A child's body found in the German state of Lower Saxony was on Thursday confirmed as that of a 6-year-old boy missing since April, police said on Thursday.
There were no indications of foul play, investigators said. They did not reveal the cause of death to protect the family.
The boy called Arian, who was living with autism, disappeared from his home on April 22.
Authorities assumed he left the house on his own and launched a major search involving 1,200 people, dogs, horses, helicopters, drones, wildlife cameras, an aircraft, boats and diving equipment.
On Monday, a farmer found a child's body while mowing in the municipality of Estorf, about 80 kilometres west of Hamburg.
The location was only a few kilometres away from Arian's home. The area had been scoured several times by emergency services during the initial search, a police spokeswoman said.
Around a week after the boy's disappearance, the police and regional government authorities decided to call off the search.
A team of five investigators continued to look into the case, which despite hundreds of tip-offs from the public failed to produce any firm leads. In mid-May, the police again searched for the boy without success.
