Roberto Martinez-Marinero May Have Tossed 5-Year-Old Brother Off A Highway Bridge Into River

Police don’t expect a happy conclusion to a frantic search for a missing 5-year-old boy whose mother was found dead in a ditch Wednesday night. Her son, 25-year-old Roberto Martinez-Marinero, confessed to her killing Thursday.

And sadly, officials suspect Martinez-Marinero may have thrown his young brother into the Elkhorn River near Omaha, Nebraska, the Associated Press added.

Police are now scouring the banks of the river for signs of the child, whose name is Josue. His little brother, an 11-month-old, was found Wednesday night — hours after his mother, Jesus Ismenia, 45 — alive in a dumpster outside an apartment complex, KETV added.

The baby, Angel Ramirez-Marinero, was crying and wearing a soiled diaper, the New York Daily News added. He was spotted by a man who happened to be nearby, cleaning out his car.

“I went and looked on the inside the dumpster and I seen a little hand with an empty water bottle moving.”

No further details about Roberto’s confession or motive have been revealed. Martinez-Marinero walked into county corrections at 9 p.m. Thursday to say he was “involved in the death of his mother.” He is now in custody, facing charges of first-degree murder and use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony.

Roberto Martinez-Marinero is evidently the only suspect.

With Angel now in good health — save a few bruises — he is a ward of the state, and authorities are scrambling to find Josue, who was last seen on Tuesday.

On Thursday, an Amber Alert was issued for the child, but cancelled when the vehicle associated with his disappearance — a Jeep Grand Cherokee — was located. No one knows how long it was there, but a neighbor told KETV that she saw someone in a black hoodie and black rubber gloves park, then walk down the street. It wasn’t clear which day that occurred.

Josue wasn’t inside and the car is being swept for evidence. By Friday morning, a ground, water, and air search was underway. Authorities believe Roberto may have thrown the child over a highway bridge into the Elkhorn River.

Volunteers are needed to locate him, said Daisy Patlan, a member of the organization A Hand to Hold.

“There are a lot of areas that need to be covered, because there are a lot of pieces missing in this story. The more people searching for him, the better our chances are of finding him.”

Jesus Ismenia evidently had felt threatened shortly before her death.The home she shared with her youngest children burned down two weeks ago, according to the AP. She’d been living with family since.

[Photo Courtesy DailyMotion]