In Loving Memory of Paul Lee 
 
 On September 11, 2015, my one and only autistic brouther, Paul, was found dead in the school bus due to the school faculty members' lack of awareness of his presence. Inside the bus was about 120 to 130 degrees fahrenheit and Paul was trapped in there for almost 9 hours without a single drop of water. My family is completely torn apart and heart broken, knowing what he had felt during those painful hours. We are hit so hard with this sudden tragedy. 
 
 
 
 My name is Eiden, Paul's older sister. All donations will go directly to my parents to help defray the costs of funeral expenses. Please keep Paul and our family in your prayers. 
 
 
 
 입에 담기조차 힘든 사고로 인해 제 하나뿐인 동생을 먼저 하늘나라로 보냈습니다. 인간의 무심함 속에 앞으로 이와 같은 사고는 절대 있어선 안되며 헌준이와 같은 자폐 아동들이 이 사회에 사랑과 관심 속에 더불어 살아가기를 간절히 소망하는 바 입니다. 너무 부족한 누나이자 딸이지만 조금이나마 부모님에게 도움을 드리고자 망설임 끝에 어렵사리 글을 올립니다. 많은 관심과 후원 부탁드립니다. 
 
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 The family of a 19-year-old Southern California special needs student found dead in the back of an empty school bus Friday believe he was left there all day before he died, it was reported late Sunday. 
 
 The family of Hun Joon Lee told local media that they believe their relative stayed on the bus for approximately nine hours while waiting for some instruction about what to do. Lee was supposed to be dropped off at the Sierra Education Center in Whittier at approximately 8:30 a.m. before leaving for home at around 2:30 p.m. He would have been expected to be dropped off near his home at around 3:30 p.m. 
 
 Friday was one of the hottest days of the summer in Southern California, with temperatures that reached triple digits in some areas. The Whittier School District has not said publicly whether Lee was in class that day. 
 
 NBC Los Angeles reported that Lee, also known to his family as Paul, had a severe form of autism and was unable to speak. 
 
 Family members have also claimed that a different bus driver than usual had picked Lee up. It is not clear whether the driver performed a head count, or if one was required by the bus company, Pupil Transportation Cooperative. 
 
 "How do you forget a big boy and just leave him in the bus?" Lee's friend Leslie Perez told NBC Los Angeles, "It was a small bus." 
 
 On Sunday, the family set up a GoFundMe account to help pay for expenses. CBS Los Angeles reported that the fund had surpassed its goal of $10,000 in one day, receiving more than 250 donations. 
 
 "My family is completely torn apart and heartbroken, knowing what he had felt during those painful hours," Lee's sister, Ellen, wrote in a statement on the account's page. "Inside the bus was about 120-130 degrees and Paul was trapped in there for almost nine hours without a single drop of water. We are hit so hard with this sudden tragedy." 
 
 Lee was found Friday afternoon unconscious, slumped in the aisle in the rear of the bus, MyFoxLA said. 
 
 His mother called the school Friday when he did not return home. The school contacted the bus company. A driver went out to the bus yard across the street from the school and found the young man in the parked bus. 
 
 Police are treating the death as suspicious because "nothing that we've learned so far would lead us to believe he had any medical conditions," Whittier Police Officer Brad White said. White added that there were no signs of trauma on Lee's body, and no weapons were found at the scene. 
 
 No arrests have been made. 
 
 Lee attended the center, which has a transition program dedicated to adult students with special needs, said Valerie Martinez, Whittier Union High School District spokeswoman. 
 
 Whittier Union High School District Superintendent Valerie Thorstenson said the Sierra staff was heartbroken, according to MyFoxLA. 
 
 "This tragedy has devastated all of us,'' she said. "We are still gathering information about what happened. The district is calling for a speedy and thorough investigation to determine how something like this could happen." 
 
 She added: "Our hearts are with our student's parents and family -- we're all grieving. We're making ourselves, our counseling services and our staff available to his family and to our students.” 
 
 The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

 A family mourned their special-needs son who was found dead on a bus in Whittier. Gordon Tokumatsu reports for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 14, 2015. (Published Monday, Sept. 14, 2015) 
 
 Hun-Joon Lee was bigger than life, his family says. The Whittier teen was always smiling, and although he had special needs and could not speak, he understood instructions. 
 
 When family members learned that Lee had been left on a school bus on a hot Friday afternoon, they thought he may have stayed there waiting for a cue. 
 
 The 19-year-old was found alone and unresponsive. Police could not revive him. 
 
 Lee, or Paul to those who knew him, had a severe form of autism. Leslie Perez's mom was his caregiver. She says her mom waited outside for Lee's bus to drop him off at 3:30 p.m., like she does every afternoon, but it never showed up. 
 
 Family Mourns Loss of Special Needs Student 
 
 Family members of a special needs student were trying to understand why a teen was found dead in a school bus. Hetty Chang reports for the NBC4 News at 9 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015. (Published Sunday, Sept. 13, 2015) 
 
 Police found the adult school student lying in the aisle near the front of the bus parked in a Whittier school district parking lot. He was declared dead — less than two weeks before his 20th birthday — after lifesaving efforts failed. 
 
 His mother, Eun Ha Lee, was devastated. 
 
 "We live in a tomb now," she said through tears. 
 
 Lee's family said his bus picked him up at 8:30 a.m. that day. They don't believe he ever got off the bus. 
 
 Special Needs Student Found Dead on Bus 
 
 A special needs student was found dead on a school bus after his mother reported that he hadn't arrived home from school. Beverly White reports for the NBC4 News at 11 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 11, 2015. (Published Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015) 
 
 "How do you forget a big boy and just leave him in the bus? It was a small bus," Perez said. 
 
 Police are calling the death suspicious, but they don't know yet how he died. 
 
 It's also unclear whether drivers with the bus company, Pupil Transportation Cooperative, are required to do head counts. Family members say a different bus driver had picked him up that morning. 
 
 His family believes the usual driver — who would say "Let's go, Paul" -- was not at work that day, replaced by another man. 
 
 2015 Southern California Images in the News 
 
 On Sunday, the family came together to pray as they waited for answers from investigators. 
 
 The family has set up a memorial fund for Lee. Anyone wishing to donate can do so here. 
 
 Gordon Tokumatsu contributed to this report.
– The family of a severely autistic teen found dead on a school bus says he may have been left there for up to nine hours on Friday, one of Southern California's hottest days of the summer, Fox News reports. The mother of Hun Joon Lee, a 19-year-old special needs student who also went by Paul, called the Sierra Education Center when her son's caregiver reported he wasn't dropped off as usual around 3:30 that afternoon. Police found him lying unresponsive in the aisle of a bus parked in a Whittier school district parking lot, and he was declared dead after resuscitation attempts failed, NBC Los Angeles reports. His family says a different driver than usual had picked the teen up around 8:30 that morning and that they believe Lee, who can't speak, likely waited on the bus the whole day for instructions after being forgotten, per Fox. "Inside the bus was about 120 to 130 degrees fahrenheit and Paul was trapped in there for almost 9 hours without a single drop of water," a woman who IDed herself as his older sister wrote on the GoFundMe page set up for the family, which has raised nearly $14,000 she says will go toward funeral expenses. "My family is completely torn apart and heart broken, knowing what he had felt during those painful hours. We are hit so hard with this sudden tragedy." Meanwhile, a family friend tells NBC, "How do you forget a big boy and just leave him in the bus? It was a small bus." The station notes it's undetermined if the bus company is required to do head counts. (A mother was charged with leaving her kids in a hot car … while in court for charges of leaving her kids in a hot car.)