Child's Body Found In Des Plaines River Believed To Be Bryeon Hunter
(CBS) -- Police in Maywood have pulled the body of a small child from the Des Plaines River.
Police and firefighters got a tip about a boy's body possibly in the river near 31st and First Avenue in North Riverside. Cook County Sheriff's officers pulled the child out of the water and the body has been taken to the medical examiner's office for identification.
"Today, through the work of a lot of people, and a volunteer in particular who was out in a kayak today, was able to come across the remains of a very young boy and we were called in and with conjunction with a lot of other departments, we made the recovery today and its very consistent with the remains of the little boy who was missing," said Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. "The formal identification will be tomorrow."
Body Found In Des Plaines River Believed To Be Bryeon Hunter
The body was found by kayaker Robert Larson.
"I have been out here since the 17th when this originally happened and I have been out here every day for ten to twelve hours a day searching the shorelines. I gave my dogs a couple days break and when I came across it today, quite overwhelming," Larson told CBS 2's Mike Parker. "I knew he was there, It was just a matter of time until I found him."
Police will determine whether it could be that of missing one-year-old Bryeon Hunter, who was allegedly beaten to death and dumped int ot he river by his mother and boyfriend last month.
Bryeon's mother, Lakesha Baker, and her boyfriend, Michael Scott, have both been charged with his murder.
Prosecutors said they would repeatedly beat Bryeon with belts and hangers, because he wasn't learning to use the toilet. When he wasn't being beaten, prosecutors said Baker and Scott forced him to sit on the toilet for days on end.
They had initially told police that the boy had been abducted.
