The relief was palpable in Brooklyn early Saturday when an autistic, nonverbal 14-year-old boy was found safe, though inexplicably 4 miles from his home.
Police found Daniel Ghabra after the exhaustive nine-hour search that began Friday afternoon and ended Saturday with the teen being located in Sheepshead Bay. The boy was reported missing after last being seen at 4:30 p.m. just a block from his Dyker Heights home.
The case brought back frightening memories of 14-year-old Avonte Oquendo’s tragic disappearance and death. The autistic and nonverbal Queens boy went missing without a trace in October. His mystery was solved in January when his remains were found on the banks of the East River.
In Brooklyn, Daniel was with his mother inside the Good Day Laundromat on 11th Ave. near 62nd St. when he went missing.
On Friday night, his mother’s heartbroken voice called out to Daniel from an NYPD Crime Stoppers van touring the neighborhood.
“Daniel, we are looking for you,” she pleaded. “Please come to Mom.”
Workers at the laundry said Daniel and his mom stop by at least once a week to wash their clothes.
“He’s autistic … he screams, but he’s friendly,” said one employee. “He usually likes to run out and get drinks from a nearby grocery store as she does laundry, but she goes out in 10 minutes and brings him back.
“When he left this time, she couldn’t find him anymore,” the employee said.
Grim-faced cops set up a command post near the laundry Friday night and were looking for surveillance video and checking the nearby Fort Hamilton Parkway/62nd St. subway station for any clues.
“We know this boy, he never goes anywhere,” said neighbor Alex, 38. “He stays here with family. I never see him alone, only with the father and the mother.”
