Missing boy’s tablet found near Lehigh Canal, witnesses say

CBS- Authorities in Pennsylvania announced Saturday that the body of a missing 5-year-old autistic boy has been recovered after he went missing during a New Year’s Eve party.

Police say he was playing with a tablet computer when he reportedly wandered away barefoot and without a coat.

“This is being considered a tragic accident, however there will be a full investigation by the Allentown Criminal Investigation Division, in conjunction with the Lehigh County coroner’s office”, Morris said, adding that no foul play is suspected at this time. In this Friday, Jan. 1, 2016, photo, a police helicopter searches East Allentown, Pa., as the search continues in the evening for Jayliel Vega Batista, a missing 5-year-old autistic boy who wandered off from a N…

The newspaper says police have declined to comment on the find, though they summoned divers to Canal Park shortly after 25-year-old Thurman Clark told the newspaper he found the tablet.

Jayliel was last seen running near the home on Thursday, the Allentown Police Department said.

Police were going door to door in the boy’s neighborhood again on Saturday because efforts to track him into some nearby woods were unsuccessful.

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“Everybody stopped what they were doing and they went looking for this child”, one volunteer said.

Instead, police ask anyone who lives in the area to thoroughly search their own property and parked vehicle periodically, in case the boy comes wandering in search of shelter.

Crews searched the woods, a rail yard, industrial buildings, homes, the Lehigh River and canals. Temperatures were near freezing Friday night into Saturday, and rose to only the high 30s.