Avonte Oquendo
A mother desperate to find her missing son is using the sound of her voice in the effort to find him.
Avonte Oquendo, 14, has not been seen since Oct. 4, when he walked out of Riverview School in New York, and while police, friends, family and volunteers search the area, a recording of his mom, Vanessa Fontaine, is playing from a roving city services van, local news website DNAinfo reports.
“Avonte, this is your mother,” the recording says. “You are safe. Walk toward the lights.”
The teen has autism and does not speak. He left the school without being stopped and an hour had passed before security was alerted. Since then, posters, fliers and even announcements by subway conductors have been used in the search. But with the use of the speakers, mounted on city emergency vehicles, officials hope Avonte will recognize his mother’s voice and follow it to safety.
“I feel that someone has him,” Fontaine told CNN. “There’s not a surveillance tape around that shows him.”