An 18-year-old Chester man with non-verbal autism has been missing since the early morning hours of Tuesday, last seen walking away from a home on Mount Pleasant Church Road wearing only undergarments. Alexander Porter stands 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighs 160 pounds, and has brown hair and brown eyes, according to authorities, who say his direction of travel is unknown.
The Chester County Sheriff's Office issued the missing person advisory identifying Porter and asking anyone with information to call (803) 385-5433. Deputies say Porter left the residence on foot and that his exact whereabouts and direction of travel remain unknown. The sheriff's office has deployed both its drone team and its K9 tracking team to search for him in the Chester area, per the advisory.
Why Non-Verbal Cases Demand Faster Response
Because Porter is non-verbal, searchers cannot rely on him responding when his name is called during field sweeps, a challenge described broadly by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, which notes that missing nonspeaking individuals on the autism spectrum often seek out water, vehicles, or enclosed hiding spots instead of calling out for help. That dynamic is part of why cases like this move quickly from a local welfare check to a full search-and-rescue posture.
National research underscores the stakes. A study by the National Autism Association analyzing media-reported missing person cases found that accidental drowning accounted for more than 70 percent of lethal outcomes among individuals on the autism spectrum who wandered from safe environments. A landmark study published in Pediatrics by the Interactive Autism Network, highlighted by the Kennedy Krieger Institute, found that nearly half of children and youth with autism spectrum disorder attempt to wander or elope from safe settings — a rate four times higher than their neurotypical siblings.
Behavioral Triggers Behind Early-Morning Disappearances
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention notes that wandering among individuals with developmental disabilities occurs most frequently during high-stress transitions, outdoor activities, overnight hours, or visits to unfamiliar places, and that individuals may flee toward places of special interest or to escape sensory overload. Porter's disappearance during the early morning hours fits that pattern described by federal researchers, though officials have not stated a specific cause for his leaving.
South Carolina law has specifically built cases like Porter's into its statewide emergency alert framework. In 2023, the state legislature amended Section 23-3-330 of the S.C. Code of Laws to explicitly include developmental disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder in the state's Endangered Person Notification System, expanding alert tools to include wireless emergency alerts and highway digital signs for cognitively impaired individuals. Under South Carolina Law Enforcement Division guidelines, local law enforcement must confirm a documented cognitive impairment and confirm that local media broadcasts have begun before state authorities will issue a statewide Endangered Person Advisory; it remains unclear whether SLED has issued such an advisory in Porter's case.
Chester County's Recent Search Track Record
The sheriff's office has handled similar cases before. State budget provisos allocated $265,000 to fund specialized technology, including a drone vehicle, for the Chester County Sheriff's Office, and the department also maintains a dedicated K9 tracking unit with bloodhounds assigned specifically to missing-person and search-and-rescue operations. In September 2022, those resources helped deputies locate a missing Fort Lawn woman with a cognitive impairment alive after a multi-agency search involving aerial drones, K9 tracking teams, and SLED helicopter support, according to WLTX.
Just weeks ago, the same department deployed K9 tracking teams and aerial drones to locate a 69-year-old Chester man with dementia who had gone missing on foot. Whether searchers are focusing on any nearby water features along Mount Pleasant Church Road has not been disclosed, and it is not yet known whether Porter has been found. Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact the Chester County Sheriff's Office at (803) 385-5433.
