A body found in a Laurinburg, N.C., pond is likely that of a missing 4-year-old boy, investigators said during a press conference Saturday.
Raul Gonzalez Johnson was reported missing by his family on Jan. 24, spurring an Amber Alert and setting off a more than 40-team search effort, according to the FBI’s Charlotte, N.C., chapter. Canine units led investigators to a pond near the boy’s home, which the landowners agreed to let the FBI drain, WFMY News reports.
During the press conference Saturday, officials confirmed that a body was found in the pond, located off Peabridge Road. While officials believe that it is Gonzalez Johnson, the Scotland County Medical Examiner’s office must still confirm the boy’s identity and cause of death.
Sadly, investigators believe we have found the body of 4-year-old Raul Gonzalez Johnson in a pond off Peabridge Road. We ask the media to be respectful & not go to the scene during the recovery process.
— FBI Charlotte (@FBICharlotte) January 27, 2018
“I just don’t know if somebody took him or if he’s lost in the woods or if something happened to him in the water,” the child’s mother, Annie Johnson, told WFMY on Thursday. “I don’t know, I just want him home.”