Community mourns and questions after two boys’ bodies found in separate rivers

NEW YORK — A Bronx community remembered Monday the 11-year-old boy who disappeared along with a 13-year-old friend earlier this month and whose body tragically washed up in the Hudson River over the weekend, authorities say.

The other boy’s body was found in the Harlem River, which runs between the Hudson and East rivers, closer to where the NYPD had been searching, late last week. His name was Garrett Warren and he lived in Harlem.

Warren’s family and the family of 11-year-old Alfa Barrie have recovered the bodies of their children, but are left with many unanswered questions. How could Barrie’s body have gotten so far from Warren’s if they went into the water in the same place at the same time? Could there be some criminality at play? The boys had never run away before.

The medical examiner’s office determined that Warren died of accidental drowning. He said the manner and cause of Barrie’s death are pending further study.

Law enforcement sources familiar with the matter said a teenager claimed to have seen Warren and Barrie playing near the water’s edge on 145th Street on the night of May 12, the night they disappeared. According to the witness, one of the boys tried to push the other into the river and they both fell into the water. The teenage witness ran out of the area and later spoke to police.

The NYPD officers had been trying to identify all the other children who were with them and who wanted to talk to their classmates.

While some may be alarmed that the children are found in separate rivers on opposite sides of Manhattan, a marine expert told our sister network NBC New York that it is plausible that a body moves from the Harlem River to the Hudson River.

At the Futa Islamic Center on Monday, the Morrisania community came together to remember Barrie and reminisce about the good times they had with him during his short life.

“This is not something we wanted. We wanted to be able to see it. And then to see him at home, laughing, smiling, helping his mother and being there for her,” said her brother Ibrahim Diallo.

An educator at the Barrie school said the sixth grader was “funny, bright, witty, inquisitive and courageous.” Another event is scheduled to take place at the school, Democracy Prep Middle School, on Tuesday.

Barrie’s family told NBC New York He has not yet set a date for the funeral.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-888-57-PISTA.