Missing 2-year-old’s body found in trash can; boy’s mother, her boyfriend arrested, police say

HOUMA, La. (WVUE/Gray News) - Authorities in Louisiana made a grim discovery Tuesday evening while searching for a missing 2-year-old boy.

Louisiana State Police issued an endangered and missing child alert for Ezekiel Harry Tuesday afternoon. Authorities said his mother told them that he was abducted while walking with his siblings.

WVUE reports the Houma Police Department located the boy’s body stuffed in a trash can about six hours after that initial alert.

Houma police detectives said they found information that led them to suspect foul play in the incident.

After the boy’s body was recovered, police said they arrested the boy’s mother Maya Jones, 28, and Jermaine Robinson, 37, described as her live-in boyfriend.

“Both suspects are facing charges relative to first-degree murder, obstruction of justice and other related charges,” Houma Police Department Chief Dana Coleman said in a statement. “Once the suspects are officially charged, additional information will be released.”

Police said the mother initially told them she was walking along the Bayou Terrebonne stream with her four children when someone in a gray truck snatched Ezekiel. But investigators said they quickly found that her account of what happened was inaccurate.