Autistic Lionel Cervantes Found Dead After Missing From School
Following her son’s terrible death from running away from school, the heartbroken mother of the autistic South Carolina youngster issued a harsh condemnation of officials.
Lionel, age eight, was found dead in a creek close to Bell’s Crossing Elementary School in Simpsonville on Thursday. His mother, Dalia Cervantes, posted the heartbreaking news on social media shortly after he was found.
She remarked, “I know he is in a better place.” However, my boy did not have to die in this manner. He died because of negligence.
When Lionel ran away from a playground on Thursday morning, school staff say they followed after him. However, he vanished before they could apprehend him and was located hours later.
When the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office announced the discovery of Lionel’s body, they did not immediately say if they planned to press charges.
Before the youngster was discovered by divers in a creek about a quarter of a mile from his school, authorities had launched a massive multi-agency search for him, involving the FBI, SLED teams, and a wave of volunteers.
Sheriff Hobart Lewis called the child’s death a “terrible situation” during a press conference.
“We don’t know how or why, but he ended up in that pond at some point,” he said.
“We would like to express our gratitude to the community for coming out to look for this young man, as there are a lot of broken hearts in the school and this community today.”
Dalia claimed that after learning that her son had gone missing and subsequently been discovered, she received a call from his school, leaving her devastated and in quest of clarification.
“I am now left without my Leo,” she wrote on Facebook.
The distraught mother continued, saying, “I saw the video and it does not justify their actions.” It’s not apparent, though, to which video she is alluding.
Dalia’s friend listed her as a single mother of five children whose husband passed away three years ago in a GoFundMe established to cover Lionel’s burial expenses.
Lionel ran off from his school on Thursday morning at around 11 a.m., according to his teachers. Despite their best efforts, they were unable to catch up with the eight-year-old before he managed to escape and they lost him.
After a massive search, Lionel’s body was discovered in a body of water just after 3 p.m. It is unknown what caused him to die officially.
“Words are just not sufficient to describe this tragedy,” stated in a statement issued by Greenville County Schools Superintendent W. Burke Royster.
‘Our hearts and our prayers are with this family, this community, with this school community.’
In the GoFundMe, a friend of Lionel’s mother claimed he liked Spider Man, and was ‘the nicest, most loving guy with the brightest smile and will be missed deeply.’
‘(Dalia) never in a million years thought she would never see her baby alive again.’
