The Maywood boy, 20 months, disappeared last month. His mother, Lakeshia Baker, and her boyfriend, Michael Scott , are charged with his murder.
Police and volunteers, including Robert Larson, have searched for Bryeon's body since his disappearance. On Monday, Larson was in a kayak when he found the body of a small child in the river near 31st Street and 1st Avenue in North Riverside. On Tuesday, he met with Bryeon's grandmother, Brenda Lloyd.
"The main thing was that I wanted to find your grandson," Larson said. "And I found him. And I wanted to bring that closure to you and your family."
Lloyd is waiting on autopsy results to positively identify her grandson and determine a cause of death.
"I appreciate him for what he did and without him my grandbaby would never have been found," Lloyd said.
The toddler disappeared on April 16. Baker initially told police she was attacked by three men and Bryeon was kidnapped. Prosecutors say she later admitted to police that Scott covered the child's mouth with his hand while she beat him with a belt on the bathroom floor, then they dumped his body in the river.
"I was shaking like a leaf when I first found him. I knew what I came across, I knew who he was," Larson said.
Lloyd said doesn't believe her daughter killed Bryeon.
"I'm going to stand by my child. She didn't do it. He did it. He was beating her, he was beating the grandkids, she got the bruises that prove it," Lloyd said.
Baker and Scott are both being held on $750,000 bail. They appeared in court briefly on Tuesday, but their hearing was pushed back until next week because their lawyers could not attend.
