Found Deceased NY - Avonte Oquendo, 14, Long Island City, 4 Oct 2013

[Snoods]

The refuse that those remains were found with makes me feel sick. UGH.

Wondergirl, I agree. And the juxtaposition with police having to use Avonte's little baby foot prints from when he was born to compare against the feet preserved in his Jordan sneakers is just stomach churning. That detail hasn't left my head since I heard it. Could you imagine? I can't even allow my brain to go there, yet this mother is living through this. Was it really necessary to put that in the article? Sigh.

 

[Snoods]

snipped

Police believe Avonte walked from the school and into a nearby hilly area along the mouth of the Newtown Creek that was covered with shrubbery. He may have lost his way among the brush and tumbled down a steep drop into the water.

“It drops down all of a sudden, so if you’re running and you’re not careful, you can fall about 30 feet into the East River,” a police source told the Daily News.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...police-source-article-1.1582937#ixzz2qmMtOIod

snipped

...Different police sources suggest the boy slipped from a cliff into the East River.

According to the Post, Avonte was seen running from a dog in Hunter's Point South Park. A source said, "He had a huge fear of dogs and was seen running from one... He may have run in a panic and fallen into the water." Avonte was also afraid of the water.

http://gothamist.com/2014/01/18/clothing_on_human_remains_appear_to.php

BBM I followed this case closely from the beginning and this is the first I've heard of Avonte being seen running from a dog! Anybody else remember hearing this? This is a huge detail.

 

[Snoods]

This is the first time I've heard anything about Avonte being chased by a dog and falling into the river. Who witnessed this dog? Who's dog?

Missing autistic teen Avonte Oquendo was seen running from a dog at a nearby park right after he slipped out of his Queens school, and he likely fell into the East River in his panic, law-enforcement sources told The Post Friday.
http://nypost.com/2014/01/18/avonte-may-have-been-running-from-dog-drowned-police-theory/

Jinx HauntsForHope, just got to the end of today's posts and saw you posted the same thing! I've never heard of it either, not ever since the beginning.

 

[LookingHoping]

I know I haven't been in this thread, but have been watching since the day I heard Avonte was missing. I'm shocked at this new news and that it was never out in public. Imagine how many people may have remembered a dog chasing somebody. If one person saw it, others did too. Though they may not have got a good look at Avonte, they may have been able to find him sooner and his poor family could have been dealing with the mooring sooner, rather than go through all these months of pure hell

 

[Snoods]

I know I haven't been in this thread, but have been watching since the day I heard Avonte was missing. I'm shocked at this new news and that it was never out in public. Imagine how many people may have remembered a dog chasing somebody. If one person saw it, others did too. Though they may not have got a good look at Avonte, they may have been able to find him sooner and his poor family could have been dealing with the mooring sooner, rather than go through all these months of pure hell

Well put, I totally agree. I don't know what to make of this new detail. It would explain Avonte running into the water if he were afraid of the dog.

 

[Snoods]

From article:

Earlier on Saturday, police found a striped shirt in the water, according to the Oquendo family attorney. Avonte was wearing a striped shirt when he went missing.

The remains, said to be a human arm, legs, ribs and a pelvic bone, were found on a rock in the water near the College Point Yacht Club around 7 p.m. Thursday, about 11 miles from where Avonte was last seen.

Police responded to a 911 call in the vicinity of Powell Cove Boulevard and Endeavor Place after a 14-year-old girl stumbled across the limbs.

The remains were taken to a morgue, where the medical examiner's office will try to identify them and determine a cause of death, which may take several days, police said. The family attorney told Eyewitness News he believes an identification will come on Wednesday.

Sources said a pair of sneakers and jeans were found that matched what the 14-year-old non-verbal boy was wearing when he disappeared after running out of his Long Island City school on October 4. They are the same sizes that Avonte wore.

bclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local/new_york&id=9396907

 

[Snoods]

Oh jeez. Please don't even read this if you aren't strong about this kind of stuff.

Members of the NYPD’s Harbor Unit recover a second arm and some human tissue as the NYC medical examiner works to identify body parts, items discovered on the banks of the East River to determine if they belong to the autistic boy who disappeared from his school Oct. 4.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york...ait-dna-tests-article-1.1584161#ixzz2qpSmjIfQ

 

[Snoods]

What the heck? I've never even heard about this theory, suddenly it's the reason he was driven into the water! Why wasn't this brought to the forefront sooner?

From article:
He may have died facing his two greatest fears — dogs and water.
Missing autistic teen Avonte Oquendo was seen running from a dog at a nearby park right after he slipped out of his Queens school, and he likely fell into the East River in his panic, law-enforcement sources told The Post Friday.


http://nypost.com/2014/01/18/avonte-may-have-been-running-from-dog-drowned-police-theory/

P.S. Sorry, it always looks like I'm highjacking the thread. I'm just a late night poster, and everyone else doesn't get here until daybreak lol.

 

[Donjeta]

Who posts photos of human remains on social media? That's really awful.

Some people have their phones set so that all photos are uploaded automatically on some online application.

