Police: Remains found in Wake County lake are 2-year-old Tristan Blue
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Raleigh police confirmed late Monday afternoon that remains found at Falls Lake on Friday are indeed 2-year-old Tristan Blue.
Not long before the tragic news from the medical examiner, the child's mother faced a Wake County judge on new charges in connection to the toddler's murder.
Briana Dangerfield, 25, is now charged accessory to murder after the fact, altering criminal evidence, and helping to dispose of Tristan's body. Last Friday, Dangerfield was charged with child neglect.
The Raleigh mom is being held on a $1 million bond five days after calling 911 to report Tristan was missing on Christmas Eve.
Police allege the 911 call and the statewide Amber Alert that followed were all based on a lie.
Tristan's father, 31-year old Steven Blue, is charged with murdering the boy.
Police say Dangerfield knew about the crime and helped cover it up.
Two days after the 911 call, human remains were found in Falls Lake in northern Wake County. Monday, police said it was Tristan.
"When I heard about where they found him, I broke down," Steven Blue's uncle, Ronald Dorsey, said outside the courtroom Monday. "How can you do that to a 2-year-old?"
Dorsey sat shell-shocked at Dangerfield's court hearing. He didn't know Briana well, but said he helped raise Steven until he was 6 years old.
Dorsey said he saw his nephew and Tristan on Thanksgiving, and nothing seemed out of the norm. There were no signs of abuse. The grieving uncle said he refuses to believe his nephew could have cooked up the idea to kill his son on his own.
"[Steven and Briana] planned it together. Steven's a grown man. He could have said 'We ain't doing this. You crazy, I'm taking my son and I'm leaving,'" Dorsey speculated. "But for some reason he decided to do it. I don't know if Briana coerced him to do it."
Steven Blue is being held without bond at the Wake County Detention Center. Briana Dangerfield's bond was increased from $100,000 to $1 million after her charges were upgraded. Both are due back in court next month.
