N.J. Mother and Son, 11, Discovered Dead in Pond with Mom’s 6-Year-Old Child Found Alive Nearby
Police in New Jersey are investigating how the bodies of a 35-year-old mother and her 11-year-old son ended up in a pond earlier this week, PEOPLE confirms.
On Tuesday evening, officers were dispatched to Grace Lord Park in Boonton after receiving reports of an unattended child. They arrived to find a 6-year-old boy in a car, calling out for his mother.
The boy was unharmed, according to the Essex County Prosecutor's Office.
Officers followed footprints from the car to the nearby pond, where the little boy's mother, Warda Syed, and brother, Uzair Ahmed, were found dead.
Police are not releasing the name of the 6-year-old.
Warda and her children are Boonton residents.
On Wednesday, CBS2 reported from the scene that the walkway to the pond was very icy, and that signs abound in the park, warning about a dangerous drop-off.
Authorities still do not know if the mother and son's deaths were somehow intentional or the result of a tragic accident.
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Abdul Raja, who told CBS2 he knew Syed, said the mother would bring her children to the park often.
According to Raja, Syed's husband is being treated for cancer.
Raja also said he was told that Syed had recently lost both a brother and sister to COVID-19.
