The body of a 6-year-old girl has been found a mere four hours after she vanished from her family home at the weekend.The body has beeen identified as that of Airlie Montgomery, a non-verbal child who required several medications.
Airlie was last seen in the regional town of North Nowra, on the NSW South Coast in Australia at 2:15pm on Sunday. She disappeared near The Grotto Walk, a wooded area known for its cliff, which is situated just 800m from her home.
Her body was discovered in a waterway beneath the Grotto. Authorities are not treating her death as suspicious, instead suspecting a tragic accident.
Katie Amess, Airlie’s mother, overcome with sorrow, declined to speak to the press about her daughter’s death. « I can’t talk right now. I can’t say anything, » she said tearfully, as neighbours gathered to offer their support, reports Express US.
Cathy, a neighbour who was the last to see Airlie, told Daily Mail Australia that the young girl often played on a patch of grass outside a house a couple of doors away from her own. Cathy revealed that Airlie had sustained a fatal neck injury.
« She was a lovely little thing, always smiling and blowing kisses when she saw you. But yesterday she was crying… and then I didn’t see her. She must have wandered off, » recounted Cathy.
The local community united in a search for Airlie, but their efforts ended in despair upon learning she had fallen over the cliff above the Grotto. The Montgomery family resides a short walk from North Nowra Public School, where Airlie was enrolled as a student. Corey Montgomery, father of Airlie, was spotted leaving the school carrying a bunch of soft pink flowers on Monday. At the family home, an array of additional floral tributes have been laid.
This is not an isolated incident of an autistic child straying into woodland. On December 2, 2024, police announced the tragic discovery of seven year old Jacob Baer’s body in a river. The young boy, diagnosed with Autism, had reportedly gone missing after embarking on a walk with his father on Saturday. As reported by ABC affiliate WBAY, during their stroll, Baer wandered off and his father lost sight of him.
Unable to locate his son, the distraught father dialled 911 and filed a missing child report. Police were promptly dispatched to Veterans Park on School St. in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.
Officers utilised drones and helicopters in their search efforts, leading to the discovery of several of Baer’s personal items in a nearby river on Saturday night. The search for the missing boy resumed on Sunday morning, with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources managing to pinpoint a potential location for the boy in water depths of 5 to 6 feet.
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