SANTA MARIA – A 19-year-old Santa Maria resident with Autism is back home safely after what could have been a life-threatening experience. At approximately 2:10 p.m. on January 28, 2017, the caretakers at his residential home discovered he was missing. They contacted the Santa Barbara County Public Safety Dispatch center to report the emergency. Thanks to the fact that the missing at-risk teenager’s family had signed him up with Project Lifesaver, he was wearing a transmitter that was able to pinpoint his location.

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue (SBCSAR) team and a Santa Barbara County Sheriff/Fire Air Support Unit helicopter were deployed. SBCSAR team members used the electronic monitoring system to direct Air Support to the area where the signal was coming from. At approximately 5:15 p.m., Air Support spotted the missing teenager swimming in a reservoir located approximately five miles from the residential home. The unseasonably cold water was up to his neck and indications were that he had been there for some time and could have easily drowned. Fortunately, Air Support was able to lead a Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team member and a Sheriff’s Volunteer to his location.

The Sheriff’s Volunteer knew the missing teenager from periodically changing the batteries on his Project Lifesaver bracelet. When the teenager heard his familiar voice, he agreed to reach his hands out and was pulled over the slippery water basin to safety.

Read more at: https://www.edhat.com/site/tidbit.cfm?nid=181085

http://www.keyt.com/news/wearable-device-saves-autistic-teens-life/310024972

BOCA RATON – Six days after he was found face down in a body of water outside his west Boca Raton home, a 3-year-old boy with autism has died, the Florida Department of Children and Families confirmed.

Read more at: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime–law/breaking-toddler-dies-days-after-falling-into-west-boca-water/c4BL6eX5D5Xy7zCO5TxlmJ/

ST. TAMMANY, La. — A K-9 unit was credited with finding an autistic teenager who went missing in the woods near Lacombe on Tuesday night, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office said.

St. Tammany deputies were called to a residence in Lacombe after the 14-year-old went missing on Tuesday. Deputies “canvassed the area for hours” but could not locate the teen, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Deputy Ron Olivier and his K-9, Freya, a Bavarian mountain hound, were called to assist in the search. Freya specializes in finding lost children and “took the scent” from the teenager’s clothes, the Sheriff’s Office said. Freya found the teenager, curled up and hiding in the woods, after a 20-minute search.

The 14-year-old was scared but in good health, the Sheriff’s Office said. The entire search lasted about three hours.

IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. — A boy diagnosed with autism wandered away from his South Bay elementary school and is picked up by a stranger.

Richard Scherman dropped off his 11-year-old son at Central Elementary in Imperial Beach Monday morning.

“He went in line and then decided he wanted to leave,” Scherman said. “He walked out (the) door while other kids were entering.”

Scherman claimed no one noticed his young son had wandered away from school.

The child, also named Richard, said he just wanted to go home, “to give my mom hugs and kisses.”

“Most kids they know better, but an autistic kid doesn’t know better,” Scherman said.

Scherman said the sixth grader walked down the block to a busy street where he crossed the road alone and then walked about a half mile.

“I got into the yellow truck and asked her for a ride,” the little boy said. “I thought it was a taxi though.”

Thankfully, it was an elderly woman who realized something was terribly wrong. She called a relative who works for Chula Vista Police Department and he took the boy home.

Read more at: http://www.10news.com/news/autistic-boy-wanders-away-from-school

“I just pulled over here to text my wife and check in on her,” Duke said. “I left some friends’ house that live out here. A young man on a bicycle pulled up and asked me to call 911 and said they’d just pulled a little girl out of the creek.”

Duke said he called those friends, who called the police and then rushed to the scene.

“We wrapped her up in some jackets that we had, and I just kind of held on to her and hugged her and told her everything’s going to be fine,” Lucia McCreight said. “That we were going to take care of her until we could find her parents.”

Her parents were grateful.

“She’s got autism, and we just found out about it,” mom Melissa Maddox said. “She just likes to wander off and do her own thing sometimes.”

Soon after Roman Forest police blasted her picture on social media, word got back to her parents. Maddox said the girl’s name is Melodie and that she recently celebrated a birthday, and that she loves going into the backyard to play with her pet pig. But she’s kept her in lately because of the cool temperatures.

“She’s just been asking for days to go outside, and I guess she just slipped outside without saying anything after I left for work,” she said.
Maddox said her husband was watching Melodie when she slipped out.

