Boy dies after wandering from home

[UPDATE: Visitation for Elijah Marsh will be at Vescio Funeral Home, 2080 Dufferin St., 2 – 9 p.m. Feb. 26. His funeral will be Feb. 28 at 11 a.m. at St. Matthew’s United Church, 729 St. Clair Ave. West, followed by burial at Prospect Cemetery, 1450 St. Clair Ave. West.]

A three-year-old boy who was found nearly six hours after wandering out of a Neptune Drive apartment early this morning has died.

Police announced on Twitter that Elijah Marsh died shortly after 2 p.m. The boy had left an apartment on Neptune Drive near Bathurst Street and Wilson Avenue at 4:20 a.m. His family noticed he was missing when they woke up three hours later.

It was –15 C when Elijah went missing, dropping to –20 C by the time he was found just before 10:15 a.m. on Baycrest Avenue, less than half a kilometre from the apartment. He was rushed to North York General Hospital.

Police had been searching the area, and people had taken to Twitter with the hashtag #FindElijah to spread the word of his disappearance. Since his death, #RIPElijah has been trending on Twitter.

MPP Mike Colle, who represents the area, was about to speak at a planned morning press conference, when he was told Elijah had been found. Colle was set to help announce expanded funding to the Alzheimer’s Society of Ontario for a campaign aimed at educating people on preventing loved ones with dementia from wandering off.

Colle struggled to pull a sentence together, apologizing to the crowd and saying he needed to leave because Elijah had been found.

“I need to go,” he said with his voice quivering, as he picked up his prepared notes and left, fighting back tears. “Thank you all for coming.”