Missing Brookyn autistic teen found safe, reunited with mom

SHEEPSHEAD BAY (WABC) -- Eyewitness News has learned that a missing autistic 14-year-old who disappeared Friday afternoon has been found safe and was reunited with his mother early Monday.

Eliceo Cortez was last seen at the Sheepshead Bay Q-line subway station in Brooklyn after school. He was supposed to be on the bus on his way home, but when he wasn't, the bus driver called his mother.

A school counselor found him waiting for the B49 bus, his normal way to school, Monday morning.

Relatives say the 6-foot-1 teenager looks older than he is. He weighs 135 pounds, has brown eyes and short black hair. He has a long scar down his back and burn marks on his hands. He is shy and quiet and has no history of running away.

His mother, Nancy Reavis, says he is in ninth grade at the Leon Goldstein High School for the Sciences but has the reading ability of a second-grader. She spent the weekend pounding the pavement, putting up fliers across Coney Island and other parts of Brooklyn.

She says Eliceo is supposed to have a para-professional escort him from class to class, and she is not sure what happened, but that he does not know his way home from school.

The New York City Department of Education released the following statement: "School officials are in contact with his mother and we are all deeply concerned about his well-being. Since this situation was identified on Friday, we have worked and continue to work closely with NYPD in its investigation."