Metro

Mother of missing autistic boy pleads for his return

The mother of a missing autistic boy from Queens made an anguished plea for her son’s return Saturday as the search for him continued into its third week.

“It feels like an eternity every day,” mom Vanessa Fontaine said of her ordeal waiting for Avonte Oquendo, 14.

“Just waiting to hear news if they found him or not. It’s like a nightmare I can’t wake up from,” she told reporters. “Every day waiting to see my son come home, praying that someone has found him. I don’t wish this one on anyone, any family.”

Avonte, who can’t speak and is fascinated with trains, was last seen on the afternoon of Oct. 4 when he was caught on video running out of the Center Boulevard School in Long Island City.

The NYPD has searched nearby marshes with bloodhounds, scoured the area with surveillance helicopters, and asked MTA track workers to do repeated daily searches of train stations, tracks and tunnels.

The reward for information leading to Oquendo on Saturday rose to $85,000 after the Rev. Al Sharpton pledged an additional $5,000. His National Action Network is is raising money to add to the reward, he said.

Anyone who sees the child should “just hold on to him,” the mother begged at a news conference Saturday.
“Follow him, if you can,” she said. “But make that call,” to police.