Missing Sumter County autistic teen found safe

BUSHNELL, Fla. — Hundreds of people — law enforcement and civilians — took to the woods all day Tuesday as part of a massive search for Peyton Pickard, a 16-year-old autistic boy who was carried disappeared from his home Friday evening.

They spent their day working through dense vegetation and muddy swamps before the teen was found by a Sumter County Sheriff's Office bloodhound less than a mile from his home Tuesday evening.

“Peyton was found neck-deep in water in a lake in a swamp next to the river,” Sumter County Undersheriff Patrick Breeden said at a news conference after Peyton's discovery. Pickard.

When searchers found him, the teen was dehydrated and covered in bug bites and scratches, but he was otherwise fine, Breeden said.

“It came out (of the woods) on its own once we got it out of the water,” he said.

Breeden said Pickard was found “pretty far out in the woods.”

“And he was very thirsty, so he was drinking a lot of fluids,” Breeden said, describing how one of the searchers gave the teen a Gatorade when he was found.

According to investigators, Pickard was reported missing around 9 p.m. and was last seen on foot wearing only black boxer shorts.

Even as time passed and the clock drew closer to Pickard losing his life for nearly a full day, Breeden said the search for Pickard never stopped.

“We haven’t given up hope,” Breeden said. “But we still have concerns, because of the weather and the terrain.”

Asked about the massive effort to find Pickard, Breeden said he was a priority because of his age and health, but that “it's nothing we wouldn't do for any citizen of Sumter County “.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday evening, Breeden thanked the hundreds of people who helped bring the research to a happy conclusion.

“This is the best result,” he said. “It was incredible.”