Another autistic teen goes missing

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http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?secti ... id=9333919
MARLBORO, N.J. (WABC) -- Searchers spent the early morning hours Sunday trying to find a missing New Jersey teenager with autism.

19-year-old Michael Karwan was most recently seen at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan by a bus driver on Wednesday.

Congressman Michael Grimm, a friend of the family, joined volunteers and family members in a search of the Times Square area from 2 a.m. until 8 a.m.

"Although Michael is high functioning, he is out of his element and obviously very scared, so he may be functioning right now at a 7-year old capacity, so he's going to be very scared," said Grimm.

The family has reason to believe Michael is in Midtown Manhattan, as his father works in the area, and his favorite comic book store is at 40th Street and Seventh Avenue.

They believe he is almost out of money and the search team stopped by 24-hour locations to look in places where he may be sheltering to keep warm.

He is 19 years old, 6' tall, weighing 220 lbs., with brown eyes, and black hair, wearing a black jacket and yellow-green shoelaces on his dark sneakers. There is a $25,000 reward for his safe return.

Frustrated, possibly over schoolwork, Michael went walking from his parents' Marlboro home Tuesday night and never came back.

"He left his cellphone here, he left his credit cards, he left his money," said Theresa Karwan, Michael's mother.

"I think he's walked and walked and I think that after a while he just got confused. He didn't know where he was, it was freezing that night," his father Walter Karwan said.

Dozens of friends and family are searching the county, posting notices everywhere.

Police at first got many calls about sightings.

"Some of these calls that we followed up with turned out to be false leads, but we did develop two leads out of Freehold Borough," said Captain Bart Lombardo, Marlboro Township Police Department.

Now they know it was him.

His hands were freezing according to a worker there.

"He went to the hotel in Freehold, he asked for a room, didn't have any ID on him, they didn't give it to him, and it just spiraled from that point on," Walter Karwan said.

He's been to Times Square with his family before. He may now believe he is in too much trouble to go back home.

"I don't think he's able to process that this is not a big deal we just want him home. I'll sell the world to have him home," Walter Karwan said.

Police ask that if you see him, don't let him out of your sight and call 911.

Walter Karwan had a message for his son, "Michael, I want you to come back, remember, you promised me that you would go to the movies with me on Friday. We love you and we can't wait to see you."

I hope that everybody helps him to find his way back to safety.

A freaking 19 year old adult has a right to move out on his own. He has credit cards and a phone. He also went to a hotel. It is clear that his intention was to move out into NYC like any other adult of hipster age.

A lot of times the missing persons reports are issued to get abused people back to their abusers (which can include parents and families) or people trapping them at "home" (a form of abuse). If a 19 year old is 'high functioning' - which is a really fraught term - then he wouldn't be functioning at a "7 year old level". His parents really don't get it and they should read A Thinking Person's Guide to Autism or other Autistic voices.

Although this might not apply to this guy, many Asian and Hispanic families have this obsession with 'unmarried virgins having to live at 'home'", "home" being defined as the parent's house, until marriage. As a result you see a lot of these missing persons reports being filed by control freak and old country backward parents who want their good Muslim or Catholic kid not to live in the "evil" big city or have a job.

Some teens run away because their parents are homophobic and stuff like that. He might not be able to verbalize something like that if he is not always verbal.

NTs should stop concern trolling and infantilizing people with disabilities. Just my $.02. I honestly don't think Avonte wants to be found either. Remember that the punk rock scene was fueled by teenage runaways. Just because someone isn't NT doesn't mean they're not a regular teen runaway or, well, an adult trying to get away from a "relationship" they never consented to be in.

Since they say he is high functioning, I assume he knows what he is doing. I wonder why he ran away. I know anyone would worry if their kid took off and they didn't know where they were, even spouses worry too over their spouse an would also report them missing if they never came home. I wonder if he was murdered or something. I find it odd someone would take off and leave their money behind and anything that belongs to them. I would expect money gone and their wallet and some of their things if there was a runaway. Even I have thought about running away in my teens but what stopped me was where would I go? How would I get food? I barely had money. I would have to leave lot of my stuff behind and how would I bath and keep clean? So I stayed home.

I moved out of the house at 17 and know people who have had their own apartments at age 16 and were self sufficient. There are plenty of resources for young adults who choose to move out especially in NYC, LA, SF, Portland and other places like that. From youth shelters if one is in need, to health care, to drop in centers where you can take a bath in the daytime, to youth hostels where you can rent a room to transition to apartment living.

There are also special services if you are gay and you moved out because of that. I know in NYC there used to be these centers like ABC No Rio and C Squat that were geared toward providing youth communities with services. Even teen clinics have resource centers where you can hang out and your parents are not allowed to come (only people under 21 / people under 24, depending are allowed to come. Plus total anonymity if you are looking for sexual health care). Also Occupy Wall Street communities have resources and help out young people with housing, even if it's a squat.

Thanks for the thought-provoking posts, folks.

I don't know the home dynamics behind this story. But your comments have caused me to look at both sides and get in touch with my own experiences. If the young man happens to be truly disoriented and wants to go home, I hope for his soon return. But if he is deliberately seeking to break free and experience life on his own, then I wish him safety, warmth, and godspeed.

Midtown New York is not a great place for a kid with no money to end up, Asperger's or not. At least he's nineteen and not 12. And happily it's not 1980, he might never have gotten out of Port Authority.

Hopefully he has friends he went to, cause seriously New York is a cold hard place to be innocent and alone and looking for a random friendly face.

I just looked for an update, they found him safe in Cleveland.