JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A missing 5-year-old boy was found dead in a pond on Sunday, about two hours after he was reported missing, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said.
JSO Asst. Chief Brian Kee said Mohamad Waleen Mohamad Nour was reported missing by his parents at 8:48 a.m. after he was last seen wearing a blue and yellow shirt and a pull-up around 6 a.m. on Stone Pond Drive, near the intersection of Beach and Hodges boulevards, according to News 6 partner News4Jax.
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Kee said officers arrived within minutes and a search began. Kee said 32 JSO officers, 48 personnel with the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department, K-9s, boats, drones and a helicopter were involved. Shortly after 10 a.m., the Sheriff’s Office posted the boy’s photo on social media and asked for the public’s help locating him.
Around 10:50 a.m., Kee said, a JFRD boat found the boy dead in a pond just east of his neighborhood.
Kee said it appeared the child, who had autism and was nonverbal, got out of this home through the front door.
“The parents have tried to take steps to keep him guarded,” Kee said at a media briefing Sunday afternoon. “It looks like he went out the front door, maybe unlatched it. The door was found unlatched this morning by when they called police.”
Homicide detectives are now investigating.