Update: Autistic White Plains Boy Reported Missing Christmas Eve Died From Drowning

A 4-year-old autistic boy from White Plains reported missing from his grandmother’s home in South Carolina on Christmas Eve has been found dead.

Jayden Morrison’s body was found around 11 a.m. on Friday near a pond, not far from where he had gone missing, NBC affiliate WFMB reports. A medic volunteer found Jayden’s body after water levels in the pond were lowered.

Horry County Lieutenant Raul Denis told local media outlets it appears that Jayden died due to drowning.

The search for the boy began around 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve when the boy’s grandmother reported him missing, Myrtle Beach Online reports. The search continued into Christmas Day and employed drones, helicopters and four wheelers. Divers searched ponds in a five-square-mile area in the community of Little River, north of Myrtle Beach on the North Carolina border.

Emergency workers and volunteers searched all of Christmas Day for the boy, who was last seen wearing only pajamas. 

To aid in the search, the South Carolina Department of Transportation brought in lights, as Jayden likes yellow lights, WFMB News reports. Music from Elmo and Dora was played on the streets in the hope that Jayden would follow the music home.

According to WFMB, Jayden was at home with his grandmother while his mother was out shopping, his grandmother turned her back for a moment when she believes the boy walked out of the front door. Jayden arrived with his family on Christmas Eve at his grandmother’s home.

The boy’s mother told WMBF News that the boy is non-communicative and would not be able to find his way home as he does not know his grandmother’s neighborhood.

Before Jayden’s body was found, his mother pleaded that she just wanted her baby home.

Screenshot ABC News 7