Missing 5-Year-Old Boy with Autism Found Dead in Pond Near Home: ‘A Nightmare’

A nonverbal boy with autism was found dead in a pond near his home in Maryland hours after he went missing.

According to the Charles County Sheriff’s Office, Miles McMahon, age 5, was reported missing on Sunday, October 13, at 11 a.m., from his home in the 1000 block of St. Pauls Drive in Waldorf.

Home surveillance footage showed the 4 ft. tall, 60-lb. boy “leaving the house and skipping in his front yard” wearing “a red T-shirt, no pants, and no shoes,” the department said in a previous statement.

“Family members searched the area and contacted 9-1-1 when they could not locate him. Officers established a perimeter and immediately focused their attention on ponds and bodies of water nearby,” their statement continued.

With assistance from patrol officers, police K-9s, state troopers, a dive team, volunteers, and drones, Miles was found dead in the early hours of Monday, Oct. 14 “in a pond, not too far from his house.”

“The pond and the area surrounding it had been our primary focus. Although the pond had been searched earlier in the day by another unit, the Maryland State Police Dive Team and the Department of Natural Resources Police responded this evening to check the pond again and found Miles,” explained the department in an update.

According to the National Autism Association’s website, drowning is among the leading causes of death of individuals with autism and children with autism are 160 times as likely to die from drowning as the general pediatric population.

The Charles County Sheriff’s Office said it was “heartbroken along with Miles’ family” and asked the public to keep “Miles and his family in your thoughts and prayers as well as all first responders and all of those who assisted” in the search for him.

One of the people who assisted in the search, a volunteer named Jalisa Perry, told The Washington Post that learning about Miles’ death was “like a nightmare.”

His family told the publication in a statement that they are “grateful to this community for helping us through such a tragic time in our lives.”

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According to The Washington Post, Miles is remembered as a kindergartner whose favorite colors were red and blue, who considered dinosaurs his favorite animals, and who loved watching a show about sea creatures.