Father says he panicked when he lost sight of missing son

GASTONIA, N.C. -- The father of a 6-year-old boy who disappeared from a North Carolina park over the weekend says it has been hard to sleep.

Ian Ritch said on "Good Morning America" Wednesday that he was walking with Maddox at Rankin Lake Park in Gastonia on Saturday when the boy ran ahead and he panicked when he lost sight of him.

On Tuesday, the boy's mother, Carrie, tearfully asked anyone who was at the park to call the tip line.

Gastonia Police Chief Robert Helton says they've searched thousands of acres, drained the lake and conducted hundreds of interviews. Helton says, in particular, investigators still want to speak to speak to a jogger and anyone in a group photographing three children in Dr. Seuss costumes. He says they may have important information.

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  Law enforcement officials gather outside the Renewable Energy Center across from the Gaston County Landfill near Dallas, N.C., Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018, as the search continues for missing 6-year-old Maddox Ritch, who vanished from Rankin Lake Park in Gastonia last Saturday. (Mike Hensdill/The Gaston Gazette via AP)