A non-verbal autistic boy who was abducted by two yobs looking to score drugs has been found dead in a lake.
Alejandro Ripley, nine, was kidnapped from his mother's car in a car parking on Thursday night.
Authorities in Miami-Dade County, Florida, issued an Amber Alert to find the boy but today made the discovery on the lake of a golf course just four miles away.
"We are very sad to report that the child was found deceased," Florida Department of Law Enforcement said in a statement today.
No arrests in connection with the kidnapping or death have been made.
But police did say Alejandro, who was autistic and non-verbal, was pulled out of his mum's car by two black men driving a light blue four-door sedan.
One of the suspects was said to have been wearing all black clothing and a black bandanna as a face mask, and may have had cornrows in his hair.
The child's mum Patricia Ripley, 47, said she noticed a car following her last night in Miami. It then forced the woman's car off the road and blocked her in.
A male passenger then emerged from his vehicle, approached Ms Ripley and demanded drugs, officers said.
Miami police detective Angel Rodriguez said when the mother insisted she had no illegal narcotics in her possession, the thug snatched her mobile phone and pulled her son out of the vehicle.
The pair of kidnappers with the child in tow were last seen driving southbound.
