SMITH COUNTY (KYTX) - An East Texas community is still devastated by the death of 3-year-old autistic boy, Evan Reed.
The search for Evan lasted two days and ended when crews found his body near the Villages Marina on Lake Palestine.
CBS 19 got an exclusive interview Sunday with Evan's babysitter, who tells us about little Evan and his family.
"It said body was recovered and I just lost it," Sarah Wright says. She's been Evan Reed's babysitter for the last two years.
"He was phenomenal. I mean, there was just so much energy, and his favorite thing to do was laugh. He was always laughing."
She talks about a special little boy who stole the hearts of everyone he met.
"He loved making people happy and he knew just how to do it."
She says as an autistic child, the one behavioral pattern that always stood out was Evan's constant energy and need to be moving.
"It was like he was on three cups of coffee all the time every day," she said. "You couldn't sit him down to watch a movie."
She says it may have been that adventurous spirit that got him into trouble Friday, when he was visiting his grandparent's house on Lake Palestine.
"I really think it was characteristic of him to wander off the way he did," Wright says.
She says it hurts her to see and hear comments from community members, blaming Evan's mother for what happened to him.
"People think she left the door open or something," Wright says, "but he opens doors by himself. He's almost three and a half feet tall at three years old, and whenever he would go outside, he would outside and immediately run for the pool. He loved water."
Wright has been a close family friend for years and says Evan was lucky to have the family he did.
"They are one of the closest tight knit families that I have ever had the pleasure of meeting."
She says the family is devastated, and trying to find a way to cope with their loss.
Family members tell Wright there is still an investigation going on at Evan's grandparent's home, where he went missing. No word on how long it could last.
