Family: Body Of Missing 5-Year-Old Has Been Found
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - The search for a missing 5-year-old boy in Fort Worth appears to be over. Family members say they have been told the body of young Sida Osman has been found.
Officers had been searching for Sida since late Tuesday night. The boy had last been seen playing at the Webber Garden Apartments. His mother, Dahabo Abdi, said Sida took off running when she called to him, and just disappeared.
Two employees of a food program said they were they discovered the boy after a woman in the neighborhood waved them down.
"And a young lady flagged us down and told us he was behind Prince Hall, next to a church in a vacant house, in the backyard," said Cyquinthia Portley.
She and Carl Williams followed the instructions to a house in the 4800 block of Lois Street. They found the body in the backyard, under a tree.
"Helpless little boy with his fist balled up, looked like he'd been fighting," said Williams.
The house is just two blocks from the apartment complex where the child vanished.
Dahabo Abdi and other family members left the apartments and went to the scene on Lois. When they arrived someone told the family that Sida's body had been found.
The women gathered and began chanting a blessing in Arabic, saying, "God be with us. Why? Why? God help us. God help us."
At the scene the boy's uncle, Mohammad Elmi, said the family is devastated. "We expected to see him alive, just you know coming back to the house, smiling, happy… something like that. We didn't expect this to happen." When asked to describe his nephew he said, "He was, he was very… he was playful. He was smiling. He was happy. I mean, he was a strong little boy too, [a] very strong little boy… a smart one, too smart for his age."
Fort Worth police will only confirm that the body of a young African American boy has been found. They will not say if the body is that of Sida Osman. Officials also will not say how the individual died. The body has been removed from behind the vacant house and taken to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Officer.
Wednesday morning Fort Worth police were out with the department helicopter, police dogs, and officers on horseback — all systematically searching the area, looking for Sida. Officers combed through adjacent apartment complexes trying to find the boy. Sida was last seen wearing a short-sleeved blue shirt, with white stripes down both sleeves, baby blue shorts and boots.
Since police do not believe foul play was involved, the child's disappearance does not meet the criteria for an Amber Alert.
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