MPD Capt. Lewis Douglass addresses reporters on West Virginia Avenue NE. Photo by Sarah Anne Hughes.

Police are still searching for a missing seven-year-old boy with autism, checking alleys near his Trinidad home and investigating nearby sex offenders.

Capt. Lewis Douglas of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Youth Investigations Division told reporters at a press conference just before 1 p.m. that police are searching alleys and places where Michael Kingsbury could hide.

Michael went missing from the backyard of his home in the 1700 block of West Virginia Avenue NE between 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. Sunday. At this time, there have been no confirmed sightings of Michael. He has also not been sighted on video from cameras around the neighborhood or from nearby Gallaudet University.

The family is being questioned, but at this time no foul play is suspected, Douglas said. Over a dozen police recruits have been deployed to go door-to-door in the neighborhood to spread the word about Kingsbury.

Police are also checking the city’s sex offender registry and offenders are being investigated, according to Douglas. Douglas did not know if officers can enter a sex offender’s home to investigate a missing child without their permission. A follow-up question to the MPD about this has not been returned.

There are 21 registered sex offenders living in a quarter-mile radius of the 1700 block of West Virginia Avenue. That number rises to 57 offenders within a half-mile radius.

Douglas said Michael’s autism does play a role in the investigation, as police are checking places the child would be familiar with, like a playground he would walk to. However, Douglas said, Michael and his family are new to the neighborhood.