A photo surfaced on Wednesday of a boy who resembles Avonte Oquendo, the 14-year-old autistic boy who has been missing for almost a month.
A 13-year-old snapped a picture of a boy on the E or F subway train Tuesday afternoon who closely resembles Oquendo, although the missing teen's father could not be sure if it was his son, The New York Daily News reports.
Avonte is severely autistic, and is nonverbal. According to Tony Herbert, president of the Brooklyn East chapter of the National Action Network, the teen who took the photo of the boy on the subway asked the boy, "Hey, are you Avonte?" Herbert said that the boy did not answer, and that the inquiring teen, whose identity is unknown, took the picture before the boy stepped off the train.
The boy in the photo is staring straight ahead and wearing a beige jacket and green khaki pants. The teen who took the photo later posted it on his Facebook page, and an administrator at his school saw the image and alerted the police, who are currently investigating.
Oquendo vanished on Oct. 4 after leaving his Long Island City school. Since he went missing, authorities have been searching the city's subway tunnels in hopes of finding him. Police has received sporadic reports of possible sightings, but to no avail.
On Wednesday afternoon, police from the 102 Precinct responded to a possible sighting at a Burger King on Atlantic Ave. in Queens. Yet, the person sighted was not Avonte.
Last week, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said that he is "not hopeful" that the missing teen is still alive. He later apologized for his statement to Avonte's outraged family members.
After Avonte's father, Daniel Oquendo, was shown the photo, he said he was "still hopeful."
"Yes, it's a close likeness," he told the Daily News on Wednesday. "We need to get a better look to really tell. If we could find the individual who took the picture, that would help big time."
"We just need to stay focused and analyze every sighting," he said. "The more sightings, the better. Eventually one will pan out," he added.
The reward for Avonte is now up to $85,000.
Avonte is described as being 5'3" tall and weighting 120 lbs. When last seen, he was wearing black jeans, a gray striped shirt and black sneakers.
Another autistic boy, Robert Richard, 14, went missing from Yonkers and may have wandered to the Bronx, authorities say. Anyone with information on either boy is asked to call 911.
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