A body believed to be the missing toddler Montrell Williams was recovered from the East River Wednesday afternoon, days after he vanished while visiting his dad.
Authorities are working to confirm the identity of the body found off Ferry Point Park in the Bronx, but said the dead child resembles the 2-year-old and is dressed in similar clothing.
“They want to know if he died before he went in the water,” a relative said.
Arius Williams, 20, had allegedly told the toddler’s mother that he threw their son into the Bronx River during a visitation on May 10.
Family members said the man got angry with his mother when he left the home they shared, taking Montrell with him.
That’s when surveillance footage caught him throwing a package off a bridge into the river. The father then turned up at a cousin’s Mott Haven home, without the child.
Williams’ family never left him alone with his son due to his troubled mental health, they said. They were the first ones to report the disappearance to the police.
“He loved Montrell. He loved his son because he always had his eye on him. I don’t know what the hell happened,” Williams’ stepdad said.
