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Maddox disappeared during a walk with his father in a Gastonia Park. During a thorough search, authorities used dogs, drones and sonar, and partially drained an 80-acre lake to better see its shoreline.
Maddox's body was found in a creek about one kilometer east of Rankin Lake Park, where he was last seen with his father and a friend, said Gastonia's fire chief, Phil Welch.
"I'm sorry," Gastonia police chief Robert Helton said last week. "Our community is heartbroken, our researchers, our investigators, it is not the end we were hoping for."
The body was partially submerged in 2 to 3 feet of water. The area, covered with scrub, had been searched many times.
The forensic doctor's office positively identified the remains, Gastonia police said on Monday. The results of the autopsy are not complete.
The investigators are still hoping to talk to people in the park that day to piece together what happened to Maddox, which was non-verbal.
Brooke Sheppard told CNN that she saw "jumping, jogging, being a kid".
Father is crying his lost son
Maddox's father, Ian Ritch, said he and a friend were walking when his son was running ahead, probably caused by a running jog. Maddox was about 25 to 30 feet away when he broke into a sprint, Ritch said.
Ritch said that he "just gave him a little leeway, freedom," but he had a clear view of his son. Maddox often ran in front, but let him catch up, said Ritch.
"I could not catch him – I feel guilty for letting him take a step ahead of me before I start running after him," Ritch told reporters last week.
Jason Kaplan, a special FBI supervisory officer, said the investigators wanted to determine the cause and manner of death, as well as the exact movements of the boy.
Kaplan pleaded for anyone with information to come forward. "There is a lot of information that Maddox was where the family indicated and that his movements matched those indicated by the family," he said.
On Thursday night, Ritch posted an emotional message on his Facebook page in response to the announcement of his son's death.
"I had big plans with my son, I wanted us to go ball fishing and play at the campsite, I wanted to be his hero," he wrote. "I wanted him to say that I was more than superman or batman for him.I wanted people to ask him who his hero is and what he says my dad.Now I'm not a hero, I could neither save him nor protect him, I would give anything to go back and save him. "
CNN's Justin Gamble, Dianne Gallagher, Darran Simon, and Ray Sanchez contributed to this report.
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