Louisiana Black Teen's Death: Family Suspects Racial Bias, Says Police Delayed Investigation

The parents of a Black Louisiana teen, whose body was found in a sugarcane field four days after he went missing, have called for an independent investigation into the death.

Quawan Bobby Charles, 15, went missing on Oct. 30 from his home in Baldwin. The teen's mother tried to contact him on his phone, but could not reach him. The family alerted the police on the same day but the authorities allegedly did not issue an amber alert, reported NBC.

Charles' disfigured body was found in a sugarcane field in Loreauville on Nov. 2. A preliminary autopsy found the likely cause of death was drowning, citing the presence of "muddy water in airways, hyperventilated lungs and water in his sphenoid sinuses" as evidence.

According to the coroner's initial autopsy report, there were no antemortem injuries on the decedent's face and no evidence of antemortem trauma. It said the injuries found on his body happened after his death, likely from "aquatic animal activity." The full autopsy results could take six to eight weeks.

Police said they were awaiting toxicology reports for additional evidence.

The family, however, is not willing to accept the possibility of drowning, saying there were many water bodies near the field but they were shallow. Ronald Haley Jr., a lawyer for Charles' family, told NBC that the family is planning to request an independent autopsy.

On the day when the boy went missing, Charles was taken from his home without his parents' permission by a 17-year-old boy and his mother Janet Irvin, KADN-TV reported. When Charles' mother alerted the police about her missing son, they reportedly told her the boy was probably at a football game.

"According to the family, they did not feel that the law enforcement officials took their pleas seriously enough, given the fact that they had a missing child," Haley said, reported Fox 29. The police have not made any arrests and the family has not received the coroner's report.

Iberia Parish Sheriff Tommy Romero issued a statement Saturday regarding the ongoing investigation. He said the department obtained and reviewed video evidence that showed Charles was alone near the area where his body was found.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has demanded a full, independent investigation into the teen's 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, executive director of ACLU, said, reported local television station KATC.

Stand Black, an activist group, released a recording of a phone conversation Charles' mother had with an unidentified woman. The latter claimed that the mother and the teen who reportedly took Charles were high on drugs and were later spotted cleaning their car with bleach.

The activist group said it could be a racially motivated homicide. The family's GoFundMe page showed a photo of Emmett Till next to Charles' disfigured body. Emmet Till was a Chicago boy who was lynched in Mississippi in 1955, after being accused of offending a white woman in her family's grocery store.