Boy, 13, spent 11 days riding subway

NEW YORK, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Authorities in New York said a 13-year-old spent 11 days riding subway trains while police and his parents searched the city for him.

Police said Francisco Hernandez Jr., who suffers from a form of autism known as Asperger's syndrome, boarded a subway train after school Oct. 15 and was not found until a transit officer recognized him from a poster Oct. 26, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Investigators said they do not know how the boy evaded being spotted for 11 days, but they believe he spent the entire time riding trains and waiting at stations. The boy told police he ate small items purchased from subway newsstands. He said he spent most of his time sleeping.

"At some point I just stopped feeling anything," he said.

Hernandez said he had failed to turn in an assignment Oct. 15 and his mother told him on the phone that a serious talk about his school work was coming when he got home.

The boy's mother, Marisela Garcia, 38, said he returned to school a week after returning home.