'Critically missing' 18-year-old with autism found safe, police say
Carlos Stiven Diaz-Barrios (Marietta Police Department)
MARIETTA, Ga. - Marietta police have found an 18-year-old boy with autism who had been missing for more than half a day.
Officials say 18-year-old Carlos Stiven Diaz-Barriod has been missing since around 3 p.m. Sunday from the extended stay hotel on Delk Road where he and his mother were staying.
Diaz-Barrios's mother told officers that she originally wasn't alarmed when her son left their room where they've been staying for over a month, as he likes to walk around the hotel property. However, he has never left the hotel property on his own before. Witnesses report seeing him walking east on Delk Road around 9 p.m. Sunday.
Shortly after 11:45 a.m. Monday, Marietta police say they found him safely.
According to investigators, Diaz-Barrios has autism and, while he does not like to be alone, "he may not respond in a way you would traditionally expect if confronted by a stranger."
Police believe that the missing 18-year-old is wearing a navy blue long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans.