LA MESA (KGTV) — “Pure raw fear.”
That’s how Skye Piñon felt after she couldn't find her son, Max, just a few days before Thanksgiving.
“I was just terrified and convinced he was gone,” Piñon said.
Max is only fifteen years old and has autism. He stepped outside while Skye and her husband were busy preparing for the holiday. By the time they realized Max was gone, he had already walked out of the neighborhood.
“That was the beginning of that long nightmare because we drove around looking for him for about an hour and a half.”
Skye says they went to all Max’s favorite places, desperately hoping to find him.
“I was terrified that he had accepted someone’s offer for a ride or gotten hit by a car.”
Skye then called La Mesa Police, who immediately sent up a helicopter to look for Max and broadcast his description to the community.
“I remember I crumbled, I fell apart for a second there because that was the moment it was very real that was my son missing.”
Skye says in her pit of desperation and fear, there was one thing that held her together.
“People were reaching out to me, texting me, calling me, even facebook messages.”
Neighbors and strangers began to help the Piñon family search for Max.
“I remember feeling so helpless and yet so supported at the same time.”
Five hours later, a bystander heard the helicopter description and saw Max. Police reunited him with his family.
“It was pretty amazing. That’s when he told me where he went.”
Skye says he started walking from his home in La Mesa. Then, he went east to Rancho San Diego and took Jamacha road all the way up to Washington Street in El Cajon. In total, he walked 12 miles in five hours.
“Without them calling Max would’ve kept on walking.”
This Thanksgiving weekend, the Piñon family wants to share their thanks to the community.
“I’m so incredibly grateful and that doesn’t even cover it. I just want to say thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for caring.”
