Missing 3-Year-Old Boy Who Wandered Away From Home Found Dead In Retention Pond

A 3-year-old boy, who went missing from his home Sunday, was found dead in a retention pond in Florida.

The toddler, identified as Axel Caballero, had wandered away from his home in Winter Springs, according to Spectrum News 13.

His body was found hours after he was reported missing, and the cause of death was under investigation.

The officials noted Caballero was autistic and non-verbal. The child was last seen in Ponce De Leon Boulevard.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement put out a missing child alert for Caballero just before 5 p.m. Officials had also urged the public to inform law enforcement officials about any details that could help locate the child.

"We are asking the public for help locating a missing endangered three-year-old. Axel Caballero was last seen in the 1300 block of Ponce De Leon Boulevard in unincorporated Winter Springs," the Seminole County Sheriff's Office wrote on Facebook. "Axel wandered from his home and was last seen wearing a green shirt and a diaper."

Officials set up a search party to scour the area. Authorities later asked neighbors to return back to their homes as drones and search dogs were brought to the area to aid in the search for the child.

The Seminole County Sheriff's Office later put out an update that said their dive team found the boy dead in a retention pond close to his house, WESH 2 News reported.

"We are deeply saddened to report Axel was located by SCSO Dive Team members deceased in a nearby retention pond. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family," the sheriff's office said in an update.

Further details about the circumstances that led to the boy's death were not immediately clear.

A similar incident was reported in September this year after a 2-year-old boy named Ares Muse was found dead hours after he was reported missing in Okemah, Oklahoma. Muse's father said the toddler had crawled into bed with his parents as they went to sleep in the hours before he vanished. Officials believe he crawled out of bed later and wandered outside the house by himself. The authorities undertook an hours-long search, and Muse was found dead more than half a mile away from his family's house.