4-YR-OLD SIDNEY HEIDRICK, MISSING IN OHIO/FOUND DEAD

[HairOfTheDog]

^ Hundreds gathered in Sheffield Lake to remember Sidney Heidrick

The community of Sheffield Lake, Ohio, will never forget the moment the body of 4-year-old Sidney Heidrick was pulled from Lake Erie.

"I don't think anyone is going to get over any of this anytime soon," Mayor Dennis Bring tells PEOPLE.

Bring, a Sheffield Lake resident since 1958 who is in his fourth year as mayor, says he can't even remember the last time a tragedy like this struck his community, which is home to 9,000 people.

Sidney appears to have entered the water soon after he went missing, Lorain County Coroner Stephen Evans tells PEOPLE, and he died of an apparent drowning.

Wandering is one of the greatest risks to children who have autism, officials with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children tell PEOPLE, and nearly half of children with autism will wander.

Being able to find these children is complicated further by the fact that they may hide from other people or head straight for water, says Robert Lowery, vice president of NCMEC's missing children division.

Higher-functioning children have been known to travel several miles with the help of public transportation.

Water poses a particular danger. From 2009 to 2011, 91 percent of the deaths of children 14 and younger with autism were due to accidental drowning after wandering, Lowery says, citing the National Autism Association.

http://www.people.com/article/sidney-hei...hio-update