VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Despite hopes for his safe return, the body of a missing 12-year-old boy was found on Monday.

According to a Virginia Beach Police Department (VBPD) media statement, the body of Juan Sebastian Mejia Acevedo was recovered from a body of water near the 200 block of Mica Avenue on January 27, 2025.

Acevedo was last seen on the morning of January 24, and was believed to be the victim of an abduction that occurred around 9 a.m. that same day.

An AMBER Alert was issued with the additional warning that Acevedo was believed to be in extreme danger.

Following the recovery of the victim’s body and notification of family, VBCD Police Chief Paul Neudigate held a televised press conference, during which he provided additional information and answered questions from reporters.

Video below, courtesy of NBC affiliate WAVY 10.

Visibly upset at the tragic discovery, Neudigate’s voice quivered at times during the appearance.

The following is an edited, paraphrased summary of the press conference. For exact word-for-word audio, please view the original video (above).

[NEUDIGATE] “As you know, we’ve been looking for a missing 12 year-old for the last three days — almost nonstop.

“Our marine patrol was back out here early this morning, checking the ponds and a little bit earlier today, utilizing some new technology that we have received for sonar, we covered a body that was approximately eight feet under the water.

“That body matches the physical description and the clothing description that we have for Juan Acevedo.

“The body has been recovered, and the family has just been notified of this tragic situation.

“I don’t know if there’s words to comprehend what has occurred today. We thank the media, we thank the community, because this has been a comprehensive effort to try to find this young man for almost the last 72 hours. And it’s unfortunate that this is the outcome.“

[MEDIA QUESTION] What role did ice play in this?

[NEUDIGATE] “I think it played a big role. I was over there for a while watching the recovery operations and I talked to the marine patrol and we were out here yesterday.

“We exhausted every possible resource that we have, from the bloodhounds from other locations, from Hampton Roads and VSP (Virginia State Police), our mounted patrols — everything that we have, we put into play to try to find Juan.

“We were out here yesterday and had drones overhead, but when the ice is three inches thick, it makes it incredibly difficult for us to see anything that’s down there.

“We had no specific indication that these ponds were an area of interest, but we did not want to leave any stone unturned, and as you know, we’ve been investigating this as a possible abduction. It’s been a very complex investigation with thousands of personnel time dedicated.”

[MEDIA QUESTION] Was the searching of this particular body of water the product of a tip, or just making sure that every body of water was covered?

[NEUDIGATE] “It was just being proactive … just checking every possible area … we had no specific intelligence information that this might be an area of interest that we need to check, but based on the circumstances, we needed to find this young man and we were going to leave no option off the table. “

[MEDIA QUESTION] “What’s next?”

[NEUDIGATE] “I think it’s a period of grieving for the family. We will be there to support them. It’s going to be a period of grieving for the community — because I think they have lived the shared experience with all of us for the last three days, and I think we have to look at also what it does to the officers who just pulled that young man from the lake and how that affects them. The executive team, and the community, we’ve got a lot of support to provide to a number of people.”

[MEDIA QUESTION] “Since this stemmed from an abduction, are we now transitioning this into a homicide investigation?

[NEUDIGATE] “Anything that I would tell you would just be my gut supposition, and we have to go on facts.

“We will get the young man to the medical examiner’s office. They will tell us, in fact, what they believe to be the cause of death, and then we will reassess what we originally believed and get that information out.

“We treated it like an abduction based on the information that we saw, just to make sure we were giving it it’s due diligence.”

[MEDIA QUESTION] Is the ransom or fraud scam being investigated by police?

[NEUDIGATE] “It’s still part of the investigation. We’ll either disprove it or continue to investigate it.

“We know that this would not be the first time that this type of scam was perpetuated on a family that’s going through difficult circumstances. Is that a possibility? It absolutely is. Is it one of our theories that this was a scam perpetuated on the family? Of course. But we would be negligent if we did not treat it as an actual threat or an actual kidnapping — until we know otherwise.”

[MEDIA QUESTION] “Did [Acevedo’s family] actually give $500 to someone?

[NEUDIGATE] “It is my understanding, during the original Facebook “live” request for people who may have seen Juan to come forward, there was a request through social media communication for $500, which at some point, either the family or someone on behalf of the family paid with no additional communication. We would be derelict to not investigate that until we know otherwise.”

[MEDIA QUESTION] Because someone got $500. Do we know who that person could be?

[NEUDIGATE] “We are still trying to follow that up. Unfortunately, because it involves out of state transactions, we need search warrants, subpoenas, to try identify who that individual was who received that money, and then work with those local authorities.

“At this point, I don’t think there’s any threat. But what I can speak to is the facts, and with what occurred here today, we still have a lot of investigation. I could tell you what my gut tells me, but let’s stick to the facts.”

[MEDIA QUESTION] Do you want to share with us what your gut tells you?

[NEUDIGATE] “Not at this time.

“I think we all have a certain feeling of what may have occurred … but as the police, we deal with facts, and not what we think may have occurred.

“So let me get some more facts and then I will communicate that to all of you, so that we can get … I don’t wanna say ‘closure’ … because how do you ever get closure on something this tragic. But … some understanding.”

This incident remains an ongoing investigation.