Missing Virginia Beach boy's death ruled an accidental drowning
VIRGINIA BEACH — The death of a 12-year-old boy whose body was found three days after he was reported missing has been ruled an accidental drowning.
Donna Price, a spokeswoman for the Tidewater Medical Examiner's Office, released the information about the death of Juan Sebastian Mejia Acevedoin in an email on Wednesday afternoon.
Juan's parents reported him missing Friday, night, after he didn't return home from an expected visit to a friend's house. The couple reported that they last saw him that morning, and police said he was last seen about 2 p.m. that day, which is when a doorbell camera at a condominium not far from the family's apartment captured Juan happily playing with friends in the snow.
Police issued an Amber Alert early Saturday, and began investigating the boy's disappearance as a possible abduction after the family received a ransom request during a livestream on Facebook in which they sought help locating Juan.
Marine patrol officers began searching the ponds near Juan's apartment complex Monday out of an abundance of caution, Virginia Beach Police Chief Paul Neudigate said. Using sonar technology, they located a body Tuesday in a pond at the entrance of the Cambria at Cornerstone apartment complex. The small body of water is only a couple blocks from Juan's family's apartment in the Kempsville section of the city, not far from Town Center.
The chief said he'd been told the ice on the pond had been about three inches thick at one point. When Juan's body was recovered Monday, much of the ice had melted and only about a third of the area was covered.
After the body was recovered, Neudigate told reporters it resembled Juan, and was wearing clothing that matched the description provided by his family.
Juan was an only child and a student at Larkspur Middle School. A GoFundMe page set up to help his family had gathered more than $6,000 in donations by Wednesday afternoon.
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
This is a developing story. Please check back later for updates.
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