Autistic 9-Year-Old Florida Boy Found Dead After Being Kidnapped

Lorenz Duchamps
By Lorenz Duchamps
May 22, 2020US News
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Autistic 9-Year-Old Florida Boy Found Dead After Being Kidnapped
Florida boy Alejandro Ripley, who was kidnapped in The Hammocks, Miami, on May 21, 2020. (Miami-Dade Police Department)

A boy with special needs who was abducted by two men in Florida Thursday night was found dead in a lake Friday morning, authorities said.

Officials confirmed Friday morning that the Amber Alert for missing 9-year-old Alejandro Ripley, who was last seen in The Hammocks, Miami, has been canceled.

“We are very sad to report that the child was found deceased,” the Florida Department of Law Enforcement wrote on Twitter.

Ripley’s body was found floating in a lake at the Miccosukee Golf and Country Club in the southwest area of Miami-Dade near to where the boy was taken Thursday, according to Local10. The lake is about 4 miles from the place the boy was kidnapped.

Authorities said that so far detectives have been unable to make any arrests in connection to the boy’s kidnapping and death.

The boy’s abduction sparked a large search Thursday night after the two men reportedly pursued Ripley’s mother’s vehicle off the road, crashing their own vehicle into it, and blocking her in.

An unidentified male then walked toward Ripley’s mother and demanded the woman hand over drugs. Ripley’s mother told the man she didn’t have any drugs, at which time he snatched her cellphone and pulled her son out of the vehicle.

“The passenger of the vehicle exits the vehicle, approaches the mother, and demands drugs. She says she does not have any drugs. And so the passenger at that point reaches in, grabs her cellphone, steals her cellphone, and takes her child,” Miami-Dade police detective Angel Rodriguez said in a statement.

The abductor and his companion were driving a blue sedan and were identified by police as two black males, Local10 reported. The duo was last seen with the child driving southbound, police said.

Ripley was described by police at the time of his abduction as a white boy, standing 4 feet 11 inches tall, and weighing 120 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes and was last seen wearing a blue Captain America shirt, black shorts, and black Crocs shoes. He also has a scar on his left leg.

Detectives said anyone who has any information regarding this case or has seen the suspects is urged to call 911 or the Miami-Dade Police Department at 305-476-5423.

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