salem resident attends West Branch Middle School, autistic children are required to participate in summer programs, Finlay said.

Finlay said she knew something was wrong when Joshua came home with a letter from the school Wednesday that stated the week would continue as scheduled, but there was an incident that involved a student in the swimming pool.

"It's really bad," Finlay said. "I was up all night crying. I feel really bad for the parents."

She said Joshua understood what happened at his school Tuesday. His reaction surprised her, she added.

"He was really shocked," Finlay said. "He said, 'this is a really tragic thing that happened'."

Finlay said she gave her son a choice on whether to attend school Wednesday. He decided to go, she said, but left after lunch.

Colwich, Kansas: Mason Medlam dies after being pulled from farm pond

Mason Medlam, age 5

BY STAN FINGER
The Wichita Eagle

WICHITA | Mason Medlam, the 5-year-old boy who was found submerged in a farm pond near Colwich, Kan., on Wednesday, has died.

He died this morning at a Wichita hospital, a spokeswoman for the hospital said.

Mason, who had autism, had been missing for more than a half-hour from his home in the 4200 block of North 183rd West before he was found just before 11:15 a.m.

The pond is about a quarter-mile from his house and a mile southwest of Colwich.

Reach Stan Finger at 316-268-6437 or sfinger@wichitaeagle.com

Villa Rica, Georgia: Missing Autistic 6-Year-Old, Christian Dejons, Found Dead In Lake

Villa Rica boy's death ruled accidental

By Marcus K. Garner and Kristi E. Swartz

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

So, it was easy for the 6-year-old Villa Rica boy to wander off toward it.

Christian Dejons went missing on Wednesday. His body was found in the lake later that day.

His death was ruled as an accident, Douglas County Sheriff's Deputy Capt. Bobby Holmes said Friday.

"There's no foul play. He just wandered off and got in the water," Holmes told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Friday.

Dejon was spotted around 3:30 p.m. by a Douglas sheriff's deputy flying in a Georgia State Patrol helicopter over a lake in the Mirror Lake subdivision, Holmes said.

"The deputy saw something that looked like a body in the water," Holmes said. "They landed the helicopter, and the deputy went in and got the little boy and began CPR."

Emergency crews tried to revive the boy, and he was taken to Tanner Medical Center in Villa Rica where he was pronounced dead, authorities said.

Ocala, Florida: Details on autistic boy, Bernard Latimore, 10, who drowned in neighbor's pool

Bernard Latimore, age 10

By Austin L. Miller
Staff writer
Published: Saturday, November 28, 2009 at 6:30 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, November 28, 2009 at 6:05 p.m.

The woman who was taken to a hospital Friday afternoon after her 10-year-old autistic son drowned in a murky swimming pool has been released and is feeling much better, according to a Marion County Sheriff’s official.

Katese Richardson was overcome with grief when she saw her son’s body before it was taken away by the Medical Examiner’s Office. She was released from the hospital Friday night, but no one was at her home Saturday afternoon.

Bernard Latimore, an autistic child who could not speak, had wandered away from his Northwest 57th Court home and could not be found despite the search efforts of sheriff’s deputies, canines and neighbors. His body eventually was found in a nearby neighbor’s pool.

Additional details became available Saturday from a Sheriff’s Office report.

Richardson left her home around 8 a.m. for work, leaving her 16-year-old son, Bernard, and her two other children at the home. One of the children, the woman told deputies, saw Bernard leave the home and walk south on Northwest 57th Court. The child tried to stop her brother from leaving, but he kept walking.

The girl, officials say, then woke up her 16-year-old brother, and they went outside looking for Bernard. Sheriff’s officials said Richardson called them at 10:12 a.m.

During the search, officials came upon a neighbor who said he had been sleeping when he heard someone knocking on the door. The man said he looked outside and saw someone carrying a pink pillow case. Thinking it was a salesman, the man ignored the knock.

About 11:30 a.m., two deputies went to a nearby residence that had a pool. They did not see anything, and the doors were locked. The pool, officials say, had algae and no one could see the bottom.

The woman who lives there told the Star-Banner on Saturday that she and her mother came home sometime after 1 p.m. and noticed a pillow floating in the pool. They called officials, who in turn saw a pink pillow floating on the south side of the pool.

An autopsy was not performed on the child on Saturday, according to officials.

