Police Believe Missing Toddler Dead, River Searched

By Samantha Abernethy in News on Apr 18, 2013 4:50PM

Police say they believe the 1-year-old boy reported missing by his mother is dead, and the mother and her boyfriend have been brought in for questioning. According to CBS, police believe the boy may have been killed "by somebody who was upset that the child could not be potty-trained."

Breyon Hunter's mother Lakeshia Baker told Maywood Police on Tuesday that three men beat her and abducted the boy. "The child was taken by three male Hispanic males in a black two door sports car with tinted windows," according to the Amber Alert issued on Tuesday. According to CBS, Baker "claimed the men attacked her because of her race and wanted her to move out of the neighborhood." After questioning Baker, though, police say her story is not true, and the three suspects were cleared.

“We believe this to be an isolated event and not one that was described as three men committing an abduction,” Maywood Police Chief Tim Curry told the Sun-Times.

According to CBS, police believe Baker, who had a black eye and a swollen face, had been beaten by her boyfriend to bolster their story that Bryeon had been kidnapped. Both she and the boyfriend were taken in for questioning. Authorities searched the Des Plaines River on Wednesday, but the search had to be called off due to weather.