{"id":831,"date":"2026-08-08T15:22:30","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/2026\/08\/08\/5-year-old-boy-with-autism-found-dead-in-pond-hours-after-he-vanished-from-family-home\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:22:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:22:30","slug":"5-year-old-boy-with-autism-found-dead-in-pond-hours-after-he-vanished-from-family-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/2026\/08\/08\/5-year-old-boy-with-autism-found-dead-in-pond-hours-after-he-vanished-from-family-home\/","title":{"rendered":"5-Year-Old Boy with Autism Found Dead in Pond Hours After He Vanished from Family Home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The boy went missing from his home in Florida the morning of Friday, Aug. 7<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/OUSuh2DzVt3uGJjGOtVqXSSc2Js=\/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)\/search-ends-in-tragedy-northgreen-080826-993de871fa6c4c45a6160d85853db3f2.jpg\" alt=\"A 5-year-old missing boy was found dead in a retention pond in FloridaCredit: Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office\/Facebook\" title=\"The 5-year-old boy who was found dead in a retention pond at Northgreen at Carrollwood apartment complex\" \/><figcaption><i>A 5-year-old missing boy was found dead in a retention pond in Florida<br \/>Credit: Hillsborough County Sheriff&#8217;s Office\/Facebook<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>NEED TO KNOW<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>A 5-year-old boy with autism was reported missing on Friday, Aug. 7, after disappearing from his family\u2019s Florida apartment<\/li>\n<li>He was later found dead in a retention pond near the property<\/li>\n<li>Officials noted this is the second drowning of a child with autism near the complex in under two months<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A missing child with autism has been found dead in a retention pond near his family\u2019s Florida home.<\/p>\n<p>The 5-year-old nonverbal boy was last seen by his father after falling asleep at their home in the area of Cypress Mulch Circle and Northgreen Avenue at around 5 a.m. local time on Friday, Aug. 7, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.teamhcso.com\/News\/PressRelease\/a8d937f1-6ee2-4c46-95a4-fc1f6108c123\/26-136\" data-type=\"\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Hillsborough County Sheriff\u2019s Office (HCSO)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe received [a 911 call] around 9:30 a.m. from a frantic father who said that his child has gone missing,\u201d HCSO Sheriff Chad Chronister said at a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=t0i0pLThtIw&amp;t=46s\" data-type=\"\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">press conference<\/a>. \u201c..He told us that he last saw his child around 5:00 a.m.. The child sleeps with him, and he was trying to get his son to drink something \u2026 and they both fell back asleep. He woke up at 9 a.m., saw that his son wasn\u2019t in bed with them [or inside] the apartment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chronister said the boy\u2019s father discovered that the \u201cscreened-in area\u201d outside the home \u201chad been broken and pushed open\u201d before he called the police.<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/_sYl3WF88I9o92DD8Rf52Xl5fMs=\/fit-in\/1280x960\/northgreen-carroll-wood-080826-21158ed0abd9478b8fe6639ead8f7ddf.jpg\" alt=\"Northgreen at Carrollwood apartment complex in Greater Northdale, Florida\" title=\"Northgreen at Carrollwood apartment complex.\" \/><figcaption><i>Northgreen at Carrollwood apartment complex in Greater Northdale, Florida<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for <a href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/people-news-daily-newsletter-sign-up-8692701\">PEOPLE\u2019s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n<p>The HCSO said that more than 140 deputy sheriffs searched for the boy with assistance from the HCSO\u2019s aviation unit, drone deputies, a canine unit, and a dive team. They eventually located the child\u2019s body at a pond near the family\u2019s home.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe [canine team] dog continued to go around this retention pond that\u2019s about 30 feet located behind the apartment, so at that point \u2026 the dive team started there,\u201d said Chronister. \u201cThe dive team member entered the water into about five feet, waist-high water \u2026 and we ended up recovering a deceased five-year-old child.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In HCSO\u2019s initial missing report of the boy shared on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo\/?fbid=1377461837850631&amp;set=pb.100067604824090.-2207520000\" data-type=\"\" data-component=\"link\" data-source=\"inlineLink\" data-ordinal=\"1\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Facebook<\/a>, he was described as approximately 3 feet 11 inches tall with brown hair and \u201clast seen wearing a beige Spider-Man shirt, a diaper, and no pants.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/DYSqmr9dwve16PJTvRteWUg7CLo=\/fit-in\/1280x960\/Police-car-Hillsborough-County-Sheriffs-Office-080225-01-5e69eb542ddd44f1bd68126a982d9b4c.jpg\" alt=\"Hillsborough County Sheriff\u2019s Office police carCredit: Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office\/Facebook\" title=\"Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office police car\" \/><figcaption><i>Hillsborough County Sheriff\u2019s Office police car<br \/>Credit: Hillsborough County Sheriff&#8217;s Office\/Facebook<\/i><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Chronister said this is the second autistic child to drown near the apartment complex in less than two months. He urged parents to ensure their children take swimming lessons to avoid a similar tragedy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRegardless of the age of your child, regardless of their circumstances \u2014\u00a0if they have special needs, it doesn\u2019t matter \u2014 get them swimming lessons,\u201d he said. \u201cWe know scientifically proven that autistic children are prone and attracted to bodies of water.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Chronister added, \u201cI am incredibly proud of how quickly our agency responded, but my heart breaks that the outcome wasn\u2019t what we all prayed for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>PEOPLE has reached out to HCSO for further comment.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The boy went missing from his home in Florida the morning of Friday, Aug. 7 A 5-year-old missing boy was found dead in a retention pond in FloridaCredit: Hillsborough County Sheriff&#8217;s Office\/Facebook NEED TO KNOW A 5-year-old boy with autism was reported missing on Friday, Aug. 7, after disappearing from his family\u2019s Florida apartment He [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-everything-else"],"wpmagazine_modules_lite_featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":"","cvmm-medium":"","cvmm-medium-plus":"","cvmm-portrait":"","cvmm-medium-square":"","cvmm-large":"","cvmm-small":"","full":""},"categories_names":{"1":{"name":"Everything Else","link":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/category\/everything-else\/"}},"tags_names":[],"comments_number":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adsandthings.com\/winews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}