Report: 911 Caller Doesn’t Think 6-Year-Old Maddox Ritch Was Ever at Park

A 911 caller who contacted authorities after a 6-year-old autistic boy, Maddox Ritch, went missing, said he doesn’t believe the boy was ever at the North Carolina park where he disappeared.

Maddox’s father Ian Ritch was reportedly the last one to see the boy while he was walking with his girlfriend. Police released a 911 call from Rick Foxx, who works at Rankin Lake Park, where the boy is said to have gone missing.

“It didn’t look as though, they were that concerned,” Foxx said of the boy’s father and the girlfriend, CBS News reported. “I’ve worked there almost three years and we see everybody come in and out of that park pretty much. I didn’t see that kid one time.”

However, Foxx told local station WSOC that Maddox’s “dad approached me and said he lost his kid.”

Maddox Ritch went missing in a park North Carolina on Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018. FBI handout

He then told the station: “I said, ‘When is the last time you seen him?’ He said that the kids, they were coming around the track, and the kid got away from him.”

Foxx also said that Ian Ritch appeared out of breath and tired, according to the WSOC report.

“The mother was really frantic. She was hysterical,” Foxx added. “She got out of the car, and one of the sheriff’s deputies had to calm her. I pray and hope they find that kid alive, I really do. I really hope so,” Foxx told the outlet.

Ritch said he knows that he’s a potential target for investigators in his son’s disappearance.

“I mean, I know I’m the number one suspect when it starts. That’s plain and simple,” Ritch said, according to AP. “Everything that they’ve asked for, I’ve given them right off the bat.”

The distance from Rankin Lake Park to where the boy was found is about a mile.

Body Found

The FBI Charlotte office said the boy’s body was discovered off Marietta Street and Old Dallas Highway. “With heavy hearts we announce a body believed to be 6-year-old Maddox Ritch was found at approximately 1 p.m. off of Marietta Street/Old Dallas Highway in Gastonia. Maddox’s parents have been notified of the discovery. The investigation is ongoing,” it said earlier in the day.

His mother said that Maddox is autistic and cannot speak, which complicated the search and rescue efforts.

Police told WSOC that identification of the body will be done by the medical examiner’s office. His cause of death is not yet known.

“I started worrying once I could not see him anyone,” father Ian Ritch told WRAL. “It’s torture. I just want my little boy back home. I want to give him a big hug as soon as I see him,” Ritch said.

“He looked back at me and laughed like he normally does ... he slowed down a little then he paced himself back up,” he said.

“He likes running,” Ian Ritch said, The Associated Press reported. “I couldn’t catch up with him. I feel guilt for letting him get so far ahead of me before I started running after him.”

Carrie Ritch, Maddox’s mother, gave a statement about the missing child.

“Maddox is my whole world and my reason for living,” Carrie Ritch said, WRAL reported. “His smile is so contagious, and his laughter is so precious.”

Gastonia Police Chief Robert Helton told AP that officials have searched thousands of acres, drained the lake and conducted hundreds of interviews. Helton says investigators still want to speak to a jogger, a person who was pulling a kayak out of the lake, and anyone in a group photographing three children in Dr. Seuss costumes, according to AP.