Missing 8-year-old boy with autism found dead in Texas lake, sheriff's office says

Rosie Nguyen Image
Sunday, August 25, 2024
Body of missing 8-year-old recovered from lake near his home, Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office says
An 8-year-old boy with autism was found dead Sunday morning after going missing on Saturday, the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office said.

RICHMOND, Texas -- An 8-year-old boy with autism was found dead Sunday morning after going missing early Saturday morning in Texas, the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office said.

ABC Houston affiliate KTRK saw two people with Texas EquuSearch retrieve the body of Ryan Akabusi from a lake at a park near his home around 6:45 a.m. on Sunday.

The child's mom, Ademorowa Oladeinde told KTRK on Saturday that home surveillance footage showed her son leaving their house in the 19900-block of Kendall Lake Drive at 4:56 a.m. which is in Richmond, a southwest suburb of Houston.

Half an hour later, her neighbor's camera captured him walking on a nearby street.

Oladeinde said she later found a pair of his shoes on the road.

A local Amber Alert was issued late Saturday afternoon and Texas EquuSearch organized a search party to comb the Lakemont neighborhood.

The Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office cordoned off parts of a retention pond and closed a road where deputies could be seen searching with K9s.

FBCSO Cpt. Dalia Simons said crews detected unusual activity in the lake on their sonar after dark and waited until sunrise to search near Lakemont Bend and Bright Summer.

She couldn't confirm how the boy got into the water but said it didn't appear that there were signs of foul play.

Investigators will now look for more surveillance video in the neighborhood to piece together the timeline of Akabusi's disappearance.