Rescuers recovered the body of a missing 5-year-old nonverbal autistic boy in Idaho on Tuesday after he wandered away from his birthday party.
Matthew Glynn went missing shortly before 6 p.m. on Monday, prompting the Boise Police Department to issue a “Code Red” alert to cell phones and landlines within an 8-mile radius.
Glynn was last seen at his birthday party, surrounded by family and friends, dressed in Batman pajamas and without shoes.
The search included the police department, 15 firefighters from the Boise Fire Department with two fire engines, a brush truck, the dive team, 30 personnel from Idaho Search and Rescue using mountain bikes and UTVs, and community members.
“We played a song that he’s very familiar with and responds to,” Ron Christensen of Idaho Search and Rescue said. “That’s ‘The Wheels on the Bus.'”
Boise Police Department
Rescuers found the boy’s body in a canal half a mile from Boise after searching waterways from Veterans Memorial Parkway to Eagle, including both the Boise Valley Canal and Farmers Union Canal.
“It is heartbreaking to have such a conclusion to this effort when we had so hoped to find Matthew alive and well,” Boise Police Chief Ron Winegar said. “Our hearts are broken for this family, for our community, and our thoughts and prayers are with them.”
Autistic Child and Drownings
This is now the fourth case of a toddler with autism tragically drowning after wandering away from safety.
Fawzan Hassan, an autistic non-verbal child, was missing for 27 hours before his body was found in a pond at Bohrer Park in Maryland on July 28.
In Florida, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office recovered the body of 3-year-old autistic boy Rakim Akbari on July 19 after an extensive search in a retention pond.
Rakim was last seen at the Sheraton Vistana Resort in Lake Buena Vista, a popular vacation destination just a short five-minute drive from Disney World. He had reportedly wandered away from the resort, also wearing only pajamas without shoes or socks.
A week before Akbari’s discovery, authorities also recovered the body of Darrel Beck, a nonverbal autistic 4-year-old boy, in Florida. Darrel had walked out of his house and wandered into a nearby pond on private property.
Newsweek spoke to renowned American psychologist Ami Kim, who has over 30 years of experience studying autism.
He suggested a potential link between water attraction and elopement behavior in individuals with autism. In this context, elopement refers to instances where individuals with autism escape, run or wander away from their caregivers.
Law enforcement officers noted both Glynn and Beck were known to be attracted to water, which may have been a form of attachment.
“Children and adolescents who have that problem tend to run into roads or bodies of water,” Klin said. “Individuals with this profile have double the risk of premature death compared to their typical peers.”
Klin said he hopes society becomes more aware of this issue because the families, caregivers, and children affected have challenges and needs that are not being met.
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