“We’re always trying to stay on top of her,” she said. “He’s a really good dad. He’s always making sure she’s OK.”

Melodie was taken to the Pediatric Emergency Center at Kingwood Medical Center and reunited with her mom and stepfather there.

Roman Forest police say they’re not filing charges at this point, but that could change depending on Melodie’s injuries.

Read more at: http://6abc.com/news/boys-rescue-4-year-old-girl-with-autism-from-creek/1760306/

PEARLAND, Texas — Police in Texas have found the body of the 9-year-old autistic nephew of former NBA player Marcus Camby who went missing during the family’s Thanksgiving celebration on Camby’s property.

Pearland Police Lt. Onesimo Lopez said Marcus McGhee was found in a body of water near the family’s property just before 7 a.m., CBS affiliate KHOU reports.

In a Facebook post, the department wrote:

“The Pearland Police Department regrets to inform the community that Marcus McGhee has been found. Today’s search will be called off. We thank all of you for your efforts. The family is now in need of our prayers. Additional details will be released later.”

Lopez said there appeared to be no signs of foul play. McGhee, who had autism and was nonverbal, was reported missing Thursday. He had traveled to Texas from Connecticut for the holiday. Because of his autism, search crews were told he couldn’t cry out for help and that loud noises could scare him away.

On Friday, officers targeted areas between Cullen Boulevard and Hatfield Road and Brookside and Bailey Roads. Detectives also asked businesses along FM 518 or West Broadway to look at their cameras–to see if they might have caught a glimpse of something in a search that investigators admitted was tough.

Hundreds of people from the community gathered to help in the search for Marcus.

A Coast Guard helicopter had searched local bodies of water Thursday but found nothing.

Read more at http://www.cbsnews.com/news/marcus-mcghee-missing-boy-with-autism-nephew-of-marcus-camby-ex-nba-player-found-dead/ 

MCLENNAN COUNTY, Texas (KWTX) The death of a 12-year-old autistic boy who wandered away from his China Spring area home and was later found facedown in a neighbor’s backyard pool left residents shaken.

Friends and neighbors identified the boy Monday as Christopher Gardner.

He was reported missing Sunday afternoon from his home in the 1300 block of Bend of the Bosque Road.

Neighbors began to search for him, using four wheelers and golf carts to scour the sparsely populated area.

The McLennan County Sheriff’s Office sent its helicopter to assist in the effort to find the boy, whom a 17-year-old girl later found floating in the pool behind her family’s home, about three-tenths of a mile from where he lived.

“To have something like this happen it’s just so sad such a tragedy,” McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara said Monday.

Neighbors performed CPR and Gardner was taken to a Waco hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

No autopsy was ordered.

Read more at http://www.kwtx.com/content/news/12-year-old-boy-dies-after-drowning-in-pool-402176336.html

YOUNGSVILLE, La. (KLFY) – Youngsville Police Chief Rickey Boudreaux has reported that the body of missing 6-year old Autistic boy, Keaton Jones, was recovered in a pond located near his home.

The boy was last seen at home in the Fortune Hills Subdivision around 1:00 p.m. Sunday.

His family began the search for him with help from neighbors according to Boudreaux. He says his office was contacted around 1:45 p.m. when the child was not found by the parents.

Police continue to investigate the incident but had said earlier that it didn’t appear the boy had been abducted.

Read more at: http://nbc4i.com/2016/09/19/body-of-missing-6-year-old-autistic-boy-found-in-pond-near-his-home/

TUSTIN, Calif. (KABC) —

A 12-year-old boy with autism was fatally struck by a vehicle in Tustin on Friday evening.

At 7:52 p.m., a nanny called police and alerted them that the boy was missing. Minutes later, multiple 911 calls reported a child pedestrian had been hit by a vehicle in the area of Jamboree Road and Portola Parkway, according to the Tustin Police Department.

Emergency responders arrived at the scene and found the victim unresponsive, police said. He was transported to Children’s Hospital of Orange County, where he succumbed to his injuries.

The driver of the vehicle, an adult male, remained at the crash site and was cooperating with investigators, according to the police department. News video showed investigators examining a black pickup truck at the location.

Neither speed, drugs nor alcohol were involved, authorities said, adding that the boy ran across the center divider and into traffic lanes before he was hit.

Read more at http://abc7.com/news/boy-with-autism-12-fatally-struck-by-vehicle-in-tustin-police-say/1487255/