Jim Walsh and Jennifer Soules

The Republic | azcentral.com

Police found the body of a young male in the canal near where a 15-year-old boy went missing on Tuesday night.

Maxwell Flancer's mother reported him missing Tuesday night after he failed to arrive at her house, Gilbert police spokesman Jesse Sanger said. She and Flancer's father are divorced but live about a mile apart, Sanger said.

Flancer was walking from his father's house to his mother's when he was last seen near the canal at Val Vista and Williams Field roads around 9 p.m. Tuesday, according to a tweet from the department.

Officers searched the area Tuesday night and couldn't find anything, Sanger said. Flancer's mother went out to the canal Wednesday morning and saw a baseball cap floating in the canal, one she recognized as belonging to her son, police said.

It is too soon to positively identify the body and say whether not foul play was involved, Sanger said.

Word about Flancer quickly spread Wednesday among community members and school officials.

"You see teachers crying in the hallway," said Cameron Harris, who was Maxwell Flancer's 6th grade teacher at Ashland Ranch Elementary School.

Harris, who stopped at the canal on Wednesday afternoon, said Maxwell was a special young man who loved the Beatles and had been a member of the guitar club.

At the end of classes, Maxwell would set up a small stage and perform Beatles songs for his classmates, Harris said. He loved John Lennon and his favorite song was "Revolution".

"He was a very sensitive and intelligent young man who looked out for others," Harris said. "Max is very much loved."

He said he has not seen Max much in recent years. He said Max's family owns Flancer's Cafe in downtown Gilbert.

Sanger said it is too early in the investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding the death and whether it could be a homicide, a suicide or an accident.

He said the boy's body would be positively identified by an autopsy completed by the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office.