DONQUARIOUS FLETCHER - 9 yo - Columbus GA

The Columbus Police Department is asking the public to help locate
a child who went missing from Avalon Apartments in south Columbus.

Nine-year-old Donquarious Fletcher was reported missing by his mother
who told authorities she had not seen him since he took out the trash
Monday afternoon outside their Cusseta Road apartment.



Donquarious was last seen wearing a red and black Georgia Bulldog jersey,
black and red shorts, and white and blue Air Jordan tennis shoes.

He is described as a black male with black hair and brown eyes.

We are told Donquarious is a 4th grader at Martin Luther King Elementary School.

If you have any information that could help police locate him, please call 9-1-1.

More than a day after he went missing from
his South Columbus apartment complex, 9-year-old Donquarious Fletcher
has been located safe and sound.

The fourth grader's mother reported him
missing to the Columbus Police Department Monday after he went to take
the trash out at the Avalon Apartments off Cusseta Road and never came
back.

"I started off really concerned. I thought
somebody had kidnapped him. He's out of harm's way. Thank God," said
Shemeka Fletcher, his aunt.

The boy's mother also said she was worried sick wondering where he spent the night and if he had anything to eat.

Detectives combed the area all day Tuesday searching for the child, neighbors were on guard and family members prayed.

Then, just after 1 PM, nearly four miles away
from his home, investigators say Donquarious turned up on a doorstep in
the Historic District.

Police say the child walked up to a home in the 600 block of 3rd Avenue in downtown Columbus and the homeowner called 911.

All police are saying at this point is that the little boy was not injured and stayed with a friend.

"It doesn't matter where he was at. I'm just
so thankful for him to be home. I have a Facebook page and I had posted a
wall post stating he was missing and everybody started posting comments
trying to find him, contacting other people to locate him and with all
that being done and said, he's back home. He's safe," his aunt beamed.

"I have four kids of my own and I send them
to the trash can all the time. It just shows you how nowhere is safe,"
added a neighbor, Lakeisha Table.

Donquarious Fletcher was taken to the
Columbus Public Safety Building Tuesday to speak with officers so that
investigators can piece together his whereabouts over the past day.

We're told he is back with family members.