She pedaled out of the driveway of her West High Street home at about 12.30pm that Saturday afternoon, wearing navy blue sweatpants, a yellow T-shirt that said “Clayton Soccer” and bright blue high-top sneakers.
She had her backpack with her, too, a light gray one with the word “Reckless” on the front pocket.
She sent a chatty, unremarkable text to one friend at 1.30pm and another at 2.27pm, the police would later say.
At about 2.45pm, Justin would eventually tell police, she found her way to his home at 312 East Clayton Ave — down the block and around the corner from the Pasquales, it was a total of 14 houses away from her own, well within the protective limits set by her father.
Anthony watched AJ play football until early afternoon, then came home and fixed Natalie some lunch and took photos of his son with his date before the homecoming dance that night.
“The kids were in and out, I was in and out, it was a regular Saturday,” he says. He first realized something was wrong at 8 pm, when Autumn missed her curfew.
When she hadn’t replied to texts or phone calls by 9.30pm, Anthony called the police.