A nine-year-old boy with autism who had vanished from his Colorado home into the woods was located by a drone and subsequently rescued. The Arvada Police Department deployed the drone minutes after the nonverbal child's family reported him missing.
The child reportedly left a secured backyard around 7:45 p.m. on July 31, prompting an extensive search that included drone surveillance with thermal imaging. Police located the boy emerging from trees on the south side of Ralston Creek, an area that might have been difficult to spot from ground patrols.
Drone footage showed the barefoot child running toward a police officer and high-fiving him. The area where he was found was characterized by towering trees, a creek, and tall grass. The boy's father arrived shortly after his son's recovery. According to his parents, the boy found a weak point in the yard's fencing to get out.
The Arvada Police Department has been training its officers to better understand and interact with individuals diagnosed with autism. Pastor Kevin Shive, a police chaplain involved in the training, suggested that this preparation contributed to the successful rescue.
This incident is one of several recent cases where drones have aided in locating missing children with autism. In April, a drone helped locate a 12-year-old boy near the Animas River in Durango, Colorado. In January, a drone assisted in finding a nonverbal boy with autism in DeSoto, Texas. Last July, a four-year-old nonverbal autistic girl who went missing in Milton, Wisconsin, was found after six drones were deployed.