The New York City medical examiner's office said they are unable to determine how 14-year-old Avonte Oquendo died.
"The cause of death is undetermined, the manner of death is undetermined," a spokeswoman from the New York City medical examiner's office said Wednesday, Newsday reported.
Oquendo, who was autistic, had been missing since October 2013 when he left his school in Long Island City, Queens. A massive city-wide search was launched to find the boy.
A human torso, limbs and head were found in the East River in January. DNA tests from the remains, Oquendo's mother and his toothbrush confirmed they belonged to Oquendo, Newsday reported.
City officials said they cannot determine if Oquendo was murdered or if he died after accidentally drowning, Newsday reported.
But police sources told the New York Daily News they believe Oquendo fell into the water near his school and drowned.
According to Jennifer Smith, president of the Autism Society of the Heartland, autistic children do not understand how dangerous open water can be.
"Almost every autistic child is drawn to water," Smith told KCTV in November 2013. "They will play with water for hours and hours and hours."
The medical examiner's office also conducted several toxicological tests on Oquendo's remains.
David Percemen, the attorney for Oquendo's family, said the boy's mother thinks the medical examiner's report leaves a lot up in the air
"While the report excludes gross evidence of trauma, it leaves open questions of what may have happened to Avonte that are not discernible from the body," Percemen said in a statement obtained by Newsday.
Percemen intends to file a lawsuit on family's behalf, claiming the city did not conduct a proper search effort for Oquendo when he was missing, NBC News reported.
