VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Police said they have confirmed that a body pulled from a pond early Monday afternoon that matched the description of missing 12-year-old Juan Sebastian Mejia Acevedo is indeed Acevedo.
A search team was out Monday morning looking for Acevedo, the boy who had been missing since Friday in Virginia Beach. The Virginia Beach Police Marine Patrol searched the bottom of a pond using sonar equipment, but found nothing.
They then moved to another pond in the Cambria and Cornerstone neighborhood, and at 11:40 a.m., police started putting up yellow tape to clear the streets. With this response, the black curtain put up and a strong police presence on the other side of the pond, it became clear that a body had likely been found.
And indeed, a body was pulled from a pond off of Dolton Drive and Alicia Drive during the afternoon that matched his description.
Police are still investigating his death, and do not have a cause of death at this time.
A press release from the Virginia Beach Police Chief gave more information into the situation. The full video can be seen in the video player above.
“We recovered a body that was approximately eight feet under the water,” said Virginia Beach Police Chief Paul Neudigate. “That body matches the physical description and the clothing description that we have for Juan Acevedo.”
By late afternoon, the name was confirmed.
Neudigate indicated they will wait for medical examiner results to decide what their next move is.
“So right now, we know we have a recovery,” Neudigate said. “We will get the young man over to the medical examiner’s office. They will tell us, in fact, what they believe to be the cause of death, and then we will release what we originally believed and then get that information out.”
The police chief would not say what he originally believed, but we asked the chief what role he thinks ice played in Juan’s death.
“I think it played a big role because I was over there for a while watching the recovery operations and I talked to the marine patrol, and we were out here yesterday,” Neudigate said.
With Virginia State Police’s Amber Alert noting that “the child is believed to have been abducted,” why were the ponds not checked before?
“We had no specific indication that these ponds were an area of interest, but we did not want to leave any stone unturned,” Neudigate said. “As you know, we’ve been investigating this as a possible abduction.”
State Police issued an Amber Alert for the 12-year-old Acevedo around 5:45 a.m. Saturday. The alert was canceled just before 3 p.m. Monday.
10 On Your Side was on the scene Monday as police put up yellow tape around a pond. 10 On Your Side reported that there were other ponds that were also searched.
The chief said this is a period of mourning for the community. The police are looking into all possibilities that may have led to this, including the ransom requests that the family received that resulted in them paying $500.
Virginia Beach Police began searching for Acevedo Friday. The boy’s mother told 10 On Your Side that her son never reached his friend’s house on the day he disappeared.