Still Missing: Avonte Oquendo #FindAvonte (New York)

Avonte Oquendo was last seen on October 4, 2013, when the 14-year-old autistic boy slipped out of the Riverview School in Queens and hasn’t been found.

“He wandered away from people who should have been watching him,” said Vanessa Fontaine, Avonte’s mother. She and her attorney released a timeline of events leading up to the boy’s disappearance.

The Department of Education occurrence report reads that at 12:37, Avonte ran past the main security desk, tried to get out of a side exit, then went by the security desk again. Avonte continued down the hallway and went out through the Center Boulevard exit door, which was open. Fontaine said the school security officer saw him walk through the open door.

Twenty minutes later, at 12:57, the assistant principal reported the student missing. It wasn’t until 1:35 — an hour after Avonte was last seen — that his mother was called.

“If the teachers found out he’s not on that line sooner he would be here with me,” Fontaine said.

Finally at 2 p.m., the NYPD was notified.

Avonte’s mother believes the school should take responsibility for her son’s disappearance but she is hopeful he’ll be found. Every night, she joins a group of volunteers to search the streets for her son.

“I hope someone wakes up and they say what they have in place is not working,” Fontaine said.

Avonte’s mother plans to file suit against the city in January, not only for compensation but for changes to the Education Department’s security systems.

The Department of Education issued a statement Friday evening.

“Avonte’s disappearance is a heartbreaking situation, and Chancellor Walcott has spoken with Avonte’s family and expressed his deep concern as Chancellor, as a parent and as a grandparent,” said Devon Puglia, a DOE spokesman. “The case is currently under investigation by the Office of the Special Commissioner of Investigation. All School Security Agents are employed and trained by the New York City Police Department.

Puglia said that chancellor was determined that the department “learn every lesson possible from this terrible situation” and prevent something like it from ever happening again. Puglia said the department has taken steps to “enhance and refine its existing protocols.”