Members of the community came together Monday night to grieve the loss of a 3-year-old autistic boy who was found drowned in a retaining pond less than 300 feet from his Governor’s Quarters home Saturday.
The boy, Ayiden James Quilter, was reported missing around 5 p.m., sparking a widespread search involving on- and off-duty officers from Hinesville Police Department, the Liberty County Sheriff’s Department, Hinesville Fire Department, Liberty County Emergency Management Agency and others, according to HPD Lt. William Oberlander.

Governor’s Quarters is along West 15th Street extension near Fort Stewart.
The boy’s body was found submerged around 6:40 p.m. in the pond, one of a number of such ponds in the development.
The drowning remains under investigation, according to Oberlander.

According to a news release sent by the City of Hinesville Wednesaday afternoon the Hinesville Police Department will be in charge of investigating the death. 

An autopsy was conducted at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab in Savannah on Monday. The release said the results of that autopsy are pending. "While the investigation is ongoing Aydien’s death appears to be the result of an accidental drowning," the release stated.