Body of 13-year-old boy found in pond near his home five weeks after he vanished

The body of 13-year-old Jayden Robker has been found in a pond near Kansas City.

Police departments in Gladstone and Kansas City, Missouri, confirmed on Sunday that the body they found in the water on Friday was that of the teenager.

Jayden had been missing since 2 February.

“I’m heartbroken,” his mother, Heather Robker, told KCTV5 on Sunday. “It’s very hard to take in this information. I’m still in shock and I’ve cried all day. It’s a lot to take in at one time.”

Jayden had been riding his skateboard on 2 February from his home at the Lakeview Terrace Mobile Home Park and he was out to trade Pokemon cards but never got back home.

“I just know that they tell me based on what they’ve done on the autopsy that there was no foul play,” Ms Robker told the local TV station.

“Jay was a very loving and kind kid. He cared for anybody. He trusted everybody. He was very respectful,” she added. “I do know that his siblings are sad. I’ve talked to them, but it’s hard to explain to a small child what this means.”

The Kansas City Police Department waited four days to alert the public that Jayden was missing, according to The Kansas City Star.

The police said they were delayed in making a public announcement because they struggled to get a recent photo of Jayden from the family.

The co-founder of the Black & Missing Foundation, Derrica Wilson, told The Star that police should have released a statement on the night Jayden went missing and later released an updated flier with the photo.

“There’s no such thing as small information,” Ms Wilson told the paper. “Everything is critical ... I think it could’ve made a huge difference, because someone may have seen this young man.”

The executive director of the National Association For Search And Rescue, Christopher Boyer, said that a recent photo is “absolutely essential” when notifying the public that a person is missing.

“Typical policy for most police departments is ‘if we don’t have a picture, then we’re probably not going to go sending out that missing person flier,’” he told The Star.

A preliminary autopsy showed no “obvious signs of foul play,” police have said.

Jayden got off the school bus at around 2.30pm on 2 February. At 3.30pm, he was seen at a convenience store within a mile of the home and of the area where he was later found.

Ms Robker, the police, and a manager at the shop have all said that Jayden was seen on surveillance footage going to the restroom at the QuikTrip shop and then walking past the Family Dollar next door.

Ms Robker woke up to go to work for her night shift at about 10.40pm, finding Jayden missing. It was at that time that she called the police.

Kansas City Police Department spokesperson Captain Corey Carlisle said the search began immediately that night, according to The Star.