Officials are investigating whether the human arm and pair of legs discovered along a Queens shoreline Thursday belong to missing 14-year-old Avonte Oquendo, a police source reported.
According to police sources, the human limbs were found near Endeavor Place in College Point and Powell's Cove Blvd. around 7 p.m. A sneaker was also discovered near the river, sources added, but police could not prove whether it belongs to the autistic teen, who went missing over three months ago in 2013.
Officials continued searching for evidence after human remains were discovered near the DEP water treatment plant in Queens.
Tony Herbert, who communicates regularly with Oquendo's family, believed the human remains are likely those of the 14-year-old boy. "It's looking really grim that it may be him," the community activist said.
"The concern is obvious," a police insider stated. "When you have body parts, there's the obvious question about what happened. Was there a murder, or a drowning with bad decomposition?"
Dispatchers reponded to a 911 call about human limbs found near Endeavor Place and Powell Cove Blvd, reads a police statement.
According to the document, police authorities found a possible arm and legs on the rocks of the location. The remains will be transported to the Queens County Morgue where the medical examiner will determine the true cause of death.
Police investigation is ongoing, the statement said.
There had been two police cruisers at the College Point scene from the 108 Precinct, where Oquendo's school is situated. Canines had picked up on the 14-year-old boy's scent in a marshy location near the school shortly after he was reported missing. Police officers in College Point reported that the cruisers were at the scene for "personnel purposes" and were not related directly to the discovery of the human limbs.
Massive searches have been conducted to find Avonte Oquendo, who is nonverbal, since he was last seen in Oct. 4 walking past a security guard, exiting the Riverview School in Long Island City, Queens.
The autistic teen was reportedly wearing a gray striped shirt, black jeans and black sneakers when he was last seen alive.
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