TO CLOSE

According to Gastonia, North Carolina police Maddox Ritch was last seen on Saturday afternoon. Before his disappearance, he had been last seen with his father and another adult. The authorities say that Ritch is autistic and nonverbal.
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Maddox Ritch, age 6, was last seen at Rankin Lake Park in Gastonia, NB on September 22, 2018.(Photo: Distributed document, via the FBI)

A large park in North Carolina remained closed to the public on Wednesday, while many researchers pursued the hunt for Maddox Ritch, a 6-year-old autistic, non-verbal child who disappeared four days ago.

Maddox was walking Saturday with his father on a paved runway at Rankin Lake Park in Gastonia, while he "decided to leave," Ian Ritch said Wednesday.

"I did not think about it, and he got a little too far from me," said Ritch. "Hello America." "As soon as I got to the point where I could not see him anymore, I started to panic, I could not see him anywhere."

More than 20 law enforcement agencies led by the Gastonia Police and the FBI have focused on each square foot of the 242-acre park. The FBI pledged a $ 10,000 reward for the information leading to Maddox's search, and the authorities followed more than 150 tips.

Maddox has blond hair, blue eyes, weighs 45 pounds, is about 4 feet tall and wore an orange t-shirt with the inscription "I am the Man", black shorts and sandals.

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Agents and agents screened garbage containers and search patrols continued during the night on foot and by mountain bike in the park and surrounding areas. The drones swept the area. An 80-acre lake is slowly draining for clues, and Gastonia SWAT kayak members searched the lake and nearby waterways for clues.

The police were looking for a photographer and a jogger seen in the area who may have seen something. And the authorities even pushed his parents' voice into the park, hoping to attract Maddox.

Ritch said that he was tense, that he had trouble sleeping at night in a comfortable bed, knowing that his son could be lost in the woods.

"I'm going to do everything I can to make sure he's coming home," he said. "I will be looking, waiting, hoping, praying, all I can do to bring him home."

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