One by one, residents walked along patchy grass Monday to the pond in the Waldorf, Md., neighborhood near where 5-year-old Miles McMahon was last seen. They tearfully dropped flowers, balloons, stuffed dogs and dinosaur toys at the base of a tree.
A day earlier, this had been the site of a desperate search. Law enforcement scanned the skies with drones and a helicopter, while bloodhounds sniffed for Miles’s scent and dive teams explored the pond in the Bannister neighborhood. Dozens of those who lived in the area, meanwhile, scoured their yards, pools, sheds, shrubs and trees for any sign of the missing 5-year-old, even shouting “movie time” and playing the Netflix chime sound in hopes the familiar calls would lure Miles back, said Janet Niemi, who helped with the effort.
The news was not what they had hoped: In the wee morning hours Monday, police found Miles, who was nonverbal and had autism, dead in the pond, authorities said. Several of those involved in the search returned later that day.
“It was just a sense of community, a sense of grief, a sense of ‘We’ve got to do something,’” Niemi said.
Charles County sheriff’s officers first responded to the neighborhood at about 11:15 a.m. Sunday to investigate a report of a missing child in the 1000 block of St. Pauls Drive, the sheriff’s office said. Miles, wearing a red T-shirt without pants or shoes, had been seen on home security video skipping in his front yard and leaving his home, authorities said.
A neighbor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said she was outside around 11 a.m. when she noticed a truck that had pulled up next to her and stopped and, at almost the same moment, saw her neighbor’s little boy going down the hill near the pond across the road.
She said she immediately knocked on her neighbor’s door and alerted his parents that their son had left the yard. The family went in search of the boy, and what felt like minutes later, police swarmed the area, she said.
“I didn’t know he was autistic or anything. He had already been out there, so I said, ‘Let me let the parents know that he had crossed the street,’” the neighbor said. “I just wish I would have known.”
According to the Charles County Sheriff’s Office, which managed the search, a Maryland State Police helicopter began searching from above as the Charles County Dive Rescue Team went into the pond. In social media posts, police asked residents to search their yards, pools, sheds, shrubs, trees or anywhere else the 5-year-old could have been hiding.
The community got the message.
Jalisa Perry said she came to help around noon after getting a community alert text from Charles County about the missing boy. Perry, a mother, said she looked around the wood-line, and 50 or more people seemed to join the search, their vehicles parked up and down the winding road leading to the pond, which is surrounded by rocks and trees.
Niemi, who said she found out about the missing boy while at the grocery store and joined the search, said she has worked with children with autism and some can be prone to wandering or are attracted to bodies of water.
As it got darker and the temperature dropped, Perry said, she grew more concerned. She went home later that night and woke up around 5 a.m. to check Facebook for an update. That’s when she learned Miles had died.
“This is like a nightmare,” Perry said.
On Monday afternoon, some Charles County divers collected buoys left at the pond. A white sheet of paper was taped against the front door of the home of the McMahon family, just across the street from the pond Monday afternoon.
“Thank you all for your concern and support,” the family said in the statement. “We are grateful to this community for helping us through such a tragic time in our lives.”
Miles was a kindergartner at Eva Turner Elementary School, according to a letter sent to families of the school Monday morning. His favorite colors were red and blue, and he loved watching a show about sea creatures. Dinosaurs were his favorite animal, the letter said.
“Miles was a sweet student who loved to climb and be active,” Principal Courtney Hrobak said in the letter. “Wiggle breaks were a favorite of Miles as he loved to dance, particularly to Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes.”
In July, another child was found dead in a Maryland pond after an extensive search in Montgomery County.
