The body of a missing 7-year-old boy with autism was recovered from a car behind his Washington, D.C. home.
Michael Kingsbury's body was found in the back of a car parked in an alley, yards away from his home in the 1700 block of West Virginia Avenue.
Police had launched an intense search of the Trinidad neighborhood after Michael was last seen walking in an alley close to his home between 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Sunday.
At the time, he was believed to be wearing a pull-up diaper, and possibly a red shirt.
After 6 p.m. Monday, a sudden rush of police officers converged on the car in the alley. Sources told News4's Pat Collins that a police officer assigned to the search had happened on the car and noticed something.
The reaction at the scene was immediate, reported Jackie Bensen. People were heard screaming and crying, and police quickly increased their perimeter around the event. He was recovered from a car without tags, parked on private property, just two doors down from his home.
Officers told Bensen the car and the alley it was in were examined by at least two sets of search teams. Even the family said they looked inside of the car because Michael had once before hid inside of a parked car.
Police had to break a window of the car to get in and recover Michael's body.
"We need to figure out when exactly [Michael] got in the car," Assistant D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said. "It's too early to see if someone missed something."
Homicide detectives were among those who responded to the scene, Bensen reported. However, it is not unusual to have homicide respond to a death investigation.
Michael's mother Katrina Kingsbury spoke with Bensen Monday night.
"I'd like to thank everyone who came out to look for my son," Kingsbury said.
The family had been distraught throughout the search for Michael, as police searched abandoned buildings and sheds Sunday and Monday. Kingsbury said it's not like him to wander away.
"It's unusual for him to leave. It's never happened," she said. "As many times as he's been out here and played, he's never left the backyard. He knows not to go in to the street."
