Missing 4-year-old boy found dead on shore in Boston Harbor

A child was found dead Monday afternoon on the shores of an island in Boston Harbor, authorities said, putting a tragic end to a desperate search that involved helicopters and several teams covering land and sea. 

Mohamed Fofana, a 4-year-old boy from South Boston, had been missing since Sunday evening. Massachusetts State Police, one of several law enforcement agencies involved in the search for Fofana, announced that a marine unit spotted the child's body on the shoreline of Castle Island at around 12:30 p.m. 

"Troopers from the MSP Special Emergency Response Team and State Police Detective Unit for Suffolk County were ferried to the island by the Marine Unit, and they have confirmed the body to be Mohamed. State Police Crime Scene Services also responded to document the scene of the recovery," State Police spokesperson Dave Procopio said in a statement, according to CBS Boston. 

"Mohamed will be brought to shore and transferred to the custody of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner," the spokesperson said.

Fofana was last seen playing at a park on Castle Island at around 7 p.m. on Sunday. The child had gone to the park with his older sister as well as his grandfather, Soleymane Fofana, who called 911 after Fofana disappeared near the water.

Massachusetts State Police confirmed that search operations had begun on Castle Island and the surrounding harbor before 9:30 p.m. Using helicopters and patrol teams covering land and sea, the search continued into the night and resumed early on Monday morning.

Mohamed's mother, Matenjay Fofana, and his grandfather released two images of the child on Monday morning as they asked the community for help finding him. At the time, they told CBS Boston that "Mohamed can't talk," explaining that the child was on the Autism spectrum and also suffered from sickle cell disease.

Detectives with the state police are conducting an investigation into Fofana's death.

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