COULD THIS BE A SEXUAL ASSAULT OR A HATE CRIME?

‘Suspicious’ circumstances around Black teen found dead in Louisiana

 

By Jon Schlosberg and Allie Yang

 

ABC News

November 12, 2020

 

As the rural Louisiana town of Baldwin mourns the death of Quawan "Bobby" Charles, the family of the teenage boy is demanding answers.

"We believe that if he had been of a different color that this will be taken a lot more seriously," the family's attorney, Ronald Haley, told ABC News. "We [would] not be talking today about 13 days have gone by, with no leads, 13 days have gone by with no answer, 13 days have gone by without [the] official cause of death... This family deserves that Bobby will be laid to rest."

The 15-year-old vanished from his home on Oct. 30. Days later, the family said his body was found in a sugarcane field about 20 miles away, in Iberia Parish.

What happened between when his body was found and the day he went missing is still under investigation.

Though the autopsy report has not yet been released, a graphic photo of Charles' body has been circulating online.

"On the left side of his face there is like a knot," Charles' cousin Celina Chase told ABC News, describing the photo. "On the right side, there's like an incision, and then around his mouth area, like the majority of his lips is gone, like he has been tortured."

The medical examiner's office said a full report can take up to 12 weeks, yet the local sheriff's department has already deemed the circumstances around his death "suspicious."

They said they have interviewed multiple individuals and are combing through physical evidence related to the case.

"I'm a parent myself. I would be concerned about the death of my child," Iberia Parish Sheriff Thomas S. Romero told ABC News affiliate WBRZ. "Emotions run deep, but we have to deal with facts, and it takes time for some of this evidence to come forward, for toxicology to come back."

The ACLU is demanding a full, independent investigation into Charles' death.

"The disrespect and lack of transparency demonstrated by local officials in response to Bobby's tragic and suspicious death is unacceptable," Alanah Odoms Hebert of ACLU of Louisiana, said in a statement. "We join the family in demanding a full and transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding Bobby's death."

The Sheriff's department said it is providing the family with updates on the case and is urging anyone with information to call Detective Jarred Spurlock of the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office, Bureau of Investigation at 337-369-3711.

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Louisiana boy, 15, is found dead in a sugar cane field with his face mutilated three days after being picked up by a white mother and son in what his family say is a brutal hate crime - but police claim he drowned

 

Daily Mail 

November 13, 2020

 

A Louisiana teenager has been found dead in a sugar cane field with a mutilated face three days after vanishing from his family home in what his parents say is a racial hate crime that the police are refusing to investigate properly. 

 

Quawan 'Bobby' Charles, 15, was found dead on November 3 in a sugar cane field near the village of Loreauville, Louisiana, four days after his father reported him missing on October 30 at around 8pm. 

 

When police arrived at his father's home in Baldwin, they suggested to the boy's father, Kenneth Jacko, that he'd gone to a football game and, according to the family, were dismissed. 

 

Quawan's parents later found out that he had been picked up that day from his home by Janet Irvin and her 17-year-old son Gavin, who are white. 

 

Quawan's parents say they don't know the Irvins and do not know how he knew them. They never gave him permission to go with them. 

  

EDITOR'S NOTE: As a Galveston cop I once fished a man out of the city's harbor. who had drowned the day before.  His face had been horribly mutilated by marine life.  His eyelids, nostrils and lips were gone.  Crabs and shrimps were still clinging to his face.