Missing 8-Year-Old Autistic Boy Found & Briefly Reunited With Parents

Joshua Robb's parents, Patricia Calcot and Ron Robb, at a press conference. Screengrab from footage.

Joshua Robb, the 8-year-old autistic boy who went missing in Twin Peaks on Monday morning, was found safe on Tuesday afternoon around 2:30pm.

After escaping through the playground gates of Grandview Elementary School around 11am on Monday, search and rescue crews scoured the woods of the San Bernardino Mountains for the boy, battling hard rains and low temperatures at night.

Robb's polo shirt was discovered in the forest near his school around 12:50pm on Tuesday. A three-man tracking team hiked to where the shirt was found, and when fresh footprints were located, they began calling Robb's name. The boy finally came out of hiding from behind brush and approached the team and immediately thanked the men for finding him. "Thank you. You saved me," he said, according to Lieutenant Rick Ells of the Twin Peaks Sheriff's Station, reports ROTW News. Robb's parents, who were staying in a donated cabin across from the Twin Peaks Station, were summoned immediately to reunite with their son.

"We are in total shock because he doesn't talk a lot," Robb's father Ron Robb said of the boy thanking his rescuers, according to LA Times. "We didn't think this was something he would know how to say or comprehend."

The parents of Robb have been separated from their son since a real estate agent saw the boy tied to a post at their foreclosed home last month. Ron and Patricia Calcott, Robb's mother, say that before their son was removed from their custody by the San Bernardino County Department of Children and Family Services, he had never been without them. Robb's father claims tying the boy to a pole is a common method used to restrain his son. He believes Robb ran away from the school to find his parents. "All he knows is us. We've never had a break from my son ever since he was born," says Robb's father, according to KABC. "We know for a fact that that's why he escaped, because he was out trying to find us," he added.

San Bernardino County spokesman David Wert declined to comment on the parents' allegations, citing privacy issues.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@laist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Lauren Lloyd in News on September 14, 2011 8:40 AM

Comments [rss]

Michelle Inman Neal

God bless the parents and their boy! Nobody else that DOESN"T have a child with autism could EVER understand. So please don't judge!!

Matthew 7:1-2

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

FedUp71Ohio

He was trying to keep him safe!!! Autistic children have little to no safety awareness. A very common theme with them is elopement, which basically means they run off. They also have a huge attraction to water which is why drowning is a major cause of death for these kids. Many Autistic children cannot speak. So if they do run off and someone finds them, how are they going to know who they are, who their parents are, and where they live??? There are MANY complexities to life with an Autistic child. We have a privacy fence with zip-ties on the latch. Alarms on all of our windows and doors. We can NEVER leave windows open, our little guy quietly climbs out them. We are constantly on alert.
So please, do not judge too harshly. He was being kept safe while his parents were busy and knew they could not keep up the diligence it requires to keep him from running away. I am so profoundly glad they found him safe. There have been WAY TOO MANY cases where the outcome has been horrendous. God bless you, Joshua. And may you soon be reunited with your parents where you belong!

exbaytriate

perhaps we could heavily sedate them? oh wait ... that hasn't worked before.

Mike Kim

"Robb's father claims tying the boy to a pole is a common method used to restrain his son."

restrain him from WHAT?

who does that? let alone to an 8yr old autistic kid?