Found Deceased NC - Maddox Ritch, 6 w/Autism, Gastonia, 22 Sept 2018 #2

[book-thinker]

Maddox gave his parents so much love, his mother is devastated with her loss.
By letting his son run ahead and not catching up to him. Maddox's father will live with this guilt, for the rest of his life.
I hope the family finds peace. I believe, Maddox is in God's arms.

 

[Starkville]

And she also says he was running Towards the park office. What time was this and what is the proximity of the park office as to where he was found?

That’s what stuck out to me! And did she mean he was running in the general direction? Or was it directly in view and he was running a beeline to it? And I wonder if any of those women realized that he had autism, if he displayed any atypical behavior besides not speaking. If he were acting scared or distressed or happy...

 

[SuperTmo]

Little legs can run faster than you realise.
We lived on a hill with a main road close by, when I had to hang clothes on the line I had to teather my boy to the clothes line because he’d take off. Maybe it’s unacceptable but that’s what I had to do to keep him safe and close to me. Also when shopping I had to have him harnessed.
View attachment 149130

Love from Australia.

I’d much rather see a kid in a backpack harness than see that he drowned in a creek. I *know* little legs are fast. Kids are way faster than me. Which is why this dad was playing with fire when letting him run ahead all the time.

 

[MsMarple]

<modsnip: quoted post was removed>

The search for Maddox intensified with crews using planes, helicopters and drones in the air, and ATVs and police K9 on the ground, as well as checking manholes and drainage pipes.

“The search was an evidence grid search and that focuses on not just finding a person the size of a 6-year-old, but any small, minute piece of evidence,” Kaplan said earlier in the week.

MISSING 6-YEAR-OLD MADDOX RITCH: 'Just a sweet innocent child': Memorial grows for 6-year-old Maddox Ritch

The appeal for potential witnesses came as the FBI’s Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team searched the lake Wednesday with sonar and agents who were trained “to locate even the smallest possible piece of evidence underwater,” Gastonia Police said in a statement.

‘Not the ending we had hoped for’ after body believed to be missing boy’s is found
That was the day before Maddox was found. I haven't seen anything about LE actually finding evidence, just looking for evidence, both in the lake and on the ground.

 

[LietKynes]

LE is STILL looking for witnesses.
Just not good at all.....
So, the lady who thought she saw the three of them may have been mistaken ?
And at this point it appears there may be no sec. footage of them at the park... which would mean they (dad, girlfriend, and Maddox) still might have been there ---but with no cameras that have them on video.
So LE wants someone to come forward.

 

[Gardener1850]

It brings up the touchy issue of, if you found a child's body, would you even want to report it? After what Kronk went through after finding CA, I have often wondered...hopefully the police did not question the guy who found Maddox.

Especially since the police are still investigating the incident...

Maddox was found by a team of searchers.

 

[rosesfromangels]

I'm trying to better understand the geography of the creek in relation to the lake. Is it a runoff of the lake? Could Maddox have entered in to the water at the lake and been swept through to the creek? Is that even possible? If there was a current, the damage to the remains make sense if he traveled through the water vs. being deposited in the creek. I'm sorry to even mention that.
Sigh....it's especially tough when the little ones are lost like this.

Amateur opinion and speculation

 

[Tuliptiptoe]

LE is STILL looking for witnesses.
Just not good at all.....
So, the lady who thought she saw the three of them may have been mistaken ?
And at this point it appears there may be no sec. footage of them at the park... which would mean they (dad, girlfriend, and Maddox) still might have been there ---but with no cameras that have them on video.
So LE wants someone to come forward.

Or maybe this is like the Sierra Lamar case (I think it was the Lamar case) Where LE was asking for assistance finding a car they had already found. They had some reason to give the impression they needed help.

Moo

 

[mickey2942]

Maddox was found by a team of searchers.

Good. The way I read it, it sounded like a random hiker.

It would not surprise me if Maddox had significant scratches, bruises, scrapes, from being lost in an area with heavy brush.

Very sad.

