Source: Police Believe Missing Maywood Child Is Dead
Updated 04/17/13 - 4:38 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A missing one-year-old boy from Maywood was killed by somebody who was upset that the child could not be potty-trained, a source told CBS 2.
The source says the body of a child believed to be Bryeon Hunter was dumped into the Des Plaines River near Maywood. Police searched the area on Wednesday before leaving the banks of the river late Wednesday afternoon. No body was found.
River Searched For Boy's Body
Earlier, a source said the boy's body had been recovered, but Maywood Police Chief Tim Curry later said a body has not been found.
CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports, for most of the day, tracker dogs combed the banks of the Des Plaines River, and emergency crews from several suburbs searched the water itself, using sonar to look for the boy's body.
Police packed up the orange boats they were using to search the river as a thunderstorm moved in Wednesday afternoon.
Bryeon's family had been out near the river since Wednesday morning as authorities conducted the search.
Bryeon's grandmother, Brenda Lloyd, said, "I just want him back, that's all. I want to know is he okay? Let me know something."
Lloyd was anguished after hours of waiting, with Bryeon's fate still officially unknown.
WBBM Newsradio's Steve Miller reports Curry said he is not optimistic Bryeon is alive.
Bryeon's great uncle, Herbert Morris, said he supports the boy's mother, and whether Bryeon is dead or alive, he just wants some resolution.
"Right now, it just, it's in God's hands. Whatever he say fit, so be it," Morris said.
Bryeon has been the subject of an AMBER alert after his mother told police three Hispanic men beat her and kidnapped the child. After questioning the mother, police now believe Lakeshia Baker's story is not true. The alert was issued on Tuesday and police cleared the three men on Wednesday morning.
Police have been questioning Baker and her boyfriend on Wednesday. No charges have yet been filed against any suspects.
Initially, Bryeon's mother said her son was was abducted at 6th and Main in Maywood by three Hispanic men in a black, two-door sports car with tinted windows.
Bryeon was last seen wearing a blue striped long sleeve shirt, blue jeans, and blue and brown Nike boots and is described in the alert as being 2 feet tall and weighing 30 pounds.
Lakeshia Baker claimed she was beaten by the the same people who kidnapped her son. Baker's eye was blackened, her face swollen from being kicked and punched.
She limped assisted by loved ones to the Maywood Police Department hoping to help in the search for her son on Tuesday afternoon.
Baker, who is African American, claimed the men attacked her because of her race and wanted her to move out of the neighborhood.
Sources told CBS 2 that police believe Baker's boyfriend beat her to bolster their story that Bryeon had been kidnapped. The two have been held at Maywood's police station for more than 20 hours, as of Wednesday afternoon.
While the search for Breyon continues, his grandmother clung to memories of the baby she nicknamed "Cabbage Patch."
"Every time I call his name, he just looked at me and just laughed," she said. "He's an innocent baby. I just don't know what's going on."
