PORTLAND, Ore. — The uncle of a 5-year-old boy with autism who was found dead last week near his Coos County home in southern Oregon, three days after he went missing, said the child was a happy kid who loved to climb.
The child, Joshua James (J.J.) McCoy, was named after his uncle, Joshua McCoy, who lives in Ohio. The community held a vigil Saturday night in North Bend.
"My family, my mother and father, my brother, he is taking it really hard," he said.
The older McCoy said he's grateful to see the community support his family and wishes he could have been at Saturday's vigil in person.
"The support that we're getting from people in that area, and news outlets and day cares, and tons of people that are just calling us and supporting us," he said. "They're having that candlelight ceremony, they're having a motorcycle ride, a jeep ride, with the sheriff and the police department in it."
Saturday would have been J.J.'s sixth birthday.
The Coos County Sheriff's Office said they found the child's body a mile and a half from his home. His mother told deputies she'd fallen asleep and when she woke up, the boy was gone.
The sheriff's office has not provided any other information about the circumstances of the child's death. Last week, the sheriff's office said the cause of death remains unknown, nobody has been taken into custody, and the investigation is ongoing.
"Now is a time for healing and remembrance," the sheriff's office said.
The family told KGW it wants to hire a private investigator to better understand the circumstances around J.J.'s death.