Body that appears to be missing 2-year-old Bronx boy found in East River, police say
HUNTS POINT, Bronx (WABC) -- An unidentified juvenile was discovered in the East River and police say it appears to be the body of the 2-year-old boy from the Bronx who has been missing for a month.
The body, described as a male approximately 2 years old, was found by an NYPD Harbor unit on patrol, near Ferry Point Park off the Whitestone Bridge on Wednesday.
Authorities say it appears to be missing Bronx boy Montrell Williams, but a positive identification will have to be made.
The discovery of the body comes the same day the father of the missing 2-year-old was named a person of interest in the child's disappearance.
Detectives have reason to believe the 20-year-old father threw him into the Bronx River, near the Bruckner Expressway.
The 2-year old's paternal grandmother spoke with Eyewitness News on Tuesday and pleaded for her son to reveal where the child was.
She said she last saw Montrell about a month ago at her home and that day she had an argument with her son-- and he left with the child.
"I went to the precinct, they didn't help me," she said.
Because the father did have partial custody of the child, authorities were not sure if a crime had been committed at that point and referred the family to family court.
"We're still unraveling exactly what happened, were proper procedures followed," Mayor Eric Adams said.
Then on Monday, Montrell's mother allegedly confronted the 20-year-old father about the child's whereabouts and called police when he claimed he threw their son into the Bronx River.
Investigators believed this to be true after uncovering surveillance video that reportedly showed the father throwing a bag into the river shortly after leaving his mother's home a month ago.
"There are moments that we captured that were unthinkable, and we will leave it at that, what a catastrophe, what a shame, what a horror, totally evil," said NYPD Chief of Department John Chell.
The father appeared in Bronx Family Court on Monday to answer a warrant for failing to return the boy to the mother, per their custody agreement.
Montrell's father was put in jail by a judge after he failed to disclose the child's whereabouts. The 20-year-old father has not yet been criminally charged.
Once the body has been officially identified, the medical examiner will have to determine exactly how the little boy died.
The child's aunt told Eyewitness News she believes the boy died at his father's hands.
"The baby kept saying 'daddy, daddy, daddy.' That's what crushes me the most. Is that he kept calling him daddy, daddy. He trusted him. He trusted him. He took his life," Alicia Williams, the father's aunt said.
The tight-knit family of the young father, accused of doing the unthinkable, is struggling to understand why.
"I don't have the answer to why he'd do this. Why he would even think of doing this," Williams said.
The mystery is so painful and baffling to the family. They say the boy's father recently seemed like he had begun struggling with mental health issues.
"Nobody expected this at all, because he loved his son," said the Montrell's step grandfather Leroy Burton. "I don't know what drove him to this."
The family is remembering Montrell as a sweet and happy toddler.
"Montrell was a great baby. It's just hard, it's real hard," Burton said.
The 17-year-old mother of the child, and her family, did not attend a vigil on Wednesday, but the father's family said a prayer for her.
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