Mililani, HI — Paul “Kevin” Rozier, a 7-year-old autistic boy was found dead on Christmas morning in a swimming pool of an unoccupied house about a half mile away from their home in Hawaii. The police report says there were no signs of foul play, and the boy appears to have died due to accidental drowning.
The boy’s father, Paul Rozier, stated that his autistic son really has a tendency to wander off. He said, “It was a constant race to keep ahead of him and to be able to keep him in the house. Though he was only partially verbal, he was extremely smart.”
Upon realizing that Kevin had gone missing, they sought help from family and friends on social media.
“His teachers, his therapists and behavioral techs and just random people who heard us calling for him on the street and asked what was happening were searching,” Kevin’s father said about the search for his son.
The boy’s mother, Jasmine Rozier, was grateful for all the help. “People who have never met us, who probably we may never see again. We just wanted to say thank you for not making us feel alone in one of the worst times of our lives.”
It was only after 12 hours when a woman walking her dog found the boy in the backyard pool of a vacant house in Anania Drive, half a mile away from their home.
“This is not how we wanted this to end,” said his father.
Aside from Kevin, they have a 2-year-old daughter. They said they are now trying to stay strong for her and keep going on in the memory of their son.
“His personality, his spirit, his heart, he was just the most caring, loving, amazing kid ever,” said his mother. “We only had seven years with him but those were the best seven years I could have ever asked for.”