The boy who was caught on security footage walking away from his Maryland home after being reported missing was met with a nightmarish outcome.
Miles McMahon, 5, autistic and non-verbal, disappeared from his home in Waldorf, Maryland, on Sunday morning when his family reported him missing.
But a desperate search by law enforcement led to the discovery of the boy’s body floating in a pond just a short distance from the safety of his own home.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Miles McMahon, 5, was reported missing on Sunday, leading to an extensive search where his body was discovered floating in a pond a short distance from his home in Maryland.
After dive teams conducted a second search in a nearby pond, they discovered the young man’s body floating where he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Family members called 911 after they couldn’t find Miles while searching the area of his home in the Bannister neighborhood.
Home security footage showed the boy wearing a red T-shirt, leaving the house and jumping in his front yard without pants or shoes, according to a news release from the Charles County Sheriff’s Office on Sunday.
Officers arrived at the home in the 1000 block of St. Paul’s Drive around 11 a.m., where they “established a perimeter and immediately focused their attention on nearby ponds and bodies of water.”
The search was exhaustive: search teams, drones, police, diving teams and dogs were deployed in the area where he was last seen. the independent reported.
Police K9 and bloodhounds also responded to the scene along with the sheriff’s office’s search management team, which uses specialized applications for tracking purposes.
In the news release, locals were asked to stay away from the search area, which was primarily taking place in the area of St. Paul’s Drive and Piney Church Road. Residents were asked to stay on sidewalks where possible and stay away from other yards.
Miles, who was autistic and non-verbal, was reported missing to authorities Sunday morning after family members were unable to locate him in their own initial search.
The Charles County Sheriff’s Office conducted an extensive search, primarily of nearby ponds and bodies of water, which included dive teams and K9 units.
The sheriff’s office also urged neighbors to search their own yards, pools, sheds, bushes, trees and other small hiding places the boy might have gotten into.
Those with home security cameras were urged to contact the department if the recorded footage had anything of value that could help in the desperate search.
During the search, the Charles County Sheriff’s Office updated concerned residents on its Facebook, saying, “Thousands could be hiding or afraid of the commotion.” For people who live in the area, turn on your porch and backyard lights.
‘For those searching outside the perimeter, use caution and call 911 with relative information. We have an incredible community and it’s clear that everyone cares a lot.”
Despite searching with no luck in a pond near his home, the Maryland State Police dive team and Department of Natural Resources police returned that same night to check the pond again.
During the secondary search, they found Miles shortly after midnight.
“After hours of searching for 5-year-old Miles McMahon, he was unfortunately located in a pond not far from his home a short time ago and died,” an update from the sheriff’s office on Facebook said Monday.
They shared an additional update on Monday night, which read: “By now, many of you are aware of the tragic loss of Miles McMahon. “The outpouring of care, concern, prayers and love for Miles’ family as well as “All the many, many first responders who worked tirelessly to find Miles meant a lot.”
‘The show of community and the many ways people came together to offer help shows the compassion of Charles County. These incidents are very difficult for first responders, but the grace and care they showed our teams was truly a source of strength.’
“Now, all of our hearts go out to the McMahon family as they endure this unimaginable loss and overwhelming grief.”
Miles was last seen on home security footage wearing only a red T-shirt as he jumped in the front yard and walked away from his home.
Miles is the second autistic child to die from drowning since this summer and is the leading cause of death among children living with this disability.
Ashley Ulrich, a mother whose daughter attends elementary school with Miles, said NBC: ‘Last night I went around and around, just praying for a better result. But when I saw the news around one in the morning, the least I could do was come pay my respects.
Neighbors left flowers, balloons and teddy bears in the pond where he was found, in a show of support for the family.
Miles is the second child to drown in the area since the summer.
In late July, another child who was also autistic and nonverbal was reported missing after attending a community picnic at Bohrer Park in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
The body of 6-year-old Fawzan Hassan was discovered in the pond by a group of volunteers, who then alerted the police. WTO News reported.
The pond that was less than 50 meters from the playground where he was last seen.
In a six-year study, it was found that about half (49 percent) of children with autism attempted to remove themselves from a safe environment, which is four times more than their unaffected siblings, according to National Autism Association.
Drowning is the leading cause of death among children who manage to escape.
In a six-year study, accidental drowning was found to account for 71 percent of deaths among autistic children.
Children with autism are 160 times more likely to die from drowning than the general pediatric population.
