Missing Belleville Ontario teen found dead in the woods

15-year-old had been missing since Wednesday

The last time 15-year old Tyler Little was seen alive he was badly beaten from a schoolyard fight and smoking pot with others in a nearby forest, friends say.

Two days later, the 15-year-old (shown on the left from a 2007 Facebook photo) was found dead in the snow in that same wooded area -- several hundred metres from his high school and just steps from the tent where his friends left him alone after getting high together.

"He got into a fight at school with a friend and I heard the kid roughed him up pretty good," a distraught Brogan Prytuliak, 15, said yesterday of her former boyfriend.

Brogan wonders if Tyler, whom she had known since Grade 8 and remained close with even after breaking up a year ago, suffered a head injury in the scrap.

She said Tyler left Moira Secondary School, where he transferred to last fall from a high school in Bayside, after the fight Wednesday afternoon with two friends, another boy and a girl, who is his mom's sister.

HANGOUT FOR TEENS

The trio headed north on Farley Ave. to the wooded area at Hickory Grove. It was initially thought Tyler may have been camping out in the forest, but it turns out it's a well-known hangout spot for local teens with a fire pit.

"There was a tent set up there and I guess they went there to smoke weed," Brogan said after speaking with the teens who were with him.

Tyler left his coat behind at school and was only wearing a T-shirt, she said.

It's believed the two other teens left later in the day and Tyler chose to stay behind.

Brogan said she talked to Tyler regularly and when she hadn't heard from him she became panic-stricken.

The boy's parents, who are separated, reported him missing around 10:30 Thursday night.

Brogan said the pair who were with Tyler last returned to the hangout spot that day, but they could only find his backpack.

Belleville police launched a search for the missing teen, combing the area into the wee hours, but Tyler was nowhere to be found in the frigid night.

Yesterday morning, around 9:30, a group of about six school friends found Tyler's lifeless body in the woods, off the beaten path less than 50 metres from the fire pit and a couple hundred metres from the road.

Police removed the body using a sled and also carted away a tent and some lawn chairs.

Following the discovery, Moira Secondary School was locked down so that investigators could interview students and to prevent curious youngsters from wandering over to the forest.

The kids were allowed to go home early, around 2:30 p.m., and school officials said grief counselors will be available for those in need.

The temperatures dipped to about -25C over the two days, not including the windchill. But police couldn't immediately say if it was the cold that killed the boy or if foul play was involved.

AUTOPSY TODAY

"We are treating this as a serious occurrence as we would any reported missing person found under these circumstances," Sgt. Beth Harder said.

An autopsy was scheduled for today in Toronto to determine the cause of death.

Those who knew and loved Tyler said he split his time between his father's home in Belleville and his mother's place in Bayside, just east of the city.

"He was the type of guy who everyone loved," Brogan said. "If you were having a bad day, he would always cheer you up."

She said Tyler loved to skateboard and often talked about going pro.

He was also considering following in his dad's footsteps and some day becoming a mason.

"I miss him like crazy," she said. "It won't be the same without him."

Tyler leaves behind a sister and four half-siblings.

His dad was too upset to talk about his loss and his mom could not be reached yesterday.

Friends of the teen were quick to set up memorials on Facebook (found here and here).

One girl, a fellow student at Moira Secondary School, wrote she had never seen so many people cry when news of Tyler's death hit the high school.

Another wrote she was having trouble accepting the fact Tyler was gone.

"You were an amazing person," she posted. "I understand why God would've wanted you close to him, because you truly were a great person."