Police in Zeeland have found the body of four year-old Dean Verberckmoes who was reported missing from his home in Sint-Niklaas in Belgium on January 12.

The child was last seen in the company of a 34-year-old man, Dave de Kock, who was arrested in Meerkerk in the province of Utrecht earlier on the same day. De Kock regularly acted as babysitter for the child’s mother. He was supposed to take the child to his grandparents last week but never arrived.

The man, who had left his car in Gorinchem, near Meerkerk, did not clarify where the boy was, prompting police to isssue an Amber alert. The boy’s body was found at 10pm near the Neeltje Jans island between Noord-Beveland and Schouwen-Duiveland.

According to Belgian media, Dave de Kock had spent ten years in prison for beating a two-year-old to death in 2008.