These parents' worst fears were confirmed true when their missing 7-year-old autistic child was found dead in a swimming pool of a vacant Hawaii home on Christmas morning.

Paul "Kevin" Rozier appeared to die of an accidental drowning, with Hawaiian police telling Hawaii News Now that there weren't any signs of foul play.

According to the report, Rozier's parents left him with his cousins as they went shopping on Christmas Eve. At about 5 p.m. that day, Rozier wandered off and went missing before he was found dead Monday morning by a woman walking her dog about a half mile from his Mililani home.

"It was a constant race to keep ahead of him and to be able to keep him in the house," the boy's dad, Paul Rozier, told Hawaii News Now about his autistic son's tendency to wander off. "Though he was only partially verbal, he was extremely smart."

The Roziers called on fellow family and friends on social media to help find Paul after first learning that he had gone missing Sunday evening.

"His teachers, his therapists and behavioral techs and just random people who heard us calling for him on the street and asked what was happening were searching," Rozier's dad said about the search for his son.

But less than 12 hours after the 7-year-old had gone missing, the family's worst fears were confirmed true when Rozier was found dead.

"This is not how we wanted this to end," his dad said.

Prayers up to this boy and his family over this Christmas Day tragedy.