9-year-old autistic boy who went missing from Brooklyn Ikea found dead: police

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New York authorities said the body of a 9-year-old boy who went missing in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn Wednesday night was recovered from the Erie Basin early Thursday morning.

The boy, who was autistic and nonverbal, was reported missing by his family around 9 p.m. local time on Wednesday after he exited an Ikea store where the family was shopping. Hours later, police divers located the child and transported him to New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased, according to New York Daily News.

The Ikea is located on Beard Street, adjacent to the Erie Basin.

According to the report, the boy — whose identity has not been released at this time — was wearing a black shirt, blue shorts orange Crocs with a thick white stripe just above the sole when he went missing. NYPD recovered the footwear outside the store, prompting dive teams to search the nearby water.

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An Ikea billboard shines next to the Ikea store in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, New York. (Ramin Talaie/Corbis via Getty Images)

Police said that the child likely wandered out of the store by himself, but it is not immediately how he ended up in the water.

Police searched near a pier along the Erie Basin for a 9-year-old boy who got separated from his family as they were shopping at Ikea. (WNYW)

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Police divers searched the nearby Erie Basin for the missing 9-year-old boy in the early hours Thursday, Aug. 17, 2023. (WNYW)

Divers located the missing 9-year-old’s body hours after he went missing from an Ikea in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. (WNYW)

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Emergency crews from the NYPD K9 Unit, FDNY and EMS responded to the scene to assist in the search for the boy. Helicopters and boats were also deployed during the effort. 

Police searched around an Ikea store in Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York, for a missing 9-year-old boy. (WNYW)

Helicopters were deployed in an effort to find a missing nonverbal, autistic 9-year-old in New York. (WNYW)

Fox News Digital reached out to the New York Police Department and New York State Police for more information but did not receive a response in time for publication.