Police are searching for a 6-year-old boy with autism who was last seen Saturday in Miami-Dade. NBC 6’s Jamie Guirola reports
Florida officials issued a missing child alert Wednesday for a Miami-Dade child who has not returned home since the weekend.
The mother of 6-year-old Jorge "Jo Jo" Morales said her ex-husband picked up the child from her home Saturday morning.
The father never returned the child back home, violating court orders, Miami-Dade Police said in a news release on Monday.
"I would have never thought something like this would happen to me," Yanet Concepcion told NBC 6 earlier this week. "It's like the biggest nightmare a mother can have."
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On Wednesday, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement activated a missing child alert and said the child may be in the company of a man who is also named Jorge Morales.
When the child didn't come home, Concepcion went to her ex-husband's place to pick him up.
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"Everything was gone. Everything was gone from his apartment," she said. "His phones were off. His mom's phone was off."
Police said they previously didn't classify the case as a kidnapping since the father has partial custody of the child.
Concepcion said the 6-year-old has autism, which makes her worry about his disappearance even more.
"He's the smartest person I know," she said. "Obviously, he's only 6, but he knows everything."
Six-year-old Morales is 3 feet tall and 50 pounds with brown hair and eyes. He was last seen wearing a gray t-shirt, gray shorts and black shoes.
His father, 45 years old, is 6 feet tall and 185 pounds with brown hair and eyes.
Miami-Dade Police said the child was also with his paternal grandmother at the time of his disappearance. The car they were in is a 2006 gray Ford Expedition XLT, with Florida tag CSIU53.
Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Police at 305-596-8176 or 911.
