Autopsy ordered on body of missing 3-year-old Autistic boy - KFVS12 News & Weather Cape Girardeau, Carbondale, Poplar Bluff

Autopsy ordered on body of missing 3-year-old Autistic boy

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By Brett Collar - email
and Melanie Torre - bio | email
Officials back on the scene searching Saturday morning. Officials back on the scene searching Saturday morning.
Officials back on the scene searching Saturday morning. Officials back on the scene searching Saturday morning.
SMITH COUNTY, TX (KLTV) -

An autopsy has been ordered on the body of the missing 3-year old Autistic boy who was found Saturday afternoon.

Officials say the body of 3-year old Evan Wesley Reed was found in Lake Palestine, not far from a marina on the lake.

Crews from as far east as Shreveport geared up to continue their search for Evan on Saturday morning. He'd last been seen at his home on Friday evening. Authorities searched from 5 p.m.  until 1 a.m. after the boy was first reported missing.

"We've got seven ground crews on the ground [they're each] three man crews. They are searching door-to-door and house-to-house... in flowerbeds.. anything and everything," said Noonday Fire Department Assistant Chief Jonathan McClish.

Crews also searched the waterfront and under docks. Dive teams searched the water.

Evan's family members said Evan had mild to moderate Autism. Hearing about Evan's special needs compelled the Crampton family to drive an hour from their home in Alba to see if they could help.

"Seeing that story, we realized, that could have been us at any point," said Gordon Crampton.

Gordon and his wife Amy saw pictures of three-year-old Evan online. They said those pictures looked a lot like their nine-year-old Autistic son, Aaron.

"I felt really compelled to come out here and try to shield this family from a lot of the criticism that they're getting that they don't deserve," said Gordon Crampton.

Their mission Saturday was to try and help people understand what parents of Autistic children face everyday and how in a blink of an eye, they can get into serious trouble.

"We've been there. Your heart just stops and you don't know what to do and you're just frantically searching everywhere for your child," said Amy.

"To see remarks about this family, there was one that really got to me, about how the prosecuting attorney should be out here visiting this family and it just became very obvious that they don't understand," said Gordon.

Despite hours of searching Evan was not found alive.

The Sheriff's Office, DPS officials, Texas Parks and Wildlife, ALERT, and the Noonday, Bullard, Flint-Gresham, Longview, Shreveport, Bossier City Fire Departments all were involved in the search near the family's home on Carol Circle on Lake Palestine.

Late Saturday afternoon, there was police tape wrapped around Evan's Smith County home. Officials said they were holding the scene as standard protocol until their missing person investigation wraps up.

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