Black and Missing
Avonte Oquendo’s family awaits dna tests on remains found in Queens, NY
Police divers are searching the East River Saturday for more remains, as the medical examiner tries to determine whether body parts found near the river are those of missing autistic teenager Avonte Oquendo.
Avonte Oquendo’s family awaits autopsy results after remains were found in Queens.
Police divers are searching the East River Saturday for more remains, as the medical examiner tries to determine whether body parts found near the river are those of missing autistic teenager Avonte Oquendo.
Police found a striped shirt in the water Saturday, according to the Oquendo family attorney. Avonte was wearing a striped shirt when he went missing.
The remains, said to be a human arm, legs, ribs and a pelvic bone, were found on a rock in the water near the College Point Yacht Club around 7 p.m. Thursday, about 11 miles from where Avonte was last seen.
Police responded to a 911 call in the vicinity of Powell Cove Boulevard and Endeavor Place after a 14-year-old girl stumbled across the limbs.
The remains were taken to a morgue, where the medical examiner’s office will try to identify them and determine a cause of death, which may take several days, police said. The Avonte Oquendo’s family attorney told Eyewitness News he believes an identification will come on Wednesday.
Sources said a pair of sneakers was also found, but it could not be confirmed if it belonged to the 14-year-old non-verbal boy who disappeared after running out of his Long Island City school 15 weeks ago Friday, on October 4.
Avonte Oquendo’s family’s attorney, David Perecman, says DNA tests will provide the final say and that relatives are not counting on anything until that determination has been made. He confirmed that the pant and shoe sizes found on the remains match what Avonte was wearing when he vanished.
Perecman said Avonte’s mother, Vanessa Fontaine, was considering the discovery to be just another tip until she hears something more definitive.
“This has taken a significant toll on her as a human being,” he said of Fontaine.
Avonte’s disappearance sparked a citywide search that included hundreds of officers, marine units and volunteers.
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