Boy, 13, found dead after pond search

A 13-year-old boy with autism was found dead Friday in a Hardin County pond after being reported missing hours earlier.

His body was recovered from a pond close to his home near Ada, according to a news release from the Hardin County sheriff’s office.

The 6-foot-2, 180pound youth of Filipino descent was reported missing to authorities around 3 p.m., after he left home wearing only a T-shirt and sweatpants and without shoes, the release said. Officials described the boy as nonverbal and autistic.

The sheriff's office initially issued an endangered missing child advisory identifying the boy as Samuel Rowold, according to the Springfield News Sun and WHIO-TV in Dayton. However, the sheriff's office Facebook site indicated that notice subsequently was taken down, apparently after the boy's body was discovered.

The sheriff's office release reporting the body's discovery did not identify him, and the sheriff's office's refused to confirm the name when contacted by The Dispatch.

Friends and family members joined local law enforcement, State Highway Patrol, helicopter crews and the Hardin County dive team in an hours-long search for the boy.

Around 7 p.m., divers found the boy’s body in a nearby pond about 20 feet from shore, the release said.