UPDATED: Germantown Police Officer Locates Missing, Non-Verbal Autistic Child

(Updated 12:19 p.m. Monday): GERMANTOWN, MD — A Montgomery County Police officer found a missing seven-year-old girl with Autism who is non-verbal and ran away from home on March 4, police announced Friday.

The child, whose name is Sahara and nickname is Mookie, ran out of her home on the afternoon of March 4. Her babysitter found Sahara at a local park, but Sahara took off when the babysitter called for her, police said.

Officers and K9 teams responded to the area to search for Sahara. Police also called on the help of a Maryland State Police helicopter.

Officer Jonathan Pruziner learned in police training that people with Autism can have a "dangerous attraction to water," police said. Pruziner decided to search around a creek that leads to a pond behind the town homes on Locustdale Drive.

Pruziner eventually found Sahara by the creek, and requested the Fire and Rescue personnel respond and assess Sahara for possible cold exposure since temperatures were in the 30s that day, police said.

Sahara was transported to a local hospital and then to Children's Hospital in DC for treatment of hypothermia, police said.

Patch File Photo