Police looking for a mysterious man in a white truck who would have been the last to see a missing autistic boy

A mysterious person wearing a camouflage hat and loading a kayak into a white truck may have been the last person to see a boy from North Carolina who disappeared for several days before being found dead on Thursday, officials said. .

Police had hoped to speak with witnesses who were at Ranklin Lake Park in Gastonia on Saturday when six-year-old Maddox Ritch disappeared, officials said. They were hoping to locate a man seen in a white truck, CBS News reported.

Ian Ritch, who reported Maddox's disappearance, said his son had non-verbal autism. The boy allegedly ran past Ian Ritch and disappeared from his sight while they were in the park. The father was with another friend, who was not identified.

THE BOY HAS MISSED TO MISS A BOY OF NORTH CAROLINA WITH AUTISM, THE FBI SAID

Hundreds of FBI and Gastonia police and firefighters have searched the park for the past six days in search of Maddox. The FBI offered a $ 10,000 reward for information, and on Thursday the authorities expanded their search to include nearby swamps and woods.

After a week-long search on Ritch, the FBI announced Thursday that an alleged body of the missing boy had been found near the park. Authorities said the body was found in a stream by a researcher, reported ABC 11.

"With a heavy heart, we announce that 6-year-old Maddox Ritch was found at about 1:00 pm from Marietta Street / Old Dallas Highway in Gastonia, Maddox's parents were informed of the discovery." is underway "FBI Charlotte announced Thursday.

The special agent of the FBI supervisor, Jason Kaplan, said Thursday at a press conference that "the investigation is not over."

THE NORTH CAROLINA MISSED WITH AUTISM HAS NOT BEEN SEEN AT THE PARK, A WORKER WHO CALLED 911 DIT

"You should not take anything away from it except to understand that in the area of ​​law enforcement, we will not take anything for granted," he said. "So, there is a lot of work and many people who have lost a lot of sleep are committed to continuing to answer all the questions we can about Maddox, how his movement happened and how he he's found where he did it. "

Ian Ritch wrote a long Facebook post on Thursday night, thanking those who helped find his son.

"I am going now and forever to be a broken man until I take my last breath. I have never been a very spiritual man before, but I want to be fair when I die, my little boy will be the first person I will see when I'm in heaven. I can not wait to see his smiling little face, he writes.

Fox News' Katherine Lam contributed to this report.