California teen with autism who disappeared 3 years ago is found alive in Utah

A teenager disappeared almost three years ago in California Authorities said they were alive outside a gas station in Utah last week.

Connerjack Oswalt, with autism, went missing from Clearlake on September 28, 2019, at the age of 16. He was reported missing to the Clearlake Police Department the next day.

The search for him ended earlier this month after the Summit County Sheriff’s Office found him outside of Jeremy’s Store in Summit Park.

“It jolted all of our minds,” said Lieutenant Andrew Wright of the Summit County Sheriff’s Office Friday. “It’s just a really magical discovery if you will.”

Weeks before Oswalt’s identity was confirmed, residents in the area began calling the sheriff’s office to report seeing a homeless person pushing a cart. Wright said they don’t have many transients in the area because it gets very cold due to the high altitude.

Deputies contacted the person several times and offered to help him find shelter, but he always declined and did not give his name, Wright said.

On April 9, someone called the sheriff’s office and said a young man was sleeping outside a gas station. When the delegates arrived, the person was cold so they kept him warm in a patrol car. This time, the delegates scanned the person’s fingerprint.

Wright said they received an arrest warrant outside of Nevada for assaulting a police officer. According to Wright, the order was issued in February but misspelled Oswalt’s last name.

Suspecting that there was much to the story, delegates dug deeper and came across a missing person poster for Oswalt in the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s database. When contacted, both Clearlake police and Oswalt’s mother confirmed that he was still missing.

Immediately the Oswalt family drove from Idaho Falls, where they had moved to Utah to be reunited with him.

Details about how long Oswalt was in Utah or how he got there are still unclear. Clearlake police said Friday that they believe he is a fugitive.

Oswalt’s mother, Suzanne Flint, was not immediately available for comment.

at Blogtuan.info – Source: nbcnews.com – Read the original article here