April 15 (UPI) — A teenager with autism has been found alive in Utah nearly three years after he went missing from Clearlake, Calif., in September 2019.
Connerjack Oswalt, who was 16 when he went missing, was found last week by deputies with the Summit County Sheriff’s Office in the small mountain community of Jeremy Ranch about 10 miles north of Park City.
“Over the past couple weeks, many in our community called us about a homeless person wandering around the Kimball Junction area, pushing a shopping cart,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
“Deputies responded each time and offered services to the young man, who was NOT violating any laws — he refused any help.”
Officials said that Oswalt, 19, was identified after a concerned resident reported seeing him again on April 9 sleeping outside of Jeremy’s Store, a convenience store and gas station.
“Deputies quickly responded and found a cold young man. They got him in their warm patrol vehicle and began digging to find out who the man was,” officials said.
“Through past interactions and the Saturday interaction, it was clear to deputies that the man communicated differently.”
Officials fingerprinted Oswalt and found that there had been a warrant issued for him in Nevada under a different spelling for an assault on a police officer, according to NBC News.
Deputies then found that Oswalt had been reported missing to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, despite the different spellings of his name, and contacted his family who had relocated from California to Idaho after their home was damaged in a wildfire.
Sheriff Justin Martinez told KSTU that “there wasn’t a dry eye in the room” when Oswalt was reunited with his mother and stepfather.
“We’re just grateful that he’s safe and he’s alive and we have our son back. That’s the most important thing ever for us,” said Oswalt’s mother, Suzanne Flint.
Data from the American Academy of Pediatrics shows that nearly half of children with autism spectrum disorder go missing from their environment at least once.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has reported that 286 children on the autism spectrum went missing in 2021 and that drowning deaths are among the biggest concerns for those who go missing.
