Found Deceased Canada - Johnson Redhead, 6, didn't arrive at class after school breakfast program, Shamattawa, Manitoba, 18 Sep 2024 *Active Search*

[AmyPond]

I have all the same questions. Was walking to different areas of the school alone a regular thing he did? Did he have a history of leaving or wandering at all?

Have the checked the river? Or down river?

 

[Tealgrove]

I have all the same questions. Was walking to different areas of the school alone a regular thing he did? Did he have a history of leaving or wandering at all?

Have the checked the river? Or down river?

He has run away in the past. He’s obviously a wanderer that requires a great deal of care.

This is so sad.

 

[swanniee11]

I had read that he had taken his shoes off when he ran away. That is a pretty typical thing for a child impacted by autism will do (run away and remove shoes)

Where did they find him last time? Any chance that footprint is from the previous runaway? I'm sick about this poor kid.

 

[georgiajean]

Where did they find him last time? Any chance that footprint is from the previous runaway? I'm sick about this poor kid.

There is no information about that, and whether the previous runaway was from home or school. Details can be gleaned in the community facebook group for those wanting to dig. Reserve schools are chronically understaffed, including teaching assistants, so likely there was no one assigned to watch him.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

I think there is still hope for a miracle, but he needs to be playing somewhere on land, and they need to find him soon.

 

[Sillybilly]

This post lands at random.

For WS members who are familiar with autistic children who go missing, I would just like to clarify for those who aren't familiar, that the term runaway as it applies to Johnson and many other autistic children, does not necessarily mean that they are running away for specific reasons that may be nefarious. Autistic children can look at something in the distance and think I'm going to go there, and it has nothing to do with wanting to remove themselves from a negative situation.

Sorry for the lack of punctuation, but I am on my cell phone and technically challenged in that respect, lol.

 

[Arkay]

What a heartbreaking case!

This poor kid.

I understand that First Persons schools are chronically understaffed. It’s similar on U.S. reservations as well.

Yet even with scant resources, IMO the priority should have been someone like Johnson, who’s already exhibited this tendency to run off.
If they even assigned let’s say a responsible 12th grader to get community credit or something, just for the five minutes to escort him on and off the bus, or to and from class.

IMO fireworks are great if a particular child would be drawn to that. However, maybe Johnson is a child who instead would run further away. His family might know if that would be a good plan or not.

But yes…the river looms.

I’m very fearful for him.

JMO

 

[georgiajean]

Thank yo

This post lands at random.

For WS members who are familiar with autistic children who go missing, I would just like to clarify for those who aren't familiar, that the term runaway as it applies to Johnson and many other autistic children, does not necessarily mean that they are running away for specific reasons that may be nefarious. Autistic children can look at something in the distance and think I'm going to go there, and it has nothing to do with wanting to remove themselves from a negative situation.

Sorry for the lack of punctuation, but I am on my cell phone and technically challenged in that respect, lol.

Thank you! I have worked in programs that serve non-verbal children with Autism. They can have very strong "flight" drives, to get away from anything they don't like (sensory overload or demands or a space they associate with negative memories or...). They also can be so focused on something that they wander away following that something.

IMO, it is possible this child did not find school a positive experience, especially if the school does not have staff trained in supporting and teaching non-verbal students with Autism. If the situation is more about controlling him and keeping him safe than in teaching him skills to navigate the world (and so others can help him navigate) I can see a child wandering off to explore instead.

 

[Chimera]

there was another thread on this but it appears to be gone now - strange
very scary situation
he did not arrive at class ? he's 6 - shouldn't an adult be taking him to class ?
is class in the same building as the breakfast program?
is Johnson autistic ? they should be checking water if so
the setting off of fireworks is a good idea - something they should think about doing in other cases IMO
no word on what surveillance videos showed ?

bbm.

All good questions to ask, esp. the bolded.

A lot of information being shared on the community FB, especially in comments. This little boy took bus to school with siblings and left at the end of breakfast. Nonverbal, autistic, FAS, from what I have gleaned on the community FB.

Bbm.

How much older are the siblings ?
Just wondering if any of them talked to him or know which direction he wandered away.

I think from following past cases here of children with autism; they wander away unexpectedly at times and this is called 'elopements' ; iirc ?
Hope little Johnson is found soon.
Six years old is so vulnerable and with his diagnosis, he wouldn't necessarily know to hunker down in a shed or somewhere if it gets cold or rainy ?
Omo.

 

[slowpoke]

Name of school:

Kisemattawa Kiskinwahamakewikamik School ​

Shamattawa First Nation, Manitoba

Grades: Nursery - Grade 12
School time: 9:00 am - 3:30 pm

(Photo from here - link)

Just looking at the vast, dense woods behind…
And the school building itself looks huge. Do they know for sure he’s left the building?

Very modern looking school building, built in 2015, it appears, according to this LINK

 

[Happypetitvieux01]

DBM

 

[Happypetitvieux01]

Knowing Johnson's condition, I don't understand that police wasn't called by school right away at 9:00 AM on September 18th. Since arrival at school for breakfast, he was on school ground and under their responsibility. Why wait 3 hours for a missing kid at school?

 

[Chimera]

Name of school:

Kisemattawa Kiskinwahamakewikamik School ​

Shamattawa First Nation, Manitoba

Grades: Nursery - Grade 12
School time: 9:00 am - 3:30 pm

(Photo from here - link)
View attachment 532663
Just looking at the vast, dense woods behind…
And the school building itself looks huge. Do they know for sure he’s left the building?

Very modern looking school building, built in 2015, it appears, according to this LINK

Bbm.
They brought search & rescue dogs to the area to look for Johnson.
Did they look inside the school as well ?
Your question raised some dark worries in my mind, sorry.

