Teen Dodges Scolding; Lives On Subway For 11 Days

November 25, 2009 12:28 p.m. EST

Brooklyn, NY (AHN) - Francisco Hernandez Jr. spent 11 days last month wandering around New York's busy and complex subway system until a police officer spotted him and recognized him from a missing persons' poster.

Hernandez's mother, Marisela Garcia, 38, spent nearly two weeks in a panic over her missing son mainly because the boy has Asperger's syndrome, a developmental disorder affecting his ability to socialize or communicate. Garcia said her son disappeared after he thought he would get in trouble for something that happened at school. Garcia said she is disappointed about how little help she got from the police department when she contacted them about her son. She said she and her husband finally took matters into their own hands by passing out fliers around the area before eventually seeking the help of the Mexican consulate in New York.

A transit police officer saw Hernandez at the final stop of one of the trains on Coney Island. He was returned home a little skinnier, but unharmed. Garcia said her son has not opened up about what went on in the 11 days he was missing, but he did tell her he survived off of $11 and lollipops and potato chips, slept on the train and used public restrooms within the system. Hernandez wore the same clothes for the duration of his time on the subway.

Garcia said her son did not ask for help or communicate with anyone. Experts said that it is not uncommon for individuals with Asperger's not to communicate with others.

Garcia did not say what her son did that made him afraid to go home and prompted him to run away. She did say that it is not the first he has disappeared, though. In January, Hernandez went missing for a few hours before returning home. Garcia did not say whether she will punish for running away or his original offense.