Two young boys who vanished from a Baltimore school on Friday afternoon have been found safe and unharmed, Baltimore Police announced. Six-year-old Diez Banks and 11-year-old Prince Williams were last seen around 4:00 p.m. on October 2 near a school in the 800 block of East 32nd Street, and their disappearance set off an urgent citywide search before word came that both boys had been located.
According to Baltimore Police
, the department had asked the public for help finding the two boys before confirming they were safe. Diez Banks was described as 4 feet tall, weighing approximately 65 pounds, and was last seen wearing a red school uniform shirt. Prince Williams was described as approximately 5 feet tall, weighing about 75 pounds, and was last seen in a black school uniform shirt. Police had asked anyone with information to call 911 and later thanked everyone who shared the appeal.
Missing-Child Reporting Rules
The rapid response reflects strict rules that bind how Baltimore officers handle reports of missing children. Under Baltimore Police Department Policy 714, officers must accept missing person reports immediately, without enforcing any waiting period, and promptly enter missing juveniles under 18 into state and national law enforcement databases, according to a department policy document hosted on PowerDMS. Those local rules track federal law: Suzanne's Law, part of the 2003 PROTECT Act, bars law enforcement agencies nationwide from imposing mandatory waiting periods before accepting reports on anyone under 21.
The Baltimore Police Department has a Missing Persons Unit. At the state level, the Maryland Center for Missing and Unidentified Persons, operated by the Maryland State Police Criminal Enforcement Division, serves as a statewide clearinghouse for missing child reports and manages Maryland's AMBER and Silver Alert systems, according to the Maryland Department of State Police.
National Missing-Child Data
Public social media appeals combined with units like BPD's Missing and Exploited Persons Unit and state clearinghouses often enable the kind of swift resolution seen in this case. Regional law enforcement in the Baltimore area also has access to aerial search assets, including the Baltimore County Police Department's Aviation Unit, which operates three Airbus AS350B3 helicopters known as County Air for critical searches involving missing children, according to Baltimore County Government.
The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children says runaway incidents account for the overwhelming majority of missing-child cases it handled in 2025.
Context Across Maryland and Baltimore Schools
A WMAR report says Maryland State Police receive more than 10,000 missing-person reports in a typical year. WMAR describes most missing-child reports as runaways. Baltimore City Public Schools has a district cell-phone policy, according to Baltimore City Public Schools.
No further details on how or where Diez Banks and Prince Williams were located have been released beyond Baltimore Police's confirmation that both boys are safe and unharmed.
