"I'm going now and forever to be a broken man:" Maddox Ritch's father writes an emotional message after discovering a boy's body

Maddox Ritch's 6-year-old father said he would be "forever a broken man" after a body believed to be his young son was found on Thursday.

Maddox, who suffers from autism and does not speak, was in Rankin Lake Park, Gastonia, North Carolina, with his father, Ian Ritch, and another adult when he disappeared on Saturday.

After days of intensive research, Maddox's suspected body was found partially under water in a stream on Thursday about 1 mile from the park, officials said. It's not clear yet how Maddox went from the park to the creek, how he died and whether a criminal act was committed, officials said Thursday.

"Maddox was my only child and he will be the only one I know," Ritch wrote on Facebook on Thursday. "Today, I discovered that I was no longer a father."

Ian Ritch stated that his son started sprinting about 25 to 30 feet in front of him before the boy was out of sight.

"As soon as I got to the point where I could not see him anymore, I started to panic," he said earlier this week.

"I would give anything to save him," Ritch wrote on Facebook on Thursday. "For the rest of my life, I will live with the guilt of not being there to save my son.[sic] Children are tighter and please do not make my mistake and let them go too far. "

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In his statement, Ritch also thanked those who traveled the park and "all members of the community who were hoping and praying and taking only one second of their time to think of Maddox".

Ritch wrote that he had never been a very spiritual person, but now he wants to be such that when he dies, Maddox "will be the first person I see when I'm in heaven." I can not wait[sic] see her lil[sic] smiling face again.

He ended the statement by saying, "For Maddox I just want to say that I love you[sic] lil[sic] boyfriend. If you like, wait for me when my time comes. "

After Maddox disappeared, a park employee called 911, causing a massive search by local, state and federal investigators. They searched the field with police dogs, searched garbage cans, crossed the park lake with sonar and divers, and inspected the area with helicopters and drones, the police said.

The authorities also recorded messages from Maddox's parents and played these messages in the woods in the hope that their voices would persuade him to go out if he was there.

"Maddox is my whole world and my reason for living," said her mother, Carrie Ritch, at a press conference Tuesday.

"I want my baby back in my arms," ​​she says through tears.