Graphic warning :


I.e., he went to 'hide' aka a 'hide and seek game' and is still there but he just hasn't been found, like possibly suffocating in a locker or enclosed space ?
Omo.

 

[slowpoke]

Knowing Johnson's condition, I don't understand that police wasn't called by school right away at 9:00 AM on September 18th. Since arrival at school for breakfast, he was on school ground and under their responsibility. Why wait 3 hours for a missing kid at school?

If he was absent from his class at 9:00, what is the protocol—I imagine word goes to the front office, and the front office makes either makes calls to the home to inquire, IF the parent hasn’t already made the call their child will be absent. (Many years since my kids were in school, but I thought it worked that way, so, JMO)

But, upthread, it said the phones were down that morning.

Then, Shamattawa is a fly-in community, 2 hours from Winnipeg.
BUT, then the Search & Rescue team got delayed because the plane was down and they had to look for a charter to fly them instead.

Just a series of unfortunate events, it seems, prevented a quicker response.

JMO

 

[NewMommy09]

Oh my. I'm just mentally rehashing several cases I've read over the years where a child went missing from a school, searches centering outside of the school, and ultimately the child was found deceased somewhere on school grounds, including under bleachers and rolled up in gym mats. Those cases were older kids but I really hope they very very thoroughly search the school itself. Where could he hide in the room where breakfast was served? What places would he likely go to next from there? Could he have walked out of the school straight from that room, or would he have to walk through other parts of the school to exit? Are there open lockers, cupboards, closets that could be accessed? Anywhere within the school where he could have gotten himself locked in after entering? Is there a lock in freezer near the cafeteria or what serves as such?
Is there a place in the school that might feel safe or comfortable to him? Somewhere he would go to calm down?

 

[LadyL]

Name of school:

Kisemattawa Kiskinwahamakewikamik School ​

Shamattawa First Nation, Manitoba

Grades: Nursery - Grade 12
School time: 9:00 am - 3:30 pm

(Photo from here - link)
View attachment 532663
Just looking at the vast, dense woods behind…
And the school building itself looks huge. Do they know for sure he’s left the building?

Very modern looking school building, built in 2015, it appears, according to this LINK

oh wow it's huge
still no word on cameras ...

 

[georgiajean]

According to his guardians (they have not been named in media, so not naming them here), from comments in the Community FB:
JR went to school on bus with other kids from household. He lives with guardians at this time due to his disabilities, but is connected with family.
Bus driver reported JR was dropped off at school.
Adult at breakfast reported what JR ate for breakfast, and that he passed them on his way out the door to go to class.
During transition from breakfast to classrooms, another student told a teacher/adult that JR took off his shoes and went into the bushes, and student wanted to go get him, but student was told to go to class. IF this is true, the school has a ton of liability here.
JR was seen on school video leaving campus once video was checked.
Phones were down, so it took time to get the word to authorities and guardians.
When he didn't get off the bus for lunch, guardians knew something was wrong.

 

[georgiajean]

At last, some helpful CBC media reports. There is lots more in the articles, I just clipped some relevant bits.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/search-continues-for-six-year-old-shamattawa-1.7330149

RCMP said on Friday that Johnson is non-verbal and was last seen wearing a mostly blue sweater with a grey hood.

Police were contacted about Johnson's disappearance around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. Community members and RCMP officers immediately started a search in and around the northeastern Manitoba First Nation, combing wooded areas, trails, roads and sheds and checking construction equipment, police said.

The terrain in the area is also "very difficult" for ground search and rescue because there are a lot of trees and marsh, Settee said.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/missing-boy-shamattawa-first-nation-1.7328128

He said searchers "do have temperatures working in our favour" — temperatures were not expected to drop lower than the mid-teens overnight. (Celcius)

Eight Canadian Rangers who live in Shamattawa First Nation were immediately deployed and will continue to work with the RCMP for the next 72 hours.

But as the search continues in Shamattawa, some residents are experiencing landline phone disruptions after a fire damaged some Bell MTS infrastructure in the area, the company said in a statement.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/johnson-redhead-search-shamattawa-1.7330609

Sgt. Paul Manaigre said Saturday that two flights of searchers arrived Friday night and two more would arrive during the day, bringing 30 to 40 more experienced searchers from Winnipeg, Thompson and Pimicikamak Cree Nation to join the ground crews of about 50 to 80 community members in Shamattawa.

"Now it's just a matter of putting them out there … getting into the woods. This is where we believe he is," said Manaigre, who spoke to CBC on Saturday afternoon after a ground search.

A helicopter search of the riverbanks was planned for later in the afternoon, he said.

"Family is not giving up and they just wanna be out there, they won't come home yet, until they found him," Johnson's aunt Sheila Reigns wrote in a Facebook post Saturday.

Manaigre said the search has been largely focused on bushes in the west of the community, near its nursing station, after tracks were spotted in the gravel pits there. It's not yet known if the tracks are Johnson's.

In addition to the tracks spotted in the gravel pits, a small footprint believed to be a child's was found in the muskeg a kilometre north of the community on Thursday.

"If he's out there, there is water to drink pretty much anywhere," he said. "I'm hoping we can get some good news today."

 

[slowpoke]

Regarding phone service:

In the brochure for prospective teachers to the school, it says

Wi-Fi/cellular service
Wi-Fi is good and provided through Xplornet and Broadband BNC. There is no cellular service in the community.


Untechy me doesn’t really understand it, but I thought I’d add this here, since talk of the phone service being disrupted or down.

 

[airportwoman]

Wow, this is an incredibly remote location. It's 100 miles or more to the next town in every direction, and it seems that the only way in or out is by river, or air.