Maddox, six, disappeared on Saturday and his body was found on Thursday. The child had autism and limited verbal skills
Hours after learning his six-year-old son was dead, the father of an autistic boy has spoken out about his devastation at not being able to save the boy.
Ian Ritch says he was walking with his son Maddox in Rankin Lake Park on Saturday afternoon, when the boy took off running.
He says he was not able to catch up to him, and after looking himself, went to the park ranger for help. Maddox’s body was found at 1pm on Thursday off of Marietta Street/Old Dallas Highway in Gastonia.
Ritch said in his lengthy statement, shared to Facebook, he ‘loved that lil boy, he was my best lil buddy’. He went on to say Maddox was his only child, and he would never have another one, before launching into a retelling of the devastating week from his point of view.
‘I wasn’t so worried about him when all this started on Saturday because I expected to find him right off,’ he said.
‘Over time I got more and more scared and worried. Once Sunday morning came that’s when it starts me thinking I had something to worry about.
‘Now today I found out I’m not a dad anymore. I had big plans with my son. I wanted us to go fishing play ball go camping.
‘I wanted to be his heroe [sic]. I wanted him to say I was more than Superman or Batman to him. I wanted people to ask him who his heroe [sic] is and him say my daddy.
‘Now I’m no heroe [sic], I couldn’t save him or protect him at all. I would give anything to go back and save him.’
Maddox had been at a park in North Carolina with his father, Ian Ritch (left), when he ran off
Ritch reported his son missing to a park ranger, who called police. The father, who says he is a ‘broken man’ and will never have another child, has been criticized for a perceived lack of emotion during the investigation
Gastonia Police Chief Robert Helton fought back tears as he announced officials believed they found Maddox.
‘Our community’s heartbroken. This is not the end that we hoped for,’ Helton said. ‘I’ve lost a lot of sleep this week worrying about Maddox.’
Gastonia Fire Chief Phil Welch said the body was found in a creek, slightly more than a mile east of Rankin Lake Park, by a searcher who was walking down the middle of the creek as his partners stood on the bank.
He said the area had been searched previously by drones, all-terrain vehicles and foot patrols, but the boy was not found until a crew of 15 searchers returned to the creek and discovered the body.
‘There is no sense of accomplishment here today,’ Welch said. ‘There is grieving down at our command post.’
FBI agent Jason Kaplan, also fighting tears, said the investigation into what happened to Maddox will continue. He said the water wasn’t more than 3 feet deep at the spot where the body was found, adding that it’s too early to say whether foul play was involved.
Neither he nor the other officials would provide additional details regarding the body being found, including how long the body had been in the creek.
A local church used their sign to call its parishioners to pray for the lost boy before his body was discovered
Ritch has been criticized during the investigation for showing a lack of emotion as he initially reported his son missing or spoke with reporters days after police began to search.
In an interview with WSOC-TV, Rankin Lake Park employee Ray Foxx said Ritch’s seemed out of breath, but not concerned, after Maddox went missing on Saturday.
‘He didn’t act like a concerned parent, like I would act, or any concerned parent would act,’ he said.
Ritch said at a press conference with police and FBI agents on Wednesday that he could not catch up with his son after letting him get about 25-30 feet in front of him on a footpath, for which he said he feels guilt.
He said he couldn’t run because of a neuropathy in his foot, and when he finally did run, he could not catch up to his son.
Ritch said he knows he’s a potential target for investigators, but says he has done his best to be cooperative.
‘I mean, I know I’m the number one suspect when it starts. That’s plain and simple,’ Ritch told CBS News, adding that he has cooperated with investigators. ‘Everything that they’ve asked for, I’ve given them right off the bat.’
Rankin Lake Park worker Ray Foxx (left) left said six-year-old Maddox Ritch’s father, Ian (right) did not look like a ‘concerned parent’ when he came to him saying his son has gone missing
Hundreds of investigators, analysts and others joined in the search for the boy in about 250 acres of the park area before he was found in a creek, slightly more than a mile east of Rankin Lake Park
Ritch appeared to address suspicions surrounding his involvement in his statement, referring to people who ‘don’t believe anything I have said’.
‘While a lot of people don’t believe anything I have said in the past believe this,’ he wrote.
Police are yet to confirm if they believe Maddox’s death is suspicious, or if they are still investigating Ritch
‘From this moment on for the rest of my life I will live with the guilt of not being there to save my son. The most important person in my life.
‘So when everyone else gets to go back to their normal lives remember that I will never be the same man again. I will now and forever be a broken man until I take my last breath.’
Ritch said he wished he was spiritual so he could be sure when he died he would be reunited with his son, and asked for ‘some time to try to pull myself back together’.
He advised other parents to ‘hug their children tighter, and please don’t make my mistake and let them get too far away from you’.
‘Do everything you can with your children because I wont get the chance to do anything with mine,’ he wrote.
‘Now to Maddox I just want to say I love u lil buddy. Please be waiting for me when my time comes because I promise I’m gonna do everything I can to be with you rooster!!!!!’
Harold Early, a local registered sex offender, told Fox 46 late on Thursday afternoon it was his tip that led search crews to the boy’s body.
‘Probation and the US Marshals came over to the house and was checking around. I gave them a tip, I asked if they had looked down in the holes and the pipe,’ he said.
Early is listed as a registered sex offender in Gaston County.
The entry on the registry was convicted in 2012 in connection to three separate incidents beginning in 1980. He is currently on probation.
Local fire and police commands said they were devastated when they found Maddox’s body and were also grieving for the boy