Bodies in New Jersey river identified as missing boys

NEW BRUNSWICK

The first body recovered was confirmed to be 10-year-old /*Francisco Perera*/. The second body was later confirmed to be 11-year-old /*Devine Nicholas*/.

A New Jersey State Police helicopter hovered above the Raritan River, searching for the unthinkable.

In the water, police marine units carefully maneuvered underneath the Albany Street Bridge as detectives searched the rocky river bank.

The boys were friends whose families reported them missing Sunday evening.

Perera allegedly told his mother he was going to the park, but he never came home.

A day after they were reported missing, the bodies were found in the cold, murky water.

How they got there and what happened to them is part of mystery investigators are working to solve.

"I feel very sad because you know how it feels to lose somebody in your family," the victim's aunt said.

Outside the Perera family house in New Brunswick, Francisco's aunt told Eyewitness News she is distraught over losing her nephew.

"I was working and she called me and said something happened to her son," said Isabella Alvarado, a family friend.

Isabella Alvarado said she came to console her friend who just lost her son.

"Sometimes he came to my house to play with his little sister," Alvarado said.

The park Perera told his mother he was going to was just a few blocks away from his home.

That park is about a mile from the river.

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