A 7-year-old nonverbal boy with autism who went missing from his North Tulsa home Thursday afternoon was found dead near a creek less than two blocks away that evening, after more than 350 police officers and first responders scoured the neighborhood with helicopters, drones, K-9s, and boats. The boy, identified by local reporting as Asher Judkins, was last seen wearing a blue-green shirt and a pull-up before he disappeared around 2 p.m. from near 45th Street North and North Delaware Avenue.
The Tulsa Police Department said the child was found deceased after a search that stretched for hours through heavily wooded terrain surrounding a cul-de-sac near his home. Preliminary evidence indicated the boy had walked southwest from his house toward a creek at the end of the cul-de-sac, according to the department. A Tulsa Fire Department search dog ultimately located his body near the creek around 8 p.m., per the police department.
More than 200 police officers and nearly 150 first responders from the Tulsa Police Department, Tulsa Fire Department, Tulsa County Sheriff's Office, and EMSA took part in the search, according to KOTV. Police thanked the nearly 150 first responders who assisted in the effort but said they had no further updates at that time. The Tulsa Medical Examiner has since taken jurisdiction over the investigation to determine the boy's precise cause of death, and authorities have indicated no foul play is suspected.
Emergency Alerts Blanketed the Metro During the Search
While the search was underway, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol issued an Endangered Missing Advisory that pushed emergency alerts to mobile phones across the Tulsa metro area, as reported by FOX23. The alert urged residents in north Tulsa to check their yards, outbuildings, and vehicles. Oklahoma maintains a tiered system of these alerts for missing persons, including AMBER Alerts for abductions, Silver Alerts for missing seniors, Kasey Alerts for endangered adults, and the Endangered Missing Advisory used in this case for at-risk youth, according to the National Ashanti Alert Network.
The tragedy came just days after a very different outcome in Tulsa. On August 17, police and community members found an 18-year-old autistic youth, Austin Grimes, safe after he wandered roughly four miles overnight toward the Arkansas River and was located barefoot along Riverside Drive, as Hoodline reported at the time. Grimes had set out on foot toward the Gathering Place riverfront park before he was found.
Why Searchers Focus on Water First
The proximity of water to Thursday's search is not incidental. Research from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health found that children with autism spectrum disorder face a drowning risk 160 times higher than the general pediatric population, according to the National Autism Association. Sensory-seeking behavior and reduced danger awareness are cited as primary factors behind that disparity.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 48 percent of autistic children wander or elope from safe environments, and that one in four of those children go missing long enough to cause serious concern. Drowning accounts for 91 percent of wandering-related fatalities among autistic children nationwide, with an average of seven such deaths occurring each month, per the National Autism Association. In May, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children recommended expanding Wireless Emergency Alerts to explicitly direct the public to search water first, noting that most missing autistic children who drown are found within a half-mile of where they were last seen.
Local Training Efforts Preceded the Tragedy
Tulsa's first responders had recently trained specifically for cases like this one. In July, the Tulsa Fire Department joined Tulsa Police, the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office, and EMSA for a joint “Heroes & Families Safety Day,” part of an initiative called Project: Safe Stop developed with Family & Children's Services to help first responders better recognize and support autistic residents during emergencies. Despite that groundwork and the rapid activation of an Endangered Missing Advisory Thursday, the combination of wooded terrain and a nearby creek proved fatal within hours.
