New York City authorities have been searching endlessly for a 2-year-old Black boy for the past month. The investigation into his disappearance has brought police to a disturbing theory about what might have happened to him - and it involves his own father.
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Little Montrell Williams was last seen on May 10 wearing just a shirt and a diaper on Hunts Point Road in the Bronx. Sources say he was last with his parents at a family event, per NBC 4 New York. When he left, he went with his father, whose turn it was for a custodial visit, back to the child’s grandmother’s house. The 20-year-old man has not been named by authorities.
The following day, the child's father and his grandmother got into a disagreement, per ABC7 News. Authorities believe the man left with Montrell but never brought him to his mother’s house.
"Me and him had a conflict. I'm in my room. My cousin told me that my son took the baby. I went downstairs to chase him. He was gone. From that day, I was trying to search for my grandson," the grandmother said via ABC7.
The two vanished, leaving the child’s mother, a 17-year-old, and the child’s grandmother in a frenzy trying to search for them. She told reporters she received little to no help in the search from law enforcement when she sought them for help. It wasn’t until Sunday (June 8) that the child’s mother ran into the father again and it was not a peaceful interaction.
She tells ABC7 he pulled a knife on her when she confronted him about the toddler and allegedly confessed to where the toddler was: in the Bronx River where he allegedly threw him. In just an instant, the hope that Little Montrell was alive was gone.
The child’s mother called the police and he was taken into custody. Despite his chilling confession to his child’s mother, the report says he refused to give any details to the cops when they interrogated him. Investigators say they obtained surveillance footage of Montrell’s father tossing a black bag into the river which they believed contained the toddler’s body. However, the child’s remains are still yet to be recovered.
On Monday (June 9), the child’s father appeared in family court for failing to return Montrell to his mother and violating their custody agreement, the report says. The judge also ordered him to jail for failing to report where the child was. He’s not facing any charges at this time.
In the meantime, the police department is facing their own scrutiny from Mayor Eric Adams for how they responded to the incident. The mayor said he plans to examine everything from the time it took for the missing persons report to be filed to the case being pitched to the detective division.
"We were still investigating all actions, the actions of the dad, the actions of officers who responded, and once we have a full understanding based on the detective division will be able to answer what happened but right now our goal is to try and find the child," Adams said in a press conference.
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