'My heart hurts': Family mourns autistic boy dead in pond

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Jayden Morrison's family is devastated after the 4-year-old autistic boy from White Plains was found dead Friday morning in a pond near the family's second home in South Carolina, two days after being reported missing.

"I'm hurt," Carolyn Sumpter, Jayden's grandmother told The Journal News on Friday afternoon. "My body hurts. My heart hurts."

Police, first responders, K9 units, dive teams and about 150 volunteers had been searching for the boy since he disappeared from the family's vacation home in Little River, S.C., about 5:30 p.m. Christmas Eve. His mother, Tabatha Morrison, had gone shopping and left her three children at the home with the grandmother.

Sumpter, who regularly watched the boy at his White Plains home, where she lives with his parents, said minutes after the mother left she noticed the front door was ajar and the boy was missing.

"We've always been in a gated situation," Jayden's father, Andre Morrison, told reporters Thursday afternoon after he arrived in South Carolina from New York. "We knew he was a wanderer when he was younger, but he was always in an enclosement. We never put him in a position to go out and freely wander."

The family's home is located in a subdivision — with numerous retention ponds and lakes — northeast of Myrtle Beach and not far from the coast.

More than 150 volunteers searched for the boy Friday. About 10:45 a.m. Friday, Jayden's body was found floating in a pond about 100 yards from the family's home.

"There were no signs of foul play," said Horry County police Lt. Raul Denis.

Denis thanked all the agencies and volunteers from South Carolina and North Carolina who participated in the search. "It was quite a community outpour to see those people come out and volunteer their support over the holidays," he said.

Sumpter said the family is depending on friends for support. Family members didn't want an autopsy, she said, but were told it was required.

Jayden loved technology and was fascinated with his iPad, she said. "Anything with buttons on it, he'd push," she said.

He leaves behind a twin brother, Jordan, and 3-year-old sister Kelsey, Sumpter said.

Funeral arrangements haven't been set, she said. The family has not decided whether to have a funeral in South Carolina or New York.

According to the National Autism Association, children with autism are prone to wandering away from a safe environment. Earlier this year, the remains of 14-year-old Avonte Oquendo were found on the Queens side of the East River, months after he disappeared from school.

Recent cases in Westchester involved a 3-year-old girl who wandered off from her grandparents' home in Ossining and was later found in the neighborhood, and a 15-year-old from Mount Vernon who was located in Harlem a week after he was reported missing.

Contributing: The Associated Press