MIDLAND, Texas — The Midland Police Department provided a positive update on a special needs teen who was found wandering alone in January.
Police said "Cordarius" is currently in foster care after he met the criteria for someone with an intellectual disability. The non-verbal teen, who they believed to be between the ages of 13 and 17 years old, is now attending school and getting speech, physical and occupational therapies.
Cordarius is also now able to identify all of his foster siblings, listen, and follow directions. The problem is police haven't been able to get a DNA match for any of his relatives.
On Jan. 29, 2023, Cordarius was found walking in an alley by himself in a neighborhood near Midland College. Police said they believe his name is "Cordarius" because he wrote it several times when prompted by investigators. Unfortunately, no results matching his description or name have come up in any missing persons' databases.
"He is a special needs child who has been left out on his own, roaming the streets and we don't know how long he has been out there for," Jennie Alonzo with Midland police said. "Because he is non-verbal, he can't communicate with us, he can't tell us what he's feeling, where he is from, where he came from, who he was living with last. So we actually have no idea where he is from."
Police said they took DNA and fingerprints to properly identify the teen.
Questions surrounding the missing teen have social media users creating their own theories that he's the nonverbal autistic boy from Florida who went missing 14 years ago. Detectives have dismissed the theory but conducted the DNA test out of precaution.
If the family is found, police said they could face criminal charges for endangering a child.
