Late last week, a teen stumbled upon human remains along a Queens, NY section of the East River and alerted authorities. Police found an arm and leg at the scene, as well as a pair of 5 1/2 Air Jordan sneakers and a size 16 pair of dark jeans — both of which Avonte was wearing when he disappeared. His family was alerted and asked to submit a DNA sample to confirm if the badly decomposed remains were that of the young boy. Yesterday, their worst fears were confirmed that the human remains were indeed those of Avonte Oquendo.
Although Avonte was 14-years-old, his autism gave him the mental capacity of a 7-year-old. Avonte was unable to speak and was supposed to be with an adult monitor at all times. However, school surveillance footage showed Avonte running out of Center Boulevard School on Long Island at 12:38 p.m on October 4th alone. His disappearance launched an immediate citywide search for the boy, with aggressive tactics New York residents had never seen before for a missing child.
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At the time, his mother, Vanessa Fontaine, was very optimistic about his return. “My thoughts are that my son is still out there, and I want everyone to continue to help me search for my son,” she said. “He is not gone.”
“He doesn’t know that, you know, ‘I can get hurt in the street, someone can grab me and take me,'” Fontaine added. “He doesn’t know that. He doesn’t know fear.”
Police now have the daunting task of trying to determine if Avonte somehow made it to the river and drowned, if his body was disassembled by animals, or if he was the victim of foul play.
Rest in Peace, young Avonte!
So sad. All we can do is pray for his soul and his family. RIP