The body of a 4-year-old autistic boy who disappeared over the weekend in South Boston was found Monday, according to Massachusetts State Police.
Mohamed Fofana was found dead just before 12:30 p.m. near the shoreline of Castle Island, state police said in a tweet.
Castle Island is on the northern tip of a stretch of Boston beaches overlooking Boston Harbor.
Authorities located the boy’s body on the shoreline of Spectacle Island, directly across the water from Castle Island, according to state police. The body will be transferred to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
The state police detective unit for Suffolk County is conducting the death investigation.
Authorities announced the search for Fofana on Sunday night on Twitter.
“No potential reasons” for the boy’s disappearance “have been ruled out at this time,” state police said.
Marine units and dive teams from several law enforcement and public safety agencies on Monday searched the section of ocean known as the Western Way, which connects Dorchester Bay to the south and the Boston Main Channel to the north, according to state police.
Side-scan sonar was deployed off three boats, providing a sonar image of the ocean bottom. Divers were investigating any anomalies detected by the side-scan sonar, state police said.
They also conducted what amounts to an underwater search along the length of the Castle Island sea wall out to a distance of 150 yards off-shore, according to state police.
State police’s Air Wing and the U.S. Coast Guard did aerial searches along the coastline, which was also searched by a drone with the Boston Fire Department, state police said.
Detectives reviewed camera footage with the goal of determining Mohamed’s potential route of movement from the playground area, according to state police.
Sunday’s search, state police said, included its marine unit, a dive team and an air wing. Boston police, fire, and emergency medical services along with the Massachusetts Environmental Police, also assisted.
Fofana was playing at a park on the coastline Sunday at about 7 p.m., according to state police. An adult family member was with the boy when the relative lost sight of him.
That relative called 911 and reported the boy missing about 7:30 p.m., state police said.
The child’s mother, Mantenjay Fofana, said that he was with his grandfather and sister when he disappeared, NBC Boston reported. She also said that he was autistic and didn’t speak. The boy had a tendency to wander off, the news station reported.
“Yesterday they come with grandpa for the playground,” Mantenjay Fofana told NBC Boston before authorities announced finding the boy’s body. “He called me, ‘I see your daughter but I’m not seeing Mohamed.’”