Missing 8-Year-Old Boy with Autism Found Safe in Water Rescue

An 8-year-old boy with autism went missing from his family’s home last month. Police in Maryland found him and saved him.

Fatmata Zine thanked the police for finding her son Nadeem Conde after he got lost from their home around 11 p.m. one night when it was about 40 degrees outside in a video interview that WJLA shared on April 29.

The event took place on April 12, according to WUSA.

“I was scared to death that I would never see my son again.” I was praying while I cried. Zine told reporters, “They did a great job, and I was very happy in the end.”

Police in Prince George’s County posted video of the brave rescue on their Facebook page. Helicopter spotter Cpl. Chris Elrod arrived in The Guardian, the police helicopter.

Elrod told the press that he knows kids with autism can be drawn to water, which is what made him look further and find a lake, where he saw Nadeem from above.

Corporal Everett Mason tracked the child from the ground with the help of infrared cameras that Elrod used.

The person watching from the chopper said over the radio, “Person sitting here on the edge of the lake.”

When Mason, an officer with the Special Operations K9 Division, showed up with his flashlight, Elrod told him to follow certain instructions: “The officer coming down the path, go left.” At the split, go left on the path and then right on the next one. “Head for the water.”

The police officer turned around while Mason was using his flashlight, Mason said at a press meeting. It made me feel a little better, but he looked away a little, so I wanted to reach out and touch him. He might have gone back into the water, but I wasn’t sure.

Elrod praised his fellow first responder and said, “When Mason sticks out his hand and grabs the child’s hand, I felt like I could breathe again.”

He also said, “Being a parent and a grandparent, I know how that must feel to be reunited with your child.”

He said, “When I saw him in the water, my heart sank.” He was further down in the water at one point, and I didn’t want him to come back up.

Mason told the news source that Nadeem was “cold to the touch” and “wet from the shoulder down,” which suggests that he was already in the water before help came.

“Just feeling relieved to have found him; things could have turned out very differently,” Mason said.