Latest news with #BronxRiver
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Yahoo
Mother of Arius Williams, charged with killing 2-year-old son Montrell, weighed getting him psychiatric help
The mother of Arius Williams, accused of tossing his 2-year-old son Montrell into the Bronx River, had met with a lawyer to discuss having the troubled young father committed to a psychiatric institution, family members told the Daily News in an exclusive interview. 'I kept telling her, 'You need to put him away,'' said Williams' cousin Berniece, recounting a string of violent episodes involving the 20-year-old father. 'She kept saying she was going to put him away. 'Obviously she didn't.' As the gruesome details of Montrell's death unfolded, dueling profiles have emerged of Williams — one remarkably describing him as a loving father and another deriding him as a monster. Both assessments come from within his own family. The horrific chain of events that led to Williams' arrest and the death of the playful toddler actually began after he stormed out of a Mother's Day celebration following an argument with his own mother, Sabrina Williams. Relatives said Arius Williams, 20, took the boy with him, and Montrell was never seen again. Yet it was Williams' stepfather, Leroy Burton, Sabrina's husband, who was standing up for the suspected murderer. 'He loved Montrell,' Burton said. 'He loved his son, because he always had his eye on him. I don't know what the hell happened.' But the dad whom Burton described was not the father the rest of the family knew. They said Williams was so abusive, to even his own relatives, that they didn't trust him around the child. 'He didn't give a damn,' said Williams' aunt, Alicia Williams, the sister of Williams' mother. 'Arius is Satan, just an evil boy.' Still, even in their worst nightmares, Williams' relatives said they never thought he would take out his frustrations on a helpless child, and leave him somewhere for dead. Investigators said they weren't certain, either, until they fished Montrell's little body out of the East River, miles away from the spot where police said a surveillance camera captured Williams tossing something into the water weeks earlier from a Bruckner Expressway overpass. The decomposing body was still dressed in the Calvin Klein t-shirt he was wearing when he disappeared with his dad a month ago, officials said. The body recovered Wednesday was found about two miles from where the Bronx River flows into the East River. Cops began searching the river after Williams, upon being confronted by the boy's 17-year-old mother about the child's whereabouts, allegedly threatened her with a knife and told her that he had thrown their son into the river. Until then, Williams' relatives said, cops had been reluctant to do much to help because the parents had joint custody, and a child off with his custodial father wasn't considered missing. But Williams was no doting dad, his own relatives said. His aunt and two cousins traded stories about how volatile Williams was to even his own mother and the mother of his child. Not even Montrell could escape his father's abuse, she said. 'Arius' mother kept calling me and telling me that he was wishing that she was dead, that he was going to stab her,' the aunt said. 'She'll die before him. He'll kill her with a pillow, or some s—t like that.' Because of his violent nature, Williams was not permitted by his own family to be alone unsupervised with Montrell, relatives said. Usually, it was Williams' mother who looked after the child, family members said. 'You can imagine why they didn't want him alone with Montrell,' Alicia, the aunt, said. 'He wouldn't change his diaper, he wouldn't go to the store. My sister did it all.' '[Arius' mother] was the one watching him, taking care of him,' said Arius' cousin Berniece. 'He didn't do s—t. He didn't raise him at all.' But Burton, the stepfather, refuted claims that Williams was violent toward his family. A police source said he has one unsealed arrest for theft of service at the Grand Concourse train station in October 2024, when he was 19. He was also arrested for shoving his girlfriend into a wall two years ago, but that case has been adjudicated and sealed, the source said. Burton acknowledged that Williams was arrested for a domestic assault incident involving Montrell's mother. But Burton said he believed the accusation was false. Burton said Williams was looking to move out of his mother's apartment and had stayed at a homeless shelter for a week prior to the Mother's Day incident. Following his stay at the shelter, Burton said Willams was acting strange, and said he believes someone gave him spiked weed while he was staying in the shelter. 'When he came back, that wasn't the same Arius.' Burton said. 'Whatever they put in his weed, it messed his brain up. I want them to give him a psych evaluation.' Berniece, his cousin, said it was more than just the marijuana. Family or not, she said she wants to see her cousin pay. 'I'm the last person he'd want to see,' she said. 'I would take his head off. There ain't no conversation between me and that boy. I hope he suffers. He better suffer. He better suffer at Rikers. I hope they beat his a–. In Rikers, they don't like that s—t. I hope they beat the s—t out of him.'
