The heartbroken parents of a teenager who disappeared after jumping into New York City’s East River have pleaded for the NYPD to widen the search for their son.
Kavion Brown Godfrey, 13, was last seen treading water in the East River near East 6th Street around 4pm ET on Friday before witnesses saw him being swept away by a current.
Kavion’s parents told The New York Post they can’t understand why he went in the water in the first place.
“I don’t have any idea why he would have gone into the water. That’s something I can’t just think about,” his mother Laquana Badger-Godfrey, 32, said through tears.
“I’ve been going through hell; I can’t sleep. I can’t think. I can’t eat. I want my son.”
Kavion’s parents explained that the teenager was supposed to be at a soccer game under the supervision of a school basketball coach when the incident happened.
They said that he was the “star player” on the basketball team, and his coach had invited him and other team members to go and support the soccer team.
His mother told The New York Post that she had only spoken to Kavion – described as 6 foot 3 and a pro at basketball who loves dance and art – that afternoon before he went missing.
Both police and Ms Badger-Godfrey speculate that her son may have jumped into the river as a dare.
“We’re hearing that he was trying to impress a girl or, perhaps, on a dare, ended up in the water,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters on Tuesday.
Ms Badger-Godfrey said it was not in her son’s nature to do such a thing.
“My son, he didn’t fool around in that way,” she told the Post.
An investigation is underway to determine why the teenager jumped into the river, amid speculation that there is footage of the jump.
Other children might have also been at the scene.
Police are yet to confirm the presence of a video, something that is frustrating Mr Godfrey’s parents.
“I have yet to hear anything about what’s happened because no one has contacted us,” Donnell Godfrey told the Post.
“All I’ve heard is that there may be some type of footage. And if the footage shows he was dared, I was never told that.”
While the NYPD has been searching in parts of the river, his parents are now calling for a “more extensive search”.
“We need every corner searched from Brooklyn to the Bronx to Long Island. We need a worldwide search,” the teenager’s mother said to the outlet.
The East River is 16 miles long and connects the Hudson River with Long Island Sound. At its widest, it is 1,000 feet and has a depth of around 40 feet.
The East River, where Mr Godfrey jumped in and went missing, is over 16 miles long— (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
Mr Kenny said detectives are still looking for the teenager and have been keeping the family up to date, but bad weather on the day the boy disappeared may have interrupted the initial search.
“Harbor was there. Scuba was there. Aviation was there. They did their best for about three hours and forty minutes after the incident to try to find the child. He could not be located,” he said.
“They actually went back later that evening at like 9 o’clock at night and still were utilising every asset we have to try to find this missing person and we haven’t found him yet.”
The NYPD Harbour unit continued their search on Monday night, and his parents are asking anyone with information on what happened to come forward.
When reached for comment, the NYPD toldThe Independent that they had no update about the investigation surrounding the dare allegations but said that the search is continuing.
