The search continues for a teenage boy still missing after falling into the East River, and now his parents are pleading for answers on how he ended up in the water. NBC New York’s Jessica Cunnington reports.
A week after he disappeared, the body of 13-year-old Kavion Brown was found and recovered in the East River, according to law enforcement sources.
The teen had last been seen alive at East River Park in Manhattan during the afternoon of Oct. 20, catching his school's soccer game with friends. Brown and his friends spoke with a coach that was going to be at the game as well. Investigators said witnesses saw Brown go into the water, but it remains unclear why he did so. He never made it out.
A body was spotted in the river just after 2 p.m. Friday near East 10th Street, but police lost sight of it afterward. It was later seen in the water near the Wall Street Heliport nearly two hours later.
Brown's body was recovered shortly after and taken to Pier 16 at South Street Seaport, law enforcement sources told NBC New York. The teen's mother confirmed it was her son. A cause of death was not immediately clear.
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The NYPD Harbor Unit had been scouring the river for days in search of Brown, while department divers were continuing their search underwater and drones scanned from above. But the search went days without any concrete evidence before the teen's body was found.
The discovery came just days after Brown's parents issued desperate pleas for help, looking for any answers into what happened to their son.
"To whomever was out here, any of the children that are scared to come forward: Please come forward, please tell us something so we’re not here wondering," said Laquana Godfrey, Brown's mother.