I could see a person forgetting that and posting the photo "accidentally" if they're in shock from finding human remains and want to take a photo of the location so they can find it again when the police comes.

 

[LookingHoping]

I know I haven't been in this thread, but have been watching since the day I heard Avonte was missing. I'm shocked at this new news and that it was never out in public. Imagine how many people may have remembered a dog chasing somebody. If one person saw it, others did too. Though they may not have got a good look at Avonte, they may have been able to find him sooner and his poor family could have been dealing with the mooring sooner, rather than go through all these months of pure hell

Mourning, dealing with mourning sooner (wishing I could fix)

 

[alreetlike]

Some people have their phones set so that all photos are uploaded automatically on some online application.

I could see a person forgetting that and posting the photo "accidentally" if they're in shock from finding human remains and want to take a photo of the location so they can find it again when the police comes.

That's fair enough, but the cynic in me just thinks it's a sign of the times that someone would post that on Twitter. With any disaster/incident etc, look how quickly pictures are going round.

The Teleka Patrick case has certainly made me think twice about what I'd post on there, but human remains or anything pertaining to a tragedy would never have even crossed my mind to begin with.

Edited to add - if this part about being chased by the dog towards water is true and we're just hearing about it now, then somebody has really dropped the ball on this, IMO.

 

[hot cawfeee]

Morning sweetlings!!

I read the Post article too-----was the dog off the leash then?? What did the dogs owner see??

The photo girl (I am dubbing her)--was the picture taken with an actual camera or with her cell phone???

 

[Ms Suzanne]

I think it is so disrespectful to Avonte and to his family to post these pictures or anyone to post things on facebook or twitter knowing it might be him. They needed to go to the police to report these things. My saying is always what were there motives for doing things like this. Very sad.

 

[Roselvr]

Avonte Oquendo’s family cling to hope, await DNA tests as cops find second arm in Queens

A high-ranking police source dismissed a published report that the teen fell to his death while running from a dog.

That tip was followed up early in the investigation as well as video reviewed,” the source told the Daily News. “The information was not accurate.”

 

[Snoods]

Morning sweetlings!!

I read the Post article too-----was the dog off the leash then?? What did the dogs owner see??

The photo girl (I am dubbing her)--was the picture taken with an actual camera or with her cell phone???

Morning Glory! :seeya:

Yeah, so far we have the press stating LE said he could be a victim of foul play. Or that he's not. Now, he's being chased in the water by a dog. I wonder where all their differing sources are from?

I haven't seen the picture allegedly taken by photo girl, has anyone else?

ETA: Just read Roselvr's post. Well, that puts to rest the killer dog theory.

 

[Roselvr]

How old is the girl that found him? Originally reported as 14; now she's 19?

 

[Wondergirl]

WARNING - POST GRAPHIC IN NATURE

Even if a large freighter accidentally ran over the body, I find it pretty hard to believe that the body dis articulated in such a manner as all the limbs were separated.

Not sure on the science, but, it just doesn't add up to me. I don't know. Horrible, the whole thing.

 

[Snoods]

Here's a cute picture of Avonte that I wanted to post. To the newer posters you can click on the pic to enlarge it.

 

[Roselvr]

What the heck? I've never even heard about this theory, suddenly it's the reason he was driven into the water! Why wasn't this brought to the forefront sooner?

From article:
He may have died facing his two greatest fears — dogs and water.
Missing autistic teen Avonte Oquendo was seen running from a dog at a nearby park right after he slipped out of his Queens school, and he likely fell into the East River in his panic, law-enforcement sources told The Post Friday.


http://nypost.com/2014/01/18/avonte-may-have-been-running-from-dog-drowned-police-theory/

P.S. Sorry, it always looks like I'm highjacking the thread. I'm just a late night poster, and everyone else doesn't get here until daybreak lol.

Why has it taken this long for the truth to come out?

Avonte may have drowned after running from dog: sources

Family attorney said that the tapes they were given were not the complete tapes. -

“And that the thing that may be missing is what Commissioner Kelly spoke about, the confrontation, or the conversation, the brief one, between Avonte and the school safety agent where she saw him leaving the building,” he said.

“You can’t see in the tape that she says ‘Hello’ to him, she says ‘Where are you going?.’ She apparently says, ‘Go back to class.’ But she claimed to have seen him go up the stairs and stay in the school. That’s why the school was looking for him in the school. The problem is, the video tape shows he went out of the school. So she couldn’t have seen him go up the stairs. She could’ve said, ‘I think he went up the stairs. He went in the direction of the stairs.’ But she certainly didn’t see him go up the stairs,” he said.

“It does appear that she was seated at the table and the screen was in front of her, and she would’ve been able to see him walk out of the school. And in the video tape, she does go over to the door that he walked out of, two to three minutes after he walked out of it, and closes it. Very distressing information.”

 

[airplanelamp]

Regarding police tape around the home of the girl who found him.....it is entirely possible (given the rumour that she posted pics on social media) that police are enacting a warrant on her home to seize whatever devices she used to do that....iPhone, computer, iPad, whatever. Perhaps she isn't being forthcoming in assisting because she is ashamed at having done it?