FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas — The death of an 8-year-old Richmond boy found in a lake after wandering away from his home was another heartbreaking reminder that some children with cognitive disorders are drawn to water.
The mother of Ryan Akagbusi said her son was non-verbal.
He left his home in the Lakemont subdivision in Richmond a little before 5 a.m. Saturday. Dozens of people helped search for the little boy and Texas Equusearch found his body early Sunday.
A GoFundMe was created to help the Akagbusi family with funeral expenses.
Since children with autism are often drawn to bodies of water, Fort Bend and Harris counties offer free bracelets for children and adults with cognitive disorders that put them at risk of getting lost. It's called Project Lifesaver. Each bracelet transmits a radio frequency specific to the individual wearer.
"Anybody in Fort Bend County that has a family member or loved one with some type of cognitive disability, take advantage of the free service. It may save lives and may help you not go through the suffering of losing a loved one,” said Eric Fagan withe the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office.
If someone wearing the radio frequency transmitter disappears from family or friends, deputies can immediately begin searching for the person through the use of a radio frequency receiver.
From the air, its chirp can be heard from as far as seven miles away. On the ground, trained search parties can pick up a signal within a mile or two. The louder the chirp the closer they are to the bracelet.
“So we can find them, on average, less than 30 minutes,” Michael Kahlenberg who leads the Project Lifesaver program in Fort Bend County, told us when it launched in 2022. “We know there’s a need and if we have the capabilities and the tools, let’s use them.”
So far, 31 families have signed up for the program.
ENROLL: Harris County Project Lifesaver