ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) -A 12-year-old who had been reported missing has been found dead.

Dougherty County Coroner Michael Fowler said Jacayden McCray’s body was recovered from a pond on Meadowlark Drive around 5:00 a.m. Saturday. He said his death is a suspected drowning at this time. Jacayden had been reported missing Friday evening around 6 p.m. Authorities said he was nonverbal and had autism.

“Condolence goes out to the family. They were real distraught because they were looking for the same thing, hoping that they had a positive outcome of this,” Fowler said. “But it was tragic just to be able to tell them that their son is not coming back home again.”

Autism and drowning risk

According to a study from Columbia University, children with autism are 160 times more likely to die from drowning compared to other neurotypical children.

“Some of them do fear water. Nevertheless, most ones that wander don’t fear water because it serves more as a coping mechanism, a calming technique to calm them down due to overload of sensory issues and things of that nature such as anxiety and stress,” said Lisa Perry, an autism advocate.

Perry is working to make a difference. Through an annual autism walk and resource fair, she raises money to provide families with tools and has built a pool to help teach children with autism how to swim.

“One misconception about children with autism is that they cannot be taught how to swim,” Perry said. “They can actually be taught how to swim through different adaptive swimming courses, one-on-one modifications, with someone that’s trained to work with kids to teach them how to swim.”

Next month is Autism Awareness Month. Perry, through her organization, the Advocated for Autism Resource Center, will host their annual walk and resource fair to continue educating and supporting parents with resources for their children.

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