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Ogden • Police are "99 percent sure" the body of a child recovered Sunday afternoon from the Weber River is that of missing 4-year-old Corbin Anderson.
The child's body was found about a quarter-mile downstream from where Corbin fell into the river April 28, said Ogden Police Lt. Scott Conley. His clothing and appearance match Corbin's description, Conley said.
Jack Price, of Washington Terrace, spotted the body in the river under a fallen tree about 1:40 p.m.
"I was on the bank, about 10 feet away," said Price, who has walked the riverbanks almost every day for two weeks in search of Corbin. "The closer I got, I could tell it was the back of his head and his right hand.
"I picked his arm up," Price said. "I had to be sure."
Price said he decided to spend Mother's Day at the river because Price's own mother had died two years ago, and "[Corbin's] mother needed so bad to find him."
"I see my own son, and I have him here. He'd be with me, playing and full of life, and it crushed me," Price said. "I knew when I was down there, I could feel that [Corbin] was close."
Conley said Anderson's parents were notified while at a family event.
"It's kind of a bittersweet situation where it's Mother's Day, but we have brought closure to them, I believe, on this unfortunate incident," Conley said of the boy's parents. "They're very, very happy that this was brought to an end ... but understandably, it's a very sad situation."
Sunday night, about 30 people showed up for a candlelight vigil at the place where the boy went missing.
Corbin, who lived in Layton, tumbled into the river two weeks ago while he was standing on a boulder so his family could take his picture, police have reported.
The boy's body was spotted 6 to 8 inches under the water, in an area where river levels have dropped about two feet in the last week, Conley said.
The search for Corbin has included divers, kayakers, dogs, helicopters and walkers on the river banks between 17th and 24th streets.
Last weekend, the river was lowered and diverted through an alternate channel, leaving some areas shallow enough to wade while other spots remained up to 10 feet deep. More than 100 searchers joined the effort on May 5 to take advantage of the lower water levels.
Also last weekend, rangers from Utah State Parks searched an area of the Great Salt Lake where the Weber River empties, although sheriff's officers said it was doubtful the boy's body was carried that far because of grates and other barriers on the waterways.
The child's body was taken to the medical examiner's office in Salt Lake City to confirm identification.