JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Loved ones are mourning the loss of a 3-year-old boy, after his body was found in a water tank.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said they discovered his body, after he went missing during a birthday party Sunday afternoon.
Police said Amari Harley was found before 8 p.m. Sunday, inside of a water tank underground.
Investigators have not released exactly how exactly the 3-year-old ended up in a water tank at Bruce Park in Arlington.
Family believe the boy somehow got through a plastic lid that once covered the tank. City crews have since replaced those covers with screwed in wood covers.
On top of those new covers, now rest balloons and flowers from mourning friends and family.
"This is an innocent baby, and we would never ever forget him," family member Janice Douglas said.
Kamilla Jenkins, one of the boy's cousins, stopped by Monday to pay her respects. Through tears, she said she's still puzzled how this could have happened.
Jenkins said family realized something was wrong in the afternoon, when the 3-year-old was nowhere to be seen, as family was leaving after heavy rain.
"He was a kid, a boy. Football, you know, he thought he was one of the bigger kids, he liked to hang with the bigger boys," Jenkins said.
Even those that didn't know the boy stopped by to pay their respects.
"It's sad and it hurt me. I was up all night just thinking this little boy, this poor little boy," John Glenn of Arlington said.
Janice Levett helped family look for the boy Sunday night.
"I'm praying for the family and I hope the family gets through it," Levett said.
Levett distinctly remembers there being removable plastic covers on the holes that lead to the water tank.
"The city needs to fix that, they need to fix that so it doesn't happen to another kid," she said.
Family is now left with similar questions.
"Why wasn't it secure? I mean, even if there was a cover on it, obviously it was able to be moved by one of us when it should have, I feel like, taken some special tool for it to be removed," Jenkins said.
Police said they believe that there are more people with pertinent information to the investigation. They request that anyone who was at the park around the time that Amari went missing contact the police.
Memorial setup at Bruce Park for 3 y/o Amari Harley. Those bringing flowers & balloons say tragedy could've been prevented. More on #GMJ pic.twitter.com/fa5is25Qvs
— Alex Osiadacz (@AlexOsiadacz) October 24, 2017