For most of his short life, Levi Boothe’s home was Midwest Opportunities, a group home in Creston, Iowa, about 126 miles from his family’s home in Cameron, Mo.

The 11-year-old boy whose body was discovered late Tuesday on the Kansas Turnpike east of Lawrence had lived at Midwest Opportunities since 1995. He attended Community School District in Creston.

Larry Otten, director of special education services for the district, said Levi was “severely and profoundly disabled.” Brain tumors had destroyed the boy’s ability to speak, and he was heavily medicated. He also wore a leg brace.

Levi’s education in the Creston district was largely one-on-one in a self-contained classroom, but he interacted with students in fourth through sixth grades.

“I saw him every day,” Otten said. “Great kid, never had any problems.”

Otten said students were told Wednesday that Levi had been killed in a car accident. Counseling was offered to students. Otten said many school staff members were struggling with Levi’s death.

“Some are handling it very hard,” he said. “They’re blaming themselves.”

He added: “It’s very disturbing that the man would do that to his children.”

Barbara Houck, executive director of Midwest Opportunities, described Levi as “just a regular 11-year-old boy” despite his disabilities.

“We’re just quite shocked and saddened,” she said. “He’ll certainly be missed.”

Timothy Kenyon, county attorney in Union County, Iowa, said he didn’t know of any family connection for the Boothes in Creston. But he said it wasn’t unusual for outsiders to place their children in the special-needs facilities there.

Creston is a city of about 7,500 people about 175 miles northeast of Kansas City, Mo.

Kenyon said it wasn’t unusual that Raymond Boothe had picked up his son at the school.

“There’s nothing per se unusual about a father picking up a child,” Kenyon said. “As long as there’s not a protective order out there, the fact a parent would pick up a child is unremarkable.”