Family suspects foul play led to death of 12-year-old boy in Mercer Co.

SHARON, Pa. — Family members of a 12-year-old boy found dead in the Shenango River over the weekend said they suspect foul play to have caused his death.

Authorities said Mark Goodrich Jr. disappeared Thursday night and was last seen at his mother's home. His family began searching for him when he didn't return home around noon.

After a desperate two-day search, authorities found Goodrich’s body by the state line near Sharon on Sunday.

Witnesses from a steel plant behind the river told Goodrich's family that the boy was pushed into the water.

"He wouldn't jump off the bridge so the little boy pushed him off the bridge," stepfather Orlando Brooks said. "He then proceeded to jump on him and hold him under the water."

Goodrich Jr.’s family said he was an excellent swimmer and they don’t think he would have drowned on his own.

“Mark can swim like a fish. I taught him myself. The boy can swim like a fish,” Mark Goodrich Sr. said Monday.

Goodrich Sr. said his son had been bullied in the past for having scoliosis and is concerned about how he was killed.

"The steel workers said they saw three kids go down and two come up," Goodrich Sr. said

Police said they want to question the two children who were reportedly last seen with Goodrich Thursday night.

An autopsy was scheduled for Monday. The results have not been released.

WPXI