SALT LAKE CITY (WKRC) – A missing man with autism was allegedly found a month after disappearing living with a homeless community that his mother credited with saving his life.
The National Autism Association posted a release to Facebook on December 9 regarding 29-year-old August Beckwith, who had last been seen on November 17 at 1:30 p.m. Beckwith was “nonverbal, on the autism spectrum,” and was “experiencing a severe mental health crisis and psychosis” at the time he went missing, the organization said.
August’s mother, Lori Beckwith, said that her son ran away shortly after the pair left a hospital, according to local outlet KSL Radio.
August was found by a community member at a burger restaurant on December 10, and police were able to confirm his identity using a fingerprint scanner, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.
“He was moving through various parts of the Salt Lake Valley, and that he managed to survive in extremely cold conditions,” Lori Beckwith wrote on Facebook.
“What we do know is that he received small acts of kindness along the way that helped keep him alive.”
Those acts of kindness came from the city’s homeless community, who Lori learned had kept her son alive despite his disability and the harsh weather.
“I owe a special debt to the homeless men and women of this city, whose vigilance, kindness, and relentless search for August humbled me,” she wrote.