Seattle, Washington: Devine Farrier, 11, killed crossing a busy roadway

By ROBERTA ROMERO / KING 5 News

SEATTLE – State Route 99 is a busy roadway, with cars flying by. Eleven-year-old Devine Farrier was trying to cross it Saturday when he was hit by a one ton flatbed pick-up truck.

He died Sunday at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

His family had reported the autistic boy had disappeared from his Sea-Tac home just 15 minutes earlier, and in that time he had wandered through the woods and onto the freeway without any shoes.

You may be wondering why an 11-year-old child was walking on State Route 99 all alone, but for parents of children with autism it’s something they worry about all the time. In fact, the National Autism Association found in a recent study that 92 percent of parents with children with autism consider those children at risk for wandering away.

Autism is a complex disorder that affects social interaction and communication. Lakeside Center for Autism in Issaquah educates and helps families and their children cope with the disorder.

It doesn’t surprise them that Devine walked away from home and onto a highway.

“It can be a common problem for most any of these kids,” said Dan Stachelski, Ex. Dir. Lakeside Center For Autism. “Part of the reason is they don’t have the internal motivation or internal feeling about being safe, about being protected by family members, about being connected to their parents to know that it’s not safe to leave their side.”

Protecting a child with autism can be difficult and expensive, from locks on doors to GPS systems, but the community can help as well.

“That’s what they need, they need help and this is an epidemic that’s not going anywhere,” said Stachelski.

Just a few days ago the American Academy of Pediatrics reported that one in every 91 children has a form of autism, and they believe that rate could continue to rise.

Source: http://www.king5.com/localnews/stories/NW_101109WAB-autistic-boy-hit-by-truck-SW.209694937.html

South Bar, Nova Scotia: James Delorey, 7, dies of exposure after two nights in the frozen wilderness

James Delorey, age 7

By: Michael MacDonald and Alison Auld
Posted: 9/12/2009 1:00 AM

HALIFAX -- James Delorey, the Cape Breton boy who died in hospital after miraculously surviving two nights lost in the frozen wilderness, was remembered Tuesday as a calm and quiet child whose big brown eyes did most of the talking.

The seven-year-old succumbed to severe hypothermia less than a day after he was found unconscious in a densely wooded area of the island, about a kilometre from his home in South Bar, N.S.

Rescue officials said the little boy, who had followed the family dog into the woods on Saturday afternoon, probably clung to life by seeking shelter in the thick underbrush and huddling with the pet. However, the cold took its toll.

James wasn't wearing a winter coat and his vital signs were weak when he was found Monday lying in the fetal position, covered in a light dusting of snow. It was unclear whether he ever regained consciousness.

Paul MacDonald, the principal at James's school in nearby Sydney, said the boy couldn't speak because he had autism, but that didn't stop him from leaving a big impression on his teachers and fellow students.

"Even though he was non-verbal, he could show his emotions," he said, adding that the boy loved playing with blocks and hanging out in the cafeteria. "He had a nice way about him... he was very calm, like the picture they're showing in the papers. That's the way he was around the school. Just a nice little boy... He seemed content."

MacDonald said James and his older brother arrived at Harbourside Elementary in September when the boys and their mother, Veronica Fraser, moved from Calgary to live with Fraser's parents in South Bar.

When word spread Saturday that James had disappeared in the marshy woods that surround the town, some of his teachers joined in the search, along with hundreds of other volunteers from across the province.

And when he was found alive almost two days later, the community's residents were almost as stunned as they were relieved.

"Yesterday, we were really hoping that things were going to work out -- it seemed like it was going to be a miracle," said MacDonald.

"That's why it's so tough today. The kids and the teachers are having a tough time because of that hope...

"They're pretty devastated."

Melanie Sampson, a resident of South Bar who lives down the road from the Fraser family, said she did not see James outside very often.

"His mother never let him wander," she said. "She could never leave him out of her sight, God love her."

With less than three weeks to go before Christmas, the town is in mourning, Sampson said.

Rescuers followed the dog's tracks directly to James.

The dog, a mixed-breed named Chance, emerged from the forest about two hours before the boy was found.

Haines Falls, New York: Missing autistic teen, Ryan Barrett, found dead

Ryan Barrett, age 14

Posted: Aug 14, 2009 10:07 AM EDT

HAINES FALLS -- Officials in Greene County believe they have found the body of a 14-year-old autistic teen that went missing from a campground Thursday. The teen, Ryan Barrett of Lindenhurst in Long Island, was staying with family at the North South Lake Campground in Haines Falls, ten miles from Hunter Mountain.

