Posted on 09/28/2018 10:07:04 AM PDT by Blue House Sue
The father of the 6-year-old autistic boy whose body was presumed to have been found said hell live as a broken man and with the guilt of not being there to save my son for the rest of his life.
Now today i found out im not a dad anymore, Ritch wrote on Facebook Thursday, the day the likely body of his son was found. From this moment on for the rest of my life i will live with the guilt of not being there to save my son. The most important person in my life.
I wanted to be his heroe [sic]. I wanted him to say i was more than superman or batman to him, Ritch wrote. I wanted people to ask him who his heroe is and him say my daddy. Now im no heroe i couldnt save him or protect him at all. I would give anything to go back and save him.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Boy his statement really is self absorbed. I’ll hold sympathy for a few days.
Yes, and isn’t this the dad who has a girlfriend?
Maybe she gave him an ultimatum.
Was he ‘autistic’ before or after he ran away? In Texas, we find out that virtually every killer is ‘mentally-challenged’ only after he’s put on death row. Prior to that, they’re safe to release to society, even after multiple violent occurrences (in many cases).
Initially everyone believed Smith. I clearly remember the shock here in the Carolinas when the truth was revealed.
So let me see....your mildly retarded son “bolts” on you.
My kids are not retarded and I gave them a certain amount of space, but at that age, never enough to where I couldn’t be all over them in no more than a few steps.
Besides...who isn’t aware of a free-roaming 6-year-old? Most parents today notice an unaccompanied child. How does this kid end up in the drink without so much as a peep?
****is that dad disabled so that his 6 year old could outrun him?****
He’s claiming he has diabetes which makes his feet hurt and reduces his running ability!!!
Possibly he and the girlfriend were distracted by each other and ignored Maddox - who ran off to get their attention. Or.....????????? Lots of scenarios to ponder.
Smith’s story was not believable.
I did not believe her, and the police did not believe her.
However, I understand that some people wanted to believe her.
Found in a creek about a mile from where he was last seen.
https://nypost.com/2018/09/27/body-found-off-highway-believed-to-be-missing-autistic-boy/
+1
“Hes claiming he has diabetes which makes his feet hurt and reduces his running ability”
—
That would likely refer to neuropathy, common in diabetics, which could cause problems of such a nature depending on it’s severity.
yeah something is fishy here
If the dad isn’t responsible for what happened to the kid.
Well, I guess you and the people you know are such super sleuths that you had it all figured out in a flash. However, there were those that did.
All I’m saying is, what happened to this kid is tragic. But, given history, lets not rush to console the dad, just yet.
Exactly....
And that is precisely what they want him to do and should encourage him to do. If he did it, hopefully they’ll figure it out sooner, rather than later.

The child is back home now - with his true Father.
“I don’t know...hour seems like a long time”
—
Could be. But having the park people look first doesn’t seem unreasonable to me, after looking around himself. I haven’t followed this case so I don’t know all the details - e.g. if people had seen both him and the boy at the park before the boy ran off.
Park officials is pretty close to police. The child was not retarded he was autistic. Autistic kids are just as healthy physically as most other kids in their age group. They just lack the restraint that normal kids learn from discipline. I knew a couple that adopted a drug baby back in the 90s. That kid was like lightning and he didnt care about anything but his impulses. They were my employers so they brought him to work and I watched him grow from a cute tiny baby into a rapidly mobile kid with serious destructive tendencies. If his parents had been nicer to me I would have felt sorry for them.
Nevertheless, I absolutely refused to let him get out of my sight. I got frustrated. I did not get to spend time with friends like I hoped. There was no surrender, no retreat that I could have from the challenges with my son. I could not take my eyes off him— period. Then, I decided to make my child my retreat. I captured his attention by taking him, and him only to the pond to fish. God gifted me in return with a few hours of real interaction with my boy who is normally so “far away” due to his challenges.
There were points where I could have surrendered to “oh, he'll be fine” or “he'll come back when he sees you not following” — I am very afraid that this dad did just that. He all but admits it. His boy needed him to never give in.
Instead, this dad gave up. So—— so sad.
EP
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