Five-year-old João Gabriel Ferreira dos Santos, who had been missing since Sunday (26), was found dead on the afternoon of Tuesday (28) by the Paraná Military Fire Department.
The child's body was found in a biodigester on a farm near the family's home in a rural area of Araucária, a city in the metropolitan region of Curitiba.
A biodigester is used for the treatment of organic waste through biological decomposition, forming a reservoir of liquid and organic matter, and is a structure commonly used on rural properties.
The site has a fence, but it was damaged in some areas, allowing people to enter the biodigester.
"The firefighters were draining points where water had accumulated, with the support of a truck belonging to the farm's owner, when they found the body," a statement from the Fire Department explains.
The Scientific Police carried out forensic work at the scene and sent the body for autopsy. The Civil Police are awaiting the conclusion of the Scientific Police's work before continuing their investigation.
"We deployed all available human and operational resources from the state's security forces to try to find the boy as quickly as possible. It was an operation conducted in an integrated and uninterrupted manner from the very first moment," said Paraná's Secretary of Public Security, Colonel Hudson Leôncio Teixeira, in a press interview.
The case was reported through the Amber Alert program, an urgent alert system activated in certain disappearance cases. The system triggers posts on Meta's platforms with a description of the child.
According to information the family provided to the Civil Police, the boy was a nonverbal autistic child — meaning he did not use speech as his primary form of communication. He was at level 2 of ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), according to the classification in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which categorizes autistic individuals into three levels of support, with level 1 requiring the least daily support.
He disappeared on Sunday morning after telling his mother he was going to the bathroom, which was located in an outdoor area of the rural property.
Firefighters were called in early afternoon, and an integrated search operation also mobilized teams from the Civil Police, Military Police, Municipal Guard, and volunteers.
Drones with thermal cameras, search dogs, and aircraft were used. The searches focused on wooded areas, ponds, and tanks.
According to delegate Gabriel Fontana, who is in charge of the case, the investigation shows no signs of criminal activity at this time.
"We are initially working with the hypothesis of accidental death. Even so, all the circumstances of the case will be investigated, with the collection of evidence and statements from the parents, family members, and other individuals who may contribute to clarifying the facts," he said.