Neighbors React to Discovery of Body That’s Likely of Maddox Ritch

Neighbors have spoken out after body believed to belong to Maddox Ritch, a missing 6-year-old boy with autism, was likely discovered in North Carolina.

The FBI Charlotte office said the boy’s body was discovered off Marietta Street and Old Dallas Highway. “With heavy hearts we announce a body believed to be 6-year-old Maddox Ritch was found at approximately 1 p.m. off of Marietta Street/Old Dallas Highway in Gastonia. Maddox’s parents have been notified of the discovery. The investigation is ongoing,” it said earlier in the day.

“We are just heartsick... We prayed that this was not going to be the result of this thing,” one unidentified woman, a neighbor, said in a WBTV report.

Another woman told the outlet “it’s shocking to everybody.”

His mother said that Maddox is autistic and cannot speak, which complicated the search and rescue efforts.

Police told WSOC that identification of the body will be done by the medical examiner’s office. His cause of death is not yet known.

The body of Maddox Ritch was found in Gastonia, North Carolina. (FBI)

“I started worrying once I could not see him anyone,” father Ian Ritch told WRAL. “It’s torture. I just want my little boy back home. I want to give him a big hug as soon as I see him,” Ritch said.

“He looked back at me and laughed like he normally does ... he slowed down a little then he paced himself back up,” he said.

Carrie Ritch, Maddox’s mother, gave a statement about the missing child.

“Maddox is my whole world and my reason for living,” Carrie Ritch said, WRAL reported. “His smile is so contagious, and his laughter is so precious.”