The child disappeared from his family’s apartment Friday morning, prompting a large search before deputies found him in a nearby retention pond.
TAMPA, FL — A 5-year-old boy with autism who was reported missing from his family’s Hillsborough County apartment was found dead in a nearby retention pond Friday morning after more than 140 law enforcement units joined a search for him, authorities said.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said the boy was last seen by a parent around 5 a.m. Aug. 7 inside the family’s home near Cypress Mulch Circle and Northgreen Avenue. A parent awoke around 9 a.m., realized the child was gone and discovered a hole in a screen at the back of the residence, according to investigators. After searching the home and surrounding area, the parent called 911 at 9:31 a.m.
The response quickly expanded across the Northgreen at Carrollwood apartment complex and surrounding area. The sheriff’s office deployed patrol deputies, detectives, its aviation and drone teams, K-9 units and a dive team. Authorities had initially described the boy as nonverbal and said he did not respond to his name, factors that added urgency to efforts to locate him.
Search dogs repeatedly focused on a retention pond behind the apartment complex, according to Sheriff Chad Chronister and local reports from his briefing. Dive team members entered the water, and the child was found dead shortly after 11 a.m. The sheriff’s office did not publicly identify him in its Friday update.
Chronister said every deputy and detective who responded had hoped to return the boy safely to his family. “There are no words that can ease the pain of losing a child,” he said in a statement. He said the sheriff’s office was grieving with the family after the search ended with the child’s death.
The boy had recently turned 5, Chronister said during the briefing. His family had also been preparing for him to begin elementary school, according to local reporting from the sheriff’s comments. Authorities released those details while emphasizing the sudden change facing a family that had expected to mark the start of a new school year.
Chronister said Friday’s death was the second drowning involving a 5-year-old child with autism at the same apartment complex in less than two months. Authorities said the earlier case involved a different child and a separate retention pond in another section of the property. The sheriff’s office did not announce any connection between the two deaths beyond their location and circumstances involving water.
The child’s grandmother, after speaking with Chronister, asked that families be reminded about swimming lessons, according to accounts of the briefing. Chronister repeated that message publicly while discussing the risks posed by the many ponds and other bodies of water found throughout the Tampa area.
The sheriff’s office said the investigation into Friday’s death remains active and ongoing. Officials had not released the child’s name or announced additional investigative findings as of Friday night, and the agency said further updates would come through its Public Affairs Office.
Author note: Last updated August 7, 2026.