A 3-year-old Hollywood, Florida, boy missing since Thursday morning, was founded dead in his father's Hollywood home, police said.
Police made the heartbreaking announcement in a press conference Friday morning. Chief Frank Fernandez said the body of Ahizya Osceola was discovered in an "obscure location" inside his father's home located at 5420 Johnson Street in Hollywood.
A criminal investigation is now underway, police said.
Ahizya's mother, Karen Cypress, said the boy had been with his father and stepmother Thursday morning. The child was reported missing from that Johnson Street home around 10 a.m.
At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Cypress pleaded for help from the public to bring her son back.
"Please call the police department so I can have my baby back," Cypress said. "I just want him back, he's my heart, he's my life. I just want him home."
Cypress described her son as very friendly and adventurous.
"He'll talk to anybody, I just don't want him harmed," she said. "He's very adventurous, so I'm just hoping he's going to magically appear somewhere."
In an announcement released just before 6 a.m. Friday, police said that "due to developments in the case" the department was no longer seeking the public's assistance in searching for the missing boy.
Police had said Ahizya was last seen in the area of 54th Avenue and Johnson Street. The boy was described as three-and-a-half feet tall and weighing 40 pounds and was last seen wearing a Florida State University sweatshirt and burgundy sweatpants.
This is a developing story. Stay with NBC 6 South Florida for updates.