Body of missing 7-year-old Bastrop County boy found in pond

ELGIN, Texas (KXAN) — The body of a 7-year-old boy who went missing in Bastrop County on Sunday was found in a pond near his house.

According to the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office, Jesús Castellanos-Carreon’s parents noticed he was missing around 2:45 p.m. Sunday and immediately began searching for him.

Law Enforcement said Jesús was playing outside and may have wandered off after their family dog.

After finding signs that Jesús may have gone into a large pond near their residence, the parents called 911 asking for help locating their autistic son, according to BCSO.

“There was some clothing and so forth,” Bastrop County Sheriff Maurice Cook said. “He’s an autistic child, [and] autistic children are quite commonly drawn to water.”

In the seemingly developing neighborhood where Jesús lived, there’s now shock and sadness among his family and neighbors.

12-year-old Thuy Liaz said she saw Jesús’ relatives going around the neighborhood on Sunday, asking if anyone had seen him and their family’s dog.

“We have a cousin that he’s also autistic and we went to go [help] search for him [Jesús] because we know how that feels,” Thuy said.

That search quickly expanded beyond neighbors.

BCSO and first responders from several other agencies went to the area and began an air, water and ground search. The water rescue team from the Austin Police Department located Jesús’ body in the pond at 7:50 p.m.

Responding agencies included Elgin police, the Elgin Fire Department, North Bastrop Fire Department, Bastrop Fire Department, Heart of the Pines Fire Department, Department of Public Safety for air support, Round Rock police, Austin police, Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1 and Judge Cindy Allen.

They searched a private ranch off Highway 290 and FM 696 where they discovered the family dog standing next to the pond where teams discovered Jesús body.

“There was a lot of debris in the [pond], which made it difficult on the recovery,” Cook said.

The water temperature was 56 degrees, and crews found his body in five feet of water. The cold water likely played a role in Jesús’ death, according to Cook.

These sorts of ponds often used as drinking water for cattle, and are common throughout Bastrop County, cook told KXAN.

“Ranchers and farmers have [ponds] all all over the place, if it’s controlled, it’s by the size of the hole,” Cook said.

Jesús was a student at Booker T. Elementary in Elgin. It told KXAN its working to support students through this tragedy,

Jesús family also started a GoFundMe to raise money for his funeral.

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