Missing 5-year-old found dead 2 miles from home days after vanishing, Oregon cops say
_fitted.png "Joshua, 5, is pictured. He was found dead three days after going missing, Oregon deputies said.")
Search teams found a missing 5-year-old autistic boy dead just miles from his home in Oregon, deputies said.
Joshua James McCoy’s body was discovered at about 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12, the Coos County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.
Joshua vanished Nov. 9 from the Hauser area, McClatchy News previously reported.
His mom woke up from a nap and couldn’t find him in the home, so he was reported missing to authorities at 6:27 p.m., deputies said.
First responders got to the home within about 15 minutes and learned the child had a cellphone, deputies said.
Deputies tried to ping the phone, but it “did not provide any fruitful information.”
The property was then searched without any luck finding Joshua, deputies said.
Other agencies were contacted, and deputies searched for him the next day in surrounding areas, including draining a pond on the property.
Search teams continued to grow, including agencies from Northern California, deputies said.
Drones, police dogs and “aerial support” were also used to look for him, but no one could find Joshua, deputies said.
On Nov. 12, federal agencies joined the search.
Joshua was found later that day, about 2 miles from his home, deputies said.
“My precious baby! Bless you my love. I’ll miss you the rest of my life,” his father, Lawson Amos McCoy, said in a Facebook post.
The investigation is ongoing, deputies said. A cause of death has not been identified, and no one is in custody.
Hauser is an unincorporated community near the Oregon coast.
This story was originally published November 13, 2024 at 8:21 AM with the headline "Missing 5-year-old found dead 2 miles from home days after vanishing, Oregon cops say."
