Officials hope recorded messages from parents will help find missing autistic child in North Carolina

Sept. 25--Authorities in North Carolina are looking to comforting voices to help them find a missing 6-year-old boy who is autistic and nonverbal.

The FBI said it is playing messages recorded by Maddox Ritch's parents all around Rankin Lake Park in Gastonia, where he went missing on Saturday.

"If you have a kid that can't really communicate but his parents talk to him every day ... I completely understand why they would do it," ABC News contributor Brad Garrett, also a former FBI agent, told the network.

Maddox was with his father and at least one other person when he started "running" and vanished in the park.

The intensive search has been expanded two miles outside the park, according to ABC News. Investigators are looking into at least 80 leads, according to WSOC.

"Every second counts when a child is missing," FBI supervisor Jason Kaplan said. "Our focus is to find Maddox as quickly as possible and to bring him home safe and sound."

Cops and the FBI are asking the public not to "spread rumors" about the search on social media.

"Information about the intensive search for this precious little boy is being released by our official channels on a regular basis," the Gastonia Police Department wrote on Facebook on Monday night. "Do not be responsible for redirecting our efforts away from where they need to be ... we should all unite to #FindMaddox."

Local residents told WSOC that there are many deep holes in the park, and expressed concern that the child may have fallen into one of them.

"If you get too close and you miss your step, you are going to go somewhere," Jerry Stewart told the station.

___

(c)2018 New York Daily News

Visit New York Daily News at www.nydailynews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.