Bryan Vasquez missing non verbal autistic 12 year old New Orleans boy found dead in a lagoon amid questions as to his disappearance and death as foul play is not ruled out along with timeliness of search, including his family in ‘unclassified death’ investigation.
A 12-year-old boy with a severe brain condition who went missing from his New Orleans home 12 days ago, has been found dead in a lagoon.
Bryan Vasquez‘s body was found on Tuesday, Aug. 26, after a ‘thermal drone picked up a heat signature’ and ‘found human remains out in the marsh,’ Brian Trascher, the vice president and spokesperson for the United Cajun Navy told media.
Following the discovery, the nonprofit sent the coordinates to state police for the nonverbal autistic boy’s remains to be recovered. Police confirmed later that day that the body was that of the missing non verbal 12-year-old child, WVUE reported.
Investigation into non verbal boy’s death is ongoing with foul play not ruled out
Noted a prior news release from the Louisiana State Police on August 15th following the boy’s disappearance earlier that evening on August 14th, who according to his parents is alleged to have left the family home through a bedroom window:
‘Vasquez suffers from a neurodevelopmental condition and is non-verbal. He also does not understand English or Spanish, according to the LSP. He has been described by police as a Hispanic male with brown eyes and black hair, who is 5 feet 1 inches tall and weighs between 86 and 100 pounds.’
Added the release, ‘He was last seen wearing an adult diaper and is believed to be walking in an unknown direction.’
The recovery followed an extensive multi-agency search effort involving volunteers, law enforcement and cadaver dogs from five different states. According to United Cajun Navy President Todd Terrell, dogs from different search teams independently alerted in the same area of the lagoon, prompting focused efforts that led to the recovery.
What went wrong in search for missing non verbal 12 year old boy?
‘This is indeed a profoundly sad day, but a day for some closure,’ New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Ann Kirkpatrick said during a Tuesday press conference.
Kirkpatrick confirmed that the United Cajun Navy’s drone located his remains about 200 yards into the marsh, not far from where he was reported missing. She said that she’d personally spoken with the boy’s mother and ‘extended our apologies, as well as our condolences.’
An investigation into the boy’s death is ongoing and foul play has not been ruled out, Kirkpatrick said.
In a press release sent around later that day, police said they will be looking into ‘all circumstances’ surrounding his death, which remains unclassified.
‘We’re looking at everyone’s situation, their history, their backgrounds, based on what we’ve been told,’ Kirkpatrick said. ‘That’s why all facts have to be put into context. But there is no suspect. Circumstances is what we have now’
Kirkpatrick said the NOPD also is investigating the department’s own response time, which appears to have included a delay of nearly five hours before an officer arrived the day the boy was reported missing.
‘I think the death of Bryan is a failure,’ Kirkpatrick said. ‘I think it is. We are going to look at everything, and I mean everything.’
The NOPD confirmed later Tuesday that a search warrant has been served for a phone in connection to the case, but did not say whose phone is being searched. The NOPD also said the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services is conducting its own investigation.
An autopsy will be performed by the Orleans Parish Coroner to determine his exact cause of death.
The NOPD asks anyone with information on the case to call 911 or Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111.
