Daddy of an autistic boy who has disappeared from the park talking

The father of a six-year-old autistic boy, who was last seen in a park in North Carolina, said on Wednesday he was guilty of leaving his son out of his sight.

"I think I should catch up with him, do not let him go too far," said father Ian Ritch on ABC's "Good Morning America".

"It's hard to sleep," he added. "I feel guilty because I can go to a house and sleep on the bed," and "he's out in the woods sleeping on the floor and it's very disturbing."

The father and son often go for walks in Rankin Lake Park in North Carolina, and Maddox, who is autistic and non-verbal, often goes ahead, then stops to wait for his father to catch up.

But on Saturday, the child did not slow down and disappeared.

"As soon as I could not see him anymore, I started to panic. I could not see it anywhere, "said Ritch.

Hundreds of FBI officials, the Gastonia Police Department and the Gastonia Fire Department, among other agencies, have roamed the park 24 hours a day since the boy's disappearance.

They even play recordings of the boy's parents' voice in the sprawling woods, hoping to get the boy out.

"If he is lost in the woods, he will be able to hear these messages, and we hope that he will get to the words of his mother and father," said Jason Kaplan, special agent in charge of supervision at FBI. conference Monday, according to CNN.

As research continues, the boy's parents become increasingly concerned that he has not been found.

"After the first day, I thought they'd have found it," Ritch said.

In a moving press conference Tuesday, Maddox's mother, Carrie Ritch, said that he was his "whole world and [her] reason for living."

"I would appreciate that you are at the park on Saturday and that you have seen Maddox, please, please, please, call the phone line, s & ##. You like it, "she said. "Keep praying for him because I just want to go home, please." Whatever you can do.

The authorities also expanded their search two miles beyond the park's boundaries and used drones in the survey. While the FBI is offering a $ 10,000 reward for information that leads to the discovery of Maddox.

The little boy has blond hair, blue eyes, weighs 45 pounds and is 4 feet tall. He was wearing black shorts and an orange t-shirt on which was written "I am the man" by the time he disappeared.

"I'm going to do everything I can to get him home," said Maddox's father. "I'm going to look, wait, hope, pray, all I can do to bring him home."