Miami-Dade police looking for 6-year-old boy with autism

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A mother is pleading to have her son back home after his father took him and disappeared Saturday.

Miami-Dade police are looking for JoJo Morales, who was believed to have been taken by his father Jorge Gabriel Morales, who lives in southwest Miami-Dade. JoJo has autism.

“Every time I close my eyes I see him and I just want him running toward me and to hug me and I’m afraid, I’m terrified, I’m really broken,” Yanet Leal Concepcion, JoJo’s mother, said.

Concepcion left Morales three years ago and has been in a difficult custody battle since.

Morales does have some parental rights, but only during the day. JoJo’s grandmother helps with the pass-off.

But when Concepcion went to pick JoJo up Saturday evening, there was no sign of JoJo or Morales.

“We were all trying to call him, WhatsApp, everything from all sources, all phones, and they’re gone,” she said. “Their car was nowhere to be found either.”

On Monday, a judge granted an order saying Morales must return JoJo to his mother immediately and police are actively searching for him.

“I just wish that he would know that we’re looking for him, that we’re not resting,” Concepcion said. “I’m not eating, I’m not sleeping, I’m not doing anything until I have my baby back.”

JoJo’s father drives a grey 2006 Ford Expedition with the license plate “CSI U53.”

Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.


About the Authors:

Chris Gothner joined the Local 10 News team in 2022 as a Digital Journalist.