 

[MsMarple]

I'm trying to better understand the geography of the creek in relation to the lake. Is it a runoff of the lake? Could Maddox have entered in to the water at the lake and been swept through to the creek? Is that even possible? If there was a current, the damage to the remains make sense if he traveled through the water vs. being deposited in the creek. I'm sorry to even mention that.
Sigh....it's especially tough when the little ones are lost like this.

Amateur opinion and speculation

LE says no because there's a screen in the lake where the water flows into the creek. And we don't yet know if Maddox' body sustained any damage. Hopefully we'll learn more soon.

The body was found near a bridge by the creek. While the location was within walking distance of the park, investigators said it was unlikely Maddox was swept from the lake into the creek because of a screen that blocks the area feeding into the creek.

Body believed to be 6-year-old Maddox Ritch found after six-day search

 

[rosesfromangels]

Or maybe this is like the Sierra Lamar case (I think it was the Lamar case) Where LE was asking for assistance finding a car they had already found. They had some reason to give the impression they needed help.
Moo

They wanted to track the movements of the Perp without tipping him off that they knew who he was. In the Lamar case, they were tracking him closely; they knew who he was.

 

[rosesfromangels]

LE says no because there's a screen in the lake where the water flows into the creek. And we don't yet know if Maddox' body sustained any damage. Hopefully we'll learn more soon.
Body believed to be 6-year-old Maddox Ritch found after six-day search

Thank you MsMarple.
If it were me, I'd have divers check that/those screen(s) to insure they hadn't been damaged to where a child's body could have passed through.

 

[Gardener1850]

I'm trying to better understand the geography of the creek in relation to the lake. Is it a runoff of the lake? Could Maddox have entered in to the water at the lake and been swept through to the creek? Is that even possible? If there was a current, the damage to the remains make sense if he traveled through the water vs. being deposited in the creek. I'm sorry to even mention that.
Sigh....it's especially tough when the little ones are lost like this.

Amateur opinion and speculation

The lake and creek are connected but the FBI said their are screens that would have prevented his body from flowing from the lake to the creek. He could not have drowned in the lake and floated to where he was found. If it was accidental, he could have fallen in the creek. The creek flows right by the park and in the presser they described a walkway from the park that runs next to the creek and across/under the road. It is a future greenway walking trail that is planned to connect two area parks, so part of it is dirt, not cement like the path around the lake. But my understanding from the presser was that he could have taken that path from the park to get near where he ended up in the creek. We don't know where he originally entered the creek, however, so it makes it hard to guess if he cut through the woods in the park or if he ran alongside the creek on the trail for a bit.

You can see part of the undeveloped path here (look at all map links below and follow path):
Google Maps
Google Maps
Google Maps

 

[Gardener1850]

Good. The way I read it, it sounded like a random hiker.

It would not surprise me if Maddox had significant scratches, bruises, scrapes, from being lost in an area with heavy brush.

Very sad.

He was very hard to see. The LE/FBI men who did the presser said they stood right next to his body and had trouble seeing him there in the water. They said his body was partially submerged in the water. My opinion only-- I think he must have been covered in mud/leaves/tree branches. A lot of branches may have been down from the storms that came through recently (Hurricane Florence).

 

[MelmothTheLost]

The "lake" really isn't huge. It is 80 acres and about 1800' across at its widest point. It is a watershed reservoir more akin to a large pond than a lake proper with a river flowing into and out of it..

1800 feet is 600 yards or 548m.

What are we saying?

That people on one side of the lake would have seen him on the other side if he'd really been there?

That people walking along one side would have seen him 300 yards ahead of them?

That people going about their own family business, keeping an eye on their own kids, would necessarily notice a boy in an orange tshirt amongst all the other kids in brightly coloured tshirts?

Dunno. It feels as though there's an expectation that what might happen in a perfect world must necessarily have happened in this instance.

 

[dfanady]

I'm sorry if I missed if it was noted or confirmed, but how long were the three of them (dad, gf, and Maddox) enjoying the park, before Maddox was lost sight of?

