On August 25th, 2024, the residents of Richmond in Fort Bend County, Texas, US were plunged into shock and mourning after the body of an eight-year-old Nigerian boy, Ryan Akagbusi was found in a lake near the area.
The body was found just a day after he went missing from his home on August 24th, 2024. The residents of the community had been diligently searching for the boy after an Amber alert was issued on that same day.
His mother had reported his disappearance to the local authorities and a search ensued with missing posters placed around the town. The poster showed the boy along with the necessary information, it described Ryan as an autistic and non-verbal minor.
She also shared surveillance footage of his last known appearance with the statement;
“My friends and family are here —the whole neighbourhood. Police are here. We’ve had K9. We’ve had helicopters. We’ve had drones go around. We’ve gone door to door. Everybody is here. The whole Lakemont is here,”
During the search before his body was found, residents of the community had offered to help in the search efforts, flooding the county Sheriff’s Office’s official Facebook page, and asking for any information that could help in locating the little boy.
Unfortunately despite the extensive effort that was poured into searching for the child, they were only able to discover a dead body which was later identified as Ryan.
The Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office had to officially announce on their Facebook page that Ryan had been “located by Texas EquuSearch this morning”. His body was retrieved from the lake near his last known location, this tragic news brought about an end to the search.
