A statewide Spectrum Alert is active for Lucas Maresca, a 14-year-old with nonverbal autism who disappeared from his Spring Hill home. He was last seen leaving on foot near the 10500 block of Blythville Road shortly after 8 p.m. Thursday, and authorities have not released an exact departure time or the direction he may have traveled.
Maresca is described as a white male with brown hair and brown eyes, standing about 5 feet tall and weighing 126 pounds, according to FOX 13 News. He was last seen wearing a gray and white t-shirt, neon orange shorts, and black shoes with neon green shoelaces. The station reports that a Florida Missing Child-Spectrum Alert was issued for him, and that the departure timestamp came from a Hernando County Sheriff's Office report relayed by Central Florida Scanner.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Hernando County Sheriff's Office at 352-754-6830 or dial 911 immediately, the station's report notes.
A New Tool Built Specifically for Cases Like This
The Spectrum Alert is a recent addition to Florida's emergency notification toolkit, created when the state legislature passed House Bill 711 during the 2025 session and codified it under Florida Statute § 937.0401. The law was written specifically to aid searches for missing children with autism spectrum disorder, filling a gap between standard missing-child notices and AMBER Alerts that typically require evidence of an abduction.
The statewide framework only went live a few months before Maresca disappeared. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement officially launched the Spectrum Alert system on July 1, 2026, coordinating with the state's transportation, highway safety, and lottery agencies to push out notices on digital road signs and lottery terminal displays. To activate one, law enforcement must confirm five criteria: the child is under 18, has a reasonably believed autism diagnosis, is in danger of death or serious injury based on an active investigation, has a detailed description available, and carries a local agency recommendation.
Escalation Options and a Recent Success Story
Florida's framework also includes an Enhanced Spectrum Alert option, which can push direct Wireless Emergency Alerts to mobile phones in a targeted area if a missing autistic child is believed to be in imminent danger, according to FOX 35 Orlando. The very first Spectrum Alert under the new system was issued on July 1, 2026, during the search for a missing 17-year-old with autism in DeLand — that teen was located safely in less than 12 hours.
Locally, the Hernando County Sheriff's Office also maintains Project Safe Return, a registry that lets families pre-register photos, contact information, and behavioral tendencies for residents with autism so deputies can move faster during searches, per WTSP.
Why Every Hour Counts
The urgency behind these alerts is rooted in hard numbers. A study conducted by the Interactive Autism Network and published in Pediatrics found that nearly 49% of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder attempt to wander or elope from safe environments after age 4. Florida Statute § 937.0401 itself identifies accidental drowning as the leading cause of death among missing children with autism — a sobering fact given the state's retention ponds and waterways.
For now, Lucas Maresca remains missing, and no further details about the search's progress, including whether K-9 units or specific search areas have been prioritized, have been released.
