TRAGEDY

Authorities Find Body Believed to Be Missing Autistic 6-Year-Old Maddox Ritch

Police chief says through tears: “This is not the end that we had hoped for.”

The FBI announced Thursday that a body found near a North Carolina highway is believed to be that of 6-year-old Maddox Rich, who went missing in a park on Saturday. “With heavy hearts we announce a body believed to be 6-year-old Maddox Ritch was found at approximately 1 p.m. off of Marietta Street/Old Dallas Highway in Gastonia,” the FBI’s Charlotte office tweeted. “Maddox’s parents have been notified of the discovery. The investigation is ongoing.” According to the Gastonia Police Department, the body will be identified by the medical examiner’s office. NBC News reports that the autistic and nonverbal little boy was last seen by his “father and another adult at Rankin Lake Park” on Saturday. “I’ve been feeling the blame since this happened. I just wish I would have caught him before he got too far away from me. It’s broken my heart to think that I just let him get too far away,” the boy’s father, Ian Ritch, has said. Gastonia Police Chief Robert Helton said through tears in a Thursday press conference: “I’m heartbroken today. Our community is heartbroken. Our searchers, our investigators, this is not the end that we had hoped for. This is what we had worried could happen, and it’s just been a tough day for everyone.”