Witnesses say the boy was found dead in one of the two lakes nearby. Police suspect no foul play, so it is likely Barrett drowned.

His family reported him missing around 7:30pm, shortly after they arrived at the campground. Less than 24 hours later, his body was found.

With two lakes and dozens of trails, State Police had a lot of terrain to search on foot and by helicopter, but it was State Police Divers who found him in a lake.

Sources tell NEWS10 that Barrett wandered away from his campground, a behavior that is typical of people with autism.

"A lot of autistic children like to wander," said Cindy Hermann with the Autism Society of America, "The child's there one minute happily playing and the next minute you look around and they're gone."

Hermann, herself, has an autistic son and says whether it's a campground or a neighborhood, it takes a community to look after an afflicted child because they often lack fear, especially around busy streets or water.

"They just have a fearlessness about them, which can be scary," Hermann told NEWS10.

Barrett's body is now at Saint Peter's Hospital in Albany, where an autopsy is expected to be performed.

Wellington, Florida: Kaitlin Bacile drowned in canal blocks from her home

Kaitlin Bacile, age 5

WSVN -- It is a parent's worst nightmare. Five-year-old Kaitlin Bacile
slipped out of her Wellington home last September.

Jay Bacile: "She was gone probably two minutes at the most, at the absolute most before we realized she was not in the house."

The autistic little girl was found the next morning drowned in this canal just blocks from her home.

Jay Basile: "The shadow of Kaitlin's death reaches into places that none of us like to go."

Autistic children are fascinated with water and because of that, drowning is one of the leading causes of death. Parents of autistic children worry about it everyday.

Richard Nardiello: "My son loves water but has no fear of the water."

Three-year-old Christopher Muniz ended up in a Broward pond last April. He died four days later.

Cindy Anderson: "We need safety nets for our kids. We need them quickly. I need it now."

But the problem is, unlike the Amber Alert system for children who are abducted, programs designed to help missing autistic children are not being used consistently. The "Take Me Home" program supplies police with pictures and information of at-risk kids.

But of the 271 law enforcement agencies in Florida, only 41 use it. "A Child is Missing" is a national emergency system which can put out 1000 alert calls in one minute to a neighborhood where a child has gone missing.

Claudia Corrigan, ACIM: "It's important to get these calls out there immediately, and we can do it. You have a small window of time, it's a two to three hour, and even then, if there's water nearby, it's very, very tough."

The service is free to police, but they don't always use it. Finally, only 37 police departments in Florida have picked up a program called Project Lifesaver.

Wristbands allow rescuers to track the person wearing it, but it puts the burden on parents to pay for a $300 bracelet, and most autistic children have sensory issues and won't wear them.

Tina Brea: "This is a child that cannot communicate, that cannot understand the simple commands that others their age can, so any attention that can be brought to this the better."

Parents say a more unified alert system, like the Amber Alert is needed. Florida is looking into the issue.

Ven Sequenzia: "Something will be addressed in the recommendations to the governor. Again, I can't say what that will be at this point. The report's not due until the end of March."

And parents of these children say they hope something is resolved soon. While it's too late for Kaitlin, her parents hope some good can come from their tragedy.

Jay Bacile: "We want Kaitlin's life not to go in vain. At the very minimum we want to raise awareness. We just want her memory to live on and do good because that's what Kaitlin was pure goodness."

It's estimated that one in every 150 kids are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, and it occurs more often in boys than in girls.

Miami, Florida: Amber Alert boy, Jared McGuire, found Dead

Jared McGuire, age 8

The body of an 8 year old autistic boy was found in a pond 100 feet from his home today, one day after police launched a massive search for him.

Jared McGuire's mother told authorities she last saw him sleeping on the couch Thursday afternoon. After she reported him missing, police searched the Greenacres area with officers, dogs and a helicopter. Police in this Palm Beach County town issued an Amber Alert after a witness reported seeing a child matching Jared's description being forced into a van. It is now unclear whether that witness was mistaken.

Greenacres police say an autopsy will be conducted this afternoon to determine a cause of death. Authorities said Jared suffered from severe autism that required medication and that he had trouble speaking.