Mohamed Abou Fofana, a four-year-old boy from South Boston, went missing on Mother’s Day.
Fofana who was ‘autistic and nonverbal’ was found dead after being reported missing on Sunday evening.
The search ended in a nightmare on Monday, as State Police discovered his body on the shore of Spectacle Island.
‘With much sadness we report that we located Mohamed’s body at 12.29 PM today on the shoreline of Castle Island,’ the Massachusetts State Police said in an update posted on Twitter.
‘Our detective unit for Suffolk county will conduct the follow up death investigation. We express our deepest condolences to his family.’
Fofana went missing after playing at a park along the shoreline of Castle Island, investigators said.
The four-year-old was playing on a playground with his grandfather and his seven-year-old sister in the large South Boston park when the adult lost sight of him.
Fofana’s mother told NBC 10 Boston that her son was on the autism spectrum and was non-verbal, however he was also energetic and had a tendency to wander.
Fofana’s grandfather searched for him for about half an hour before calling 911 around 7.30pm.
The call started a began a huge search-and-rescue effort, which had help from the US Coast Guard, the Boston Fire Department, Boston EMS, and Boston Police Department marine units, helicopter wings, and dive teams.
However, the exhaustive search was unable to find any trace of the missing boy on Sunday night.
The search was briefly called off early on Monday morning before resuming again around 8.00am.
Fofana’s body was finally found by a marine unit around 12.30pm on Monday.
He was reportedly found on the shore of Spectacle Island, an island about 1 mile off the coast of Castle Island.