Just because people didn't recall him (due to their own distractions) doesn't mean he wasn't there. I might not remember someone, or a specific rambunctious child, at a park - unless I interacted with them, or happened to see something out of the ordinary.

So, I'm wondering if there was perhaps some sick person there on a nice Saturday, just patiently waiting and watching... maybe they observed this beautiful child Maddox for a while, then when the opportunity presented itself, did something terrible.

I really do hope that is not the case.

I'd also imagine that spending even a short amount of time in that creek, which was described as being full of debris, after numerous weather events, would cause significant damage to a child. I hope they were not caused by a person, but it would be reasonable that after 5 days, he is going to have numerous pre and post mortem injuries. It's no wonder LE and FBI were so emotional.

I'm so sad for this family, and the community.

 

[Gardener1850]

Thank you MsMarple.
If it were me, I'd have divers check that/those screen(s) to insure they hadn't been damaged to where a child's body could have passed through.

They did have several different types of dive teams in the lake so it would not surprise me that they checked that before making the statement about the screens at the presser. Here is a pretty good link with running day-by-day updates of the search details right up until they found him (scroll to the bottom to read Day 2 on up): Body believed to be 6-year-old Maddox Ritch found after six-day search

 

[rosesfromangels]

The lake and creek are connected but the FBI said their are screens that would have prevented his body from flowing from the lake to the creek. He could not have drowned in the lake and floated to where he was found. If it was accidental, he could have fallen in the creek. The creek flows right by the park and in the presser they described a walkway from the park that runs next to the creek and across/under the road. It is a future greenway walking trail that is planned to connect two area parks, so part of it is dirt, not cement like the path around the lake. But my understanding from the presser was that he could have taken that path from the park to get near where he ended up in the creek. We don't know where he originally entered the creek, however, so it makes it hard to guess if he cut through the woods in the park or if he ran alongside the creek on the trail for a bit.

You can see part of the undeveloped path here (look at all map links below and follow path):
Google Maps
Google Maps
Google Maps

Thank you so much Gardener; this is really helpful.
What is troubling, aside from everything about this, is that we know that pedophile perps target parks as their hunting grounds. (In addition to playgrounds or anywhere kids congregate). I know we are all anxious to hear the autopsy report. The alleged bruising etc. can certainly be explained by the terrain, but the condition of the remains are being characterized (if an accurate report), of being in an inexplicable condition. I'm trying to not get caught up in the speculation and wait for the report from LE.

Amateur opinion and speculation

 

[DavidQT69]

I agree 100%. Welcome to Websleuths DavidQT69 and thank you for your service as a Firefighter, EMT and investigator.

Thank you, I've actually been a WebSleuths member for 6 years now (since 2012) I just haven't been very active up until this point. To be honest I completely forgot it existed due to life leading me on my adventures. As far as trying to discern the facts & "websleuth" what happened to little Maddox, unfortunately at this point no matter what we all say it will be conjecture & speculation. The local Police & the FBI are keeping all the details very close to the vest and haven't released any details as of yet. The autopsy was supposed to be completed yesterday from what I understand but nothing has been released yet. You can take that as "they have something juicy they don't wanna release yet" or "they didn't find anything and have no new news yet". As I said before, at this point there's no reason to think the father had anything to do with it. It is WELL documented that Autistic children are fearless & pretty fast runners, AND they are extremely attracted to the water and run right into it without thinking. We just won't know anything until more details are revealed. This will be a very difficult case to try and piece together details until a little more is known.

 

[Lillymac]

They wanted to track the movements of the Perp without tipping him off that they knew who he was. In the Lamar case, they were tracking him closely; they knew who he was.

He was very hard to see. The LE/FBI men who did the presser said they stood right next to his body and had trouble seeing him there in the water. They said his body was partially submerged in the water. My opinion only-- I think he must have been covered in mud/leaves/tree branches. A lot of branches may have been down from the storms that came through recently (Hurricane Florence).

I read that the person who spotted him was in a boat in the creek.