Oregon Police Find Body Of 6-Year-Old Who Was Thrown From Yaquina Bay Bridge By Mother

The body of a 6-year-old, who was reportedly thrown by his mother off the Yaquina Bay Bridge in western Oregon, has been found near a local marina, Mark Miranda, chief of police in the town of Newport, said according to The Associated Press, or AP. The woman, who called the police to tell them that she had thrown her son into the Yaquina River, was being questioned by police.

The U.S. Coast Guard and Lincoln County authorities searched for the body of the young boy for hours after local police received the call at about 6:30 p.m. on Monday. Two boats and a helicopter, along with the county sheriff's marine patrol and rescue teams, were also reportedly searching for the boy’s body. The body was eventually found floating near a marina, Jonathan Klingenberg, Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class, said, according to AP.

According to a report by News Lincoln County, a local news outlet, the woman told the police that she had been hearing voices in her head, telling her to throw the boy off the bridge. Although she has been taken into custody by local police, she has not been arrested yet.

“I remember them (the boy and the mother) because it was dark and I thought it was strange that someone with such a young kid would be walking across the bridge. They had just gotten on the north end of the bridge when I saw them. She was wearing a long dark skirt and long sleeve dark shirt and he was wearing a checkered flannel type shirt and maybe khaki pants, I don’t remember. She seemed to be pulling him along rather quickly,” a possible witness who may have seen them both before the incident, told News Lincoln County in an email, which was reportedly forwarded to the police.

The bridge is constructed 130 feet above the bay, and officials had earlier said that chances of the boy being alive after being thrown from such a height were bleak.