Autistic Connerjack disappeared when he was 16 years old. Now he has been found safely – almost three years later.

A young American man, who was reported missing in 2019, has recovered – more than a thousand kilometers from where he disappeared.

Authorities in Park City, Utah, rushed to a local gas station after reports that a man had been walking around the area in a shopping cart for several weeks.

The teenager was identified as 19-year-old Connerjack Oswalt, who was reported missing when he was 16, wrote CNN.

Oswalt, who is autistic, disappeared from his hometown of Clearlake, California, in September 2019. It was about 11.5 hours by car from where he disappeared to where he was found.

The 19-year-old man was identified by a birthmark on his neck.

Live on the road

Oswalt was shaking and freezing cold when they found him sleeping outside a gas station in Summit County, according to Sheriff Justin Martinez. Oswalt appears to have been living on the streets for a few weeks, writes CBS News.

– Through interaction, it becomes clear to the police officer that the man communicates differently. So police officers began investigating who this young man was, wrote Summit County cops on Facebook, describing the family reunion as a moving and emotional story.

The Oswalts had been looking for him for several years. According to NBC, his mother and stepfather even moved back to Falls Idaho, where Oswalt was born, in the hopes that one day he would appear there.

– We’re following up on all leads about someone who could look like him. It was a real nightmare, stepfather, Gerald Flint, told the paper.

– I never stop looking

Flint allegedly threw himself in a car and was driving to Utah when they received a call that Oswalt was still alive. He credits the police for – instead of just arresting the young man – realizing that things weren’t as they should be.

Everyone in the room was crying. They could have ignored it, but they didn’t, and it made a worldwide difference, says Flint.

Oswalt is said to have disappeared from his home in California while his mother was making lunch, media outlets wrote.

– I never stopped looking for him. There wasn’t a day I didn’t look for him somehow, his mother said.

The exact circumstances and details of the disappearance, and where the 19-year-old girl has been in recent years – are now being investigated by police.

The 19-year-old is now being cared for by a social worker with autism expertise, CBS wrote.