A child's body was recovered from San Francisco Bay waters south of the Berkeley Marina late Sunday morning near where investigators spent Saturday searching for a missing 17-month-old son of a murder victim, a police lieutenant said.
Several people in kayaks spotted the body floating in the waters just before 11 a.m. and called 911, Berkeley police Lt. Andrew Greenwood said.
Berkeley police responded and summoned Oakland police to investigate as well "as a matter of professional courtesy," Greenwood said.
Oakland police have been actively investigating the disappearance of Jashon Williams, who may have been with his mother when she was killed, Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason said.
A patrol officer in Berkeley found the body of Jashon's mother, Zoelina Williams, at about 4 a.m. Friday on the shoreline of Aquatic Park during a routine security check.
Police arrested a suspect shortly after 1 p.m. that day, 38-year-old Oakland resident Curtis Martin III, Thomason said.
Police searched Martin's home, as well as the home where Zoelina and Jashon Williams were living in Oakland, he said.
Martin has been queried on Jashon's whereabouts, but "he is not cooperating with any part of the investigation," Thomason said.
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Zoelina Williams' relatives contacted Oakland police at 12:40 a.m. Saturday to let them know about the missing child, he said.
Greenwood said at about 3 p.m. that the child's body discovered today remains unidentified.
"The body is that of a small child (but) has not been identified," he said. "We don't know who it is."
He said the Alameda County coroner's bureau has taken custody of the child's body.
Authorities spent 10 to 12 hours on Saturday searching the waters near Aquatic Park for Jashon's body but did not find anything.
The search was assisted by members of the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, a volunteer dive team and search and rescue K-9's, and aircraft from the California Highway Patrol and East Bay Regional Parks District.
While Oakland police investigate Jashon's disappearance, Berkeley police are investigating the death of his mother.
Anyone who may have information on the whereabouts of Jashon Williams should call the Oakland Police Department's missing persons section at (510) 238-3641.
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