Nine-year-old Timothy Wallace loved jumping on trampolines, eating smiley-face-shaped french fries and riding the bus to school.
He was severely autistic but could communicate through his eyes and through touch. If he liked something, he'd press his fingers to his lips and then touch the object -- sort of like a kiss.
"If he saw that you were upset or if he saw a tear rolling down your face, he'd walk over and look at you," said his sister, Destanie Clark. "He had this weird grin on his face and he'd crack you up the way he looked at you. He was so sweet and caring."
Timothy died Sunday night after he wandered away from his aunt's Sale Creek home and was struck by a train on nearby railroad tracks.
Timothy WallaceAfter he went missing from 520 Leggett Road around 10 p.m., multiple law enforcement agencies started a search but were hampered by heavy rain and fog. Timothy's body was found around 11 p.m. near the train tracks by Coulterville Road, Hamilton County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Janice Atkinson said.
He'd been hit by a northbound Norfolk Southern train. The train crew hadn't realized they'd struck the boy, who weighed just 70 pounds.
Sheriff Jim Hammond said that Timothy, who was non-verbal, had walked away from home before. It's not uncommon for children with autism to "elope," or wander away from home, said Dave Buck, director of the Chattanooga Autism Center.
Nearly half of all children with autism wander or bolt from safe places, according to a 2012 study by the Kennedy Krieger's Interactive Autism Network research facility. In fact, children with autism are four times more likely than typically developing children to wander away, according to the study.
Buck said children leave for the same reason anyone would -- because there is something they want or something interesting in another place. But children with autism are less likely to recognize danger, he said.
"A child with autism might not understand that it is dangerous to do that, might not understand the danger of going from one place to another," he said. "Just like a very young child in a mall might not understand why it's not a good idea to leave the store without their parents."
Sometimes elopement becomes so frequent that parents end up putting extra locks or security measures in place to try to keep children with autism from leaving safe places. But kids are smart and can sometimes get around those measures. And sometimes a child who hasn't eloped in weeks might suddenly slip away.
"You can't prepare for everything," Buck said. "It's very difficult."
Timothy's cousin, Brittany Wallace, said the 9-year-old was smart, loved to give hugs and was always smiling or laughing. She said he loved to run and play outside.
"He just wanted to play, he didn't know any better by that train," she said, adding later, "I'm sure going to miss him coming to my dad's, running through the house laughing and jumping on my bed."
Contact staff reporter Shelly Bradbury at 423-757-6525 or sbradbury@timesfreepress.com with tips or story ideas.