The community of Richmond in Fort Bend County, Texas, United States of America, was plunged into mourning after the body of an eight-year-old Nigerian boy, Ryan Akagbusi, was tragically recovered from a lake in the area.

The Texas authorities identified the boy as a non-verbal minor and reported him missing after he vanished from his Richmond home around 4:30 am on August 24, 2024.

Our correspondent learnt on Tuesday that the boy was later found dead on August 25, 2024.

PUNCH Metro reports that the county Sheriff’s Office’s official Facebook page was flooded with community members offering to help the authorities search for the missing boy following an appeal to residents for any information that might aid in locating the minor.

Our correspondent also noted that according to various news platforms citing ABC13 (KTRK), a major local news outlet, Ryan’s mother stated that surveillance footage captured him leaving his bedroom at around 4:56 am, with “surveillance video from a neighbour” showing “the boy walking down a nearby street about 30 minutes later.”

“My friends and family are here —the whole neighbourhood. Police are here.

“We’ve had K9. We’ve had helicopters. We’ve had drones go around. We’ve gone door to door. Everybody is here. The whole Lakemont is here,” the mother, whose name was not mentioned, reportedly said.

However, at approximately 6:46 am on Sunday, the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office announced on Facebook that Ryan had been “located by Texas EquuSearch this morning. His body was retrieved from the lake near his last known location,” bringing the search to a tragic close.

Shortly after the announcement, our correspondent, who monitored the Sheriff’s Office’s official Facebook page on Tuesday, observed an outpouring of shock and sympathy from residents and mourners as they flooded the page with condolences for the grieving family.

A resident known as Tacoma Burden wrote, “I’m praying hard for this family. It’s my worst nightmare as a parent with a child on the spectrum.

“Checking multiple times is always key, too, not just once. We just had another child found in a retention pond not too long ago, that the police said they had searched before, and she was recovered from the same place.”

Another concerned resident, Chris Miller, said, “The importance of checking repeatedly is so crucial! This poor baby was found in a lake they had already searched, so heartbreaking.”

One follower, Adriana Castorena, called for schools to incorporate swimming lessons into their curriculum to help prevent similar tragedies in the future. She expressed her concern, stating, “We are failing them. Life skills programs in schools should include swimming classes. Praying for the family.”

A resident, Rita Hedt, urged community authorities to implement stricter safety measures, suggesting that “all retention ponds should follow swimming pool regulations – fenced off with locked gates!” to ensure the safety of children, adults, and others.

A Texas resident, Christina Kohl, shared her sorrow, noting that “the same thing happened to a little girl in the Cross Creek neighbourhood this past June. She was around the same age and also non-verbal autistic.”

A similar tragedy befell another Nigerian autistic 12-year-old girl, Aisha Adebayo, who reportedly drowned accidentally in late June in a lake near her home in Fulshear, a city in northwestern Fort Bend County.

Local news outlet, ABC13, reported that authorities stated Adebayo was last seen walking away from her home on Aaron River Trail at night.

The police had requested that neighbours check their backyards and inside their cars throughout the night and early morning, as Aisha was known to hide in such places in the past.

However, her body was eventually recovered by divers at around 4:45 a.m. the following day. (The PUNCH, excluding headline)

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