CBS News
5 days ago
- CBS News
Search for missing toddler Montrell Williams on Bronx River continues for third day
The NYPD is back on the Bronx River on Wednesday searching for a toddler who has been missing for more than a month. While dive teams are spending a third day looking for 2-year-old Montrell Williams, "Missing" fliers have been put up at the Hunts Point apartment building where the little boy was last seen on May 30 with his 20-year-old father. Montrell's step-grandfather, Eric Burton, said the family is devastated. "Montrell is our heart," Burton said. "It's stressful on the grandmother. I know it's stressful on the mother. We just want the baby returned safely." Latest on investigation into Montrell Williams' disappearance One reason the police continue to check the river is because Commissioner Jessica Tisch said there is video of someone throwing a package off a nearby bridge. Police sources say the boy's mother went to family court on May 30, claiming she couldn't get ahold of her son's father. She again contacted authorities after allegedly having a confrontation with the father on Monday, which left her fearing for her son's safety. Police say the father is in custody, charged with custodial inference, and is a person of interest in the disappearance of the child. NYPD reviewing the handling of the case Tisch said part of the investigation is an internal review on how this case has been handled. "We are looking into the initial reports to the police department and of the missing child and how those were handled, but I want to be very clear: The NYPD takes any case of a missing person very seriously," Tisch said. CBS News New York asked Mayor Eric Adams about the case he said the city is not leaving any stone unturned and is still unraveling exactly what happened.
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Daily Mail
Smiley NYC baby boy feared dead after dad 'threw him into river' following custody battle with mom
A frantic search for a missing 2-year-old New York City boy has shifted to the Bronx River, as police suspect the child's father may have thrown him into the water. Little Montrell Williams, 2, was last seen around 10pm on May 10, wearing only a white shirt and diaper, at an apartment building in Hunts Point about a mile from his home. The boy was reportedly with his 20-year-old father that day for a scheduled custodial visit. The parents share split custody and visitation rights. However, when Montrell was not returned several days later, his 17-year-old mother grew concerned. On May 30, after questioning the father about the boy's whereabouts, she received a troubling response. 'She asked where their son was and he made concerning statements,' a police source told the Daily News. Officials confirmed that the father's initial statements raised red flags about the child's safety. Following initial questioning at a police precinct, the father appeared in Bronx Family Court on Monday to answer a warrant for failing to return Montrell in accordance with the custody agreement, according to ABC7. When he refused to disclose the boy's location to the judge, he was taken into custody. Detectives have reason to believe the father threw Montrell into the Bronx River, near the Bruckner Expressway. The NYPD launched a search for the toddler's body, which is expected to continue. Police have since released a photo of Montrell and issued a public appeal for help in locating him. Neighbors expressed shock that the child has been missing for nearly a month. 'I can only imagine what his mom is going through right now,' neighbor Tracey Pringle told ABC7. 'The only thing we can do is just hope and pray that he's OK and that he's returned safely.' 'I seen the little boy. I always seen the mom,' another neighbor, who asked not to be named, told the Daily News. 'The mom takes the baby to daycare every day.' 'I feel bad for the parents. I feel bad for the kid. Whoever has the kid, return him,' Norma Ramos, a local resident of 30 years, told the Daily News. 'I have kids myself. It hurts as a parent.' Montrell is described as having a medium complexion, brown eyes and black hair. Anyone with information is urged to contact the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).
