Menifee autistic boy: Terry Smith, 11, missing from California home

Menifee autistic boy: Terry Smith, 11, missing from California home - The father of an 11-year-old autistic Menifee boy is not a suspect in his son's disappearance, a sheriff's official said.

Investigators have explored the father and his whereabouts and have established that he is out of state and has not contacted Terry Dewayne Smith Jr., who was found missing from his bed Sunday, July 7, according to sheriff's Deputy Albert Martinez.

The boy's mother lives in the 33000 block of Helen Lane in Menifee with Terry and her two other children, and the father lives out of state, the deputy said.

"To our knowledge there's no contact between him and the child," Martinez said.

Officials also investigated nearby sex offenders and none of them is a suspect, according to Martinez.

"Those were definitely areas of concern for us," he said.

The heat is a concern for both Terry and the rescue team, the deputy said, with the temperature peaking above 100 on Monday afternoon.

"The concern is how easy it is to dehydrate," Martinez said, especially if Terry has no access to drinking water.

More than 100 volunteers and sheriff's officials are combing the hills of Menifee in search of Terry. The boy's teenage brother was watching after him while their mother went out for the evening. They discovered he was missing in the morning around 10:30 a.m., according to Martinez.

"When they woke up in the morning he wasn't there," Martinez said.

The sheriff's department launched a search shortly after, which included bloodhounds, helicopters and mounted troops. The search continued through the night, Martinez said.

Smith is 4-foot-8 and 76 pounds, with sandy blond hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing blue basketball shorts, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said in a news release. He also responds to the nickname "JuJu."

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