The NYPD is trying to piece together what happened in the 14 minutes before an 11-year-old and 13-year-old drown in the Harlem River.
themessenger.com
Police in New York City are asking the public for any videos that might help them piece together the final 14 minutes before
two young boys disappearedinto the Harlem River and died.
“These are 11 and 13-year-old kids. We believe they are going down there. They wanted to skip rocks, and do what 11- and 13-year-old kids do. They were playing around down there,” Chief Detective Essig said.
Essig laid out a timeline of events in the case.
He said the boys were seen in various parts of Manhattan in the afternoon and evening.
At about 6:45 p.m., police tracked their path to a pedestrian footbridge with a third youth.
A video showed two of the kids climbing over a fence and going toward the water.
The next time police saw any of the three is 7:04 p.m., 14 minutes later: The third youth was seen entering a Harlem park.
The boy left the park just after 9 p.m. and five minutes later an anonymous man called 911. He said that a group of children approached him and said that two kids were pushing each other and fell into the water.
Police responded and were unable to find the 911 caller or the kids. A search of the water didn’t turn up anything.
On May 14 at 2:23 a.m. Barrie’s sister called 911 and reported him missing. At 1:25 p.m. on Monday, Warren's mother called 911 and reported him missing.
Investigators quickly were able to connect the two missing cases.
A command post was set up and a search began. On Monday evening they were able to find the third youth and questioned him.
On May 18 at 10:25 a.m. the body of Garret Wilson was recovered in the East River at the Madison Ave. Bridge.
Two days later, at 6:50 a.m., the body of Alfa Barrie was found at 102nd and Riverside Dr. on the Hudson River.
Police said the tides and river flows had carried the bodies in different directions and that’s why they were found so far apart and in different rivers.
The investigation remains active to determine if criminality or if it was just a tragic accident.
Essig thinks the delays in reporting the boys missing were because they were believed to be with other relatives. “Everything we’ve heard, they were good kids,” Essig says.