Geary County sheriff’s deputies found a missing 4-year-old boy Saturday afternoon, ending a search that had stretched from Friday night into the weekend. The child, who was nonverbal and had autism, was later pronounced dead.

Deputies had responded Friday, June 5, 2026, to a report of a missing juvenile, and before 10 p.m. the department issued an alert that quickly widened into a massive search. Numerous law enforcement agencies, first responders and community volunteers joined the effort as it continued through the evening and into Saturday.

The boy was located during the early afternoon hours on Saturday, June 6, 2026, and was transported to Stormont Vail Health Flint Hills Campus. A sheriff’s office statement later said he had been pronounced dead.

That sequence left one immediate gap unresolved: when deputies said after 1 p.m. Saturday that the boy had been located, they would not comment on his condition. The later statement closed that gap only in the bleakest way possible. The office also said no additional information would be released at this time because the investigation is ongoing.

For the family and the community that searched through Friday night and into Saturday, the case ended not with a rescue but with a death. What remains now is the unanswered question of what happened to the child before he was found.