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DELTONA, Fla. - The body of a 7-year-old Florida boy was found Tuesday morning, hours after authorities issued a statewide Missing Child Alert.
The Volusia County Sheriff's Office said search teams found Charlie Newton's body in the water. He had been missing since Monday, when he was last seen in Deltona.
At a news conference Tuesday, Sheriff Mike Chitwood said the child, who had autism, ran out of the family's car and his mother called 911 after she couldn't catch up to him.
Photo of Charlie Newton courtesy of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
A neighbor found the child's body in a nearby lake, according to Chitwood.
"It's just difficult to look at these young kids and say ‘what can we do? Where have we failed? How is this continually happening?’" Chitwood said.
Deltona Mayor Santiago Avila urged fellow leaders to partner with local communities to find solutions and prevent future tragedies.
"We need to figure out a way to partner together and figure out how we can give these kids some type of swimming lessons," Avila said. "One is too many. We can't continue to allow this to happen."
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