Riverstone: Rescuer Adam Goncalves reveals first words of missing toddler found after frantic search

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare: a three-year-old boy missing, sparking a frantic search. Now, the man who found the missing toddler has recounted the moment he was discovered and shared a special selfie.

A Riverstone man who found a missing three-year-old boy during a frantic community-wide search has revealed the first words the boy said after he was found, and shared a touching selfie between the two.

Xavier Death, 3, disappeared from The Avenue at Angus, in Sydney’s northwest, around 2.35pm on Monday sparking a frantic search.

Adam Goncalves, 34, was cooking his dinner unaware of the mass search for the missing toddler when he looked up and saw a police helicopter circling.

He saw posts on the local community Facebook page, followed by a text from NSW Police urging people to look out for Xavier.

Adam Goncalves rescued a missing 3 year old boy yesterday in western Sydney. He heard helicopters and went searching for the boy and found him alone by the river. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Mr Goncalves said he “scoffed down” his dinner and wasted no time in joining the search party, starting along Eastern Creek.

“I was just walking along the riverbed,” he said.

“I posted up on the (Facebook) post where everyone was just sort of talking on our community page, I just said ‘I’m going to start here and then make my way back to Angus’.”

Less than five minutes after sharing his location, a noise led him away from the riverbanks and into the bush.

“Obviously, it’s really quiet out there in the acreage … I just sort of stopped and walked away from the river for a while and I heard something and walked towards it,” he said.

“I could hear that it was (Xavier) crying.”

Mr Goncalves said he found the boy near Eastern Creek riverbank, some distance away from where he disappeared, at around 6pm – three and a half hours after he was last seen.

“The first thing I said to him, I ran up to him and said ‘mate, everyone in Riverstone is looking for you … how did you walk so far?’ and he said ‘I don’t know’,” Mr Goncalves.

“I was pretty relieved that I found him.”

The moment was marked by a selfie Mr Goncalves took of the two of them, which he intended to show Xavier’s parents.

The selfie as Xavier was found. Picture: Supplied

“I just said to him ‘let’s take a photo for mum and dad because they are looking for you and we can just show them you’re okay and we’re coming home’, and he said ‘yes’,” he said.

The photo was shared to the Riverstone community Facebook page, where updates on the search were being shared.

“He was cold, he was shivering, he said he was thirsty, so I just put him on my shoulders … and jogged, ran, back to civilisation,” Mr Goncalves said.

He said while it was not clear how Xavier managed to walk so far away from home, he assumed he may have seen some kangaroos and decided to follow them.

“As we were walking back though I had the headlamp and the torch and every time (the boy) saw some kangaroos he pointed them out to me,” he said.

Mr Goncalves called police and stayed on the phone as they travelled back towards the road.

He and the boy then hopped into a police car as they were driven back to The Avenue, where Mr Goncalves said hundreds of residents had returned after the frantic search.

Xavier Death, 3, was missing for almost four hours before he was found.

“From where I met the police … I think we drove past maybe 40 or 50 people, and as we got back to The Avenue you couldn’t really drive on the road,” he said.

Mr Goncalves met with Xavier’s family who thanked him for returning their little boy.

“I can imagine as the dark rolled in and he still wasn’t found … I can’t imagine what they would have been feeling,” he said.

The boys parents have been contacted for further comment.