Subway Rider in Photo is Not Missing Autistic Teen Avonte Oquendo, NYPD Says

The photo of the boy riding the subway is not missing teen Avonte Oquendo, police said Thursday. 

The photo emerged Wednesday, with Avonte's father saying there was a "close likeness" between the teen in the photo and his 14-year-old autistic son. However, police located the teen in the picture and affirmed that it is not Avonte, who has been missing since he walked out of his high school in Queens on Oct. 4. 

"It was not Avonte. This person whose photo it was was in the precinct with his parents," a police spokeswoman told the New York Daily News.

"He was taken to a precinct, he was with his mother and it's confirmed he was not Avonte," the spokeswoman confirmed. 

Hope for finding the missing teen, who is severely autistic and nonverbal, was renewed when the photo surfaced. The teen who took the photo of the subway rider asked the boy, "Hey, are you Avonte?" The boy did not answer, and the inquiring teen, whose identity is unknown, took the picture before the boy stepped off the train. 

The boy in the photo is staring straight ahead and wearing a beige jacket and green khaki pants. The teen who took the photo later posted it on his Facebook page, and an administrator at his school saw the image and alerted the police.

Since Avonte went missing, authorities have been searching the city's subway tunnels in hopes of finding him. Police has received sporadic reports of possible sightings, but to no avail. 

On Wednesday afternoon, police from the 102 Precinct responded to a possible sighting at a Burger King on Atlantic Ave. in Queens. Yet, the person sighted was not Avonte.

Last week, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said that he is "not hopeful" that the missing teen is still alive. He later apologized for his statement to Avonte's outraged family members. 

"We just need to stay focused and analyze every sighting," Avonte's father, Daniel Oquendo, said. "The more sightings, the better. Eventually one will pan out," he added. 

The reward for Avonte is now up to $85,000. 

Avonte is described as being 5'3" tall and weighting 120 lbs. When last seen, he was wearing black jeans, a gray striped shirt and black sneakers. 

Another autistic boy, Robert Richard, 14, went missing from Yonkers and may have wandered to the Bronx, authorities say. Anyone with information on either boy is asked to call 911.