ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — UPDATE: Benjamin Adcock has been found. This story is developing.
END UPDATE:
St. Johns County residents and deputies are still looking for an endangered 16-year-old with autism and schizophrenia who went missing over the weekend.
Deputies say Benjamin Adcock was last seen around noon on Saturday crossing State Road 207 in St. Augustine.
John Reardon is a good friend of Benjamin’s mom, Olga Viotti, and has been leading community search efforts.
“Yesterday was the last sighting of him, so everybody’s going to go back down into that direction,” Reardon said.
Reardon has been dividing the search party into various groups, and tackling buildings, wooded areas and bodies of water.
“He could be attracted to a body of water, but then his feet can get stuck in a body of water,” Reardon said. “So just because people are saying he knows how to swim, there’s still danger there.”
Benjamin’s brothers said that his favorite games are Minecraft and Roblox, so mentioning those games might get his attention.
His mom, Viotti, says this isn’t the first time her son has gone missing, but it is the first time he’s stayed missing overnight.
“I haven’t been sleeping, and I said I’m not going to sleep ‘till I find him,” Viotti said. “It terrifies me to think that he’s outside alone.”
She says she’s been driving around searching for him, only coming back in the morning when deputies tell her to come home.
“I’ve been driving in every area, behind every building, bushes, trash cans, waters, fields. I literally screamed his name every time,” Viotti said. “I just hoped that he could hear my voice and [that] he would come forward if he was in the woods so he would feel safe.”
Viotti says her son is 5-11 and about 160 pounds. She suspects that he’s wearing the same outfit he was wearing when he wandered away from his home off Whispering Woods Lane — a gray t-shirt, black cotton shorts and possibly glasses.
She says Benjamin is a sweet kid. He’s not violent. He’s not a threat, and he’s not a danger. If you see Benjamin, she asks that you approach him calmly.
“Maybe ask, ‘Hey, Benjamin, can you call Mom? Do you need a phone to borrow? Your mom is looking for you,’” Viotti said. “I just hope he comes home. That’s my only one wish.”
If you have information on his whereabouts, please contact the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office immediately at 904-824-8304.
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