AURORA | Police believe the body of a child found Tuesday in a pond at Aurora’s Olympic Park is that of a 6-year-old Aurora boy who went missing Saturday night.
Aurora police held a press conference at about 11 a.m. Tuesday to announce they’d found the body of a child beneath the ice at the pond at the park near South Chambers Road and East Yale Avenue. Ice rescuers retrieved the body.
Police said it will take time to “positively identify” the body, but said they have informed the family of missing 6-year-old David Puckett of what they found.
“Because of our information and our suspicion … we have informed David’s family of what we have found,” said Aurora police chief Nick Metz, who at one point in the press conference inadvertently referred to the body as David’s before again resuming a stance that the body has not yet been identified.
Police said a dive team from South Metro Fire Rescue on Tuesday searched the pond at Olympic Park — which is across the street from Puckett’s home where he was last seen Saturday night.
Metz said several people searched around the pond over the weekend and didn’t see any sign that the ice was broken or anybody had fallen in.
Police searched the area again using a special search dog from Boulder County and the dog alerted to something in the pond, Metz said.
Police asked photographers not to take pictures of the pond, which is in the southwest corner of the park just north of East Yale Avenue.
Aurora police crime scene investigators are also on the scene, along with dozens of personnel from Aurora police, Aurora Parks and Recreation, the FBI and other search teams from around the region.
The FBI and other law enforcement agencies were helping search for Puckett Monday by going door-to-door within 2.5 miles of his home. Bloodhounds are also searching for him. The family told police that he has wandered away before, but not like this.
Officials issued an Amber Alert at about 3 p.m. Monday in hopes of garnering the public’s attention in hopes of finding the boy.