Upstate New York police have launched a frantic search for a nonverbal autistic boy and nephew of a Michigan mayor who vanished from a party on Sunday afternoon.
Harbe Nagi, 7, was last seen at a graduation celebration in Menands, a village just north of Albany, around 4:10 p.m. on Sunday before he was believed to have wandered off, according to WNYT and the Menands Police Department.
Nagi, who is autistic and nonverbal, does not live in the neighborhood and primarily speaks Arabic. He remains missing as of Monday night, police said.
The boy is the nephew of Hamtramck, Michigan, Mayor Adam Alharbi, who has flown to New York to be with his family and asked the public to keep the boy in their thoughts, according to Clickondetroit and WNYT.
The child — described as 3-foot-7 and roughly 48 pounds — is known to wander and explore and has a “strong interest in water,” the department wrote in a statement.
Nagi loves the outdoors, climbing, and music, specifically the song “Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star,” cops said.
Authorities have stationed ice cream trucks in the area where Nagi was last seen, hoping the nostalgic sound will lure him out.
Mayor Alharbi, who is the brother of Nagi’s mother, told WNYT that the family is now offering a $10,000 reward for his nephew’s safe return.
“The child was trying to escape the house,” Alharbi told the outlet from an airport in Baltimore on his way to join the search.
“He has autism. He’s tried to escape the house several times before, but the mom would follow him and get him back into the house.”
Alharbi said Nagi was with his mother at the party when he walked off and vanished.
“As soon as I found out, I booked a flight. I haven’t slept yet. I’m in Baltimore waiting on the next flight to Albany,” the mayor said.
Nagi’s family moved to Albany from New York City a few years ago. The family is originally from Yemen, but the uncle said Nagi was born in the US.
Several community members, including those from neighboring towns, have rushed to the area to help with the desperate search for Nagi.
“I opened my garage, went all around my house, you never know, looked everywhere in my backyard. And then after that I went out with the search,” neighbor Heidi Iyok told the outlet.
Nagi was last seen wearing a light-colored shirt, dark pants, and no shoes. He has brown eyes and brown hair, cops said.
Police urged the public not to be alarmed by a large police presence in the neighborhood and to monitor their own private surveillance cameras and easily climbed structures for signs of the boy.
Cops do not believe that anyone was involved in the child’s disappearance, but are still investigating all possibilities with the assistance of New York State Police, the Albany County Sheriff’s Office, and the FBI’s Albany Office.
Anyone who runs into Nagi should call 911 and speak softly, as he may become overwhelmed.
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