U.S.

Body Found Believed To Be Missing 5-Year-Old Mass. Boy

Investigators in Massachusetts say they believe they have found the body of a child missing for more than six months.

Body Found Believed To Be Missing 5-Year-Old Mass. Boy
WHDH
SMS

Investigators in Massachusetts say they believe they might have found the body of a child missing for more than six months.

Five-year-old Jeremiah Oliver disappeared back in September. On Friday, WHDH reports investigators found a child's body along the side of a highway outside of Boston.

Now, the family is coming to terms with the possibility that the body, which has a similar height and weight to Jeremiah, belongs to the missing child. "We can put a closure and have the community start healing." (Via WFXT)

Jeremiah's mom and her boyfriend are in jail in connection with the disappearance. According to WFXT, while the boy went missing in September, relatives didn't report him missing until three months later.

According to The Boston Globe, the state's Department of Children and Families had been monitoring the family for the past two years following the allegations of abuse and neglect.  The paper calls Jeremiah's disappearance "one of the worst lapses in the history of the state's child-protection agency." 

WBZ-TV reports an autopsy is expected to take place Saturday. The local district attorney says he won't make any more comments on the identification until the autopsy is finished.

The results from the autopsy could be finalized as early as Saturday.