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Quawan Charles
What happened to Quawan Charles?
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On November 3, 2020, Quawan "Bobby" Charles, a 15-year-old boy, was found dead in a sugar cane field in Iberia Parish, Louisiana. He had been reported missing on October 30, 2020, after leaving his house in Baldwin, Louisiana with a friend, 17-year-old Gavin Irvin and Irvin's mother, Janet.
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Charles was first reported as missing from his father's home in Baldwin, Louisiana on October 30, 2020. Prior to going missing, he had started attending a new school. His last known whereabouts before his disappearance, were with his friend, 17-year-old Gavin Irvin, and Irvin's mother, Janet, who picked him up from his father's house at around 3 pm while his father was out shopping. According to Charles's father, Kenneth Jacko, neither he nor Charles's mother were familiar with Irvin and had not given the Irvin's permission to pick Charles up. Charles's mother was scheduled to pick him up from his father's house to get a haircut at around the same time he was picked up by the Irvin's. By 7 pm, his father had forced open Charles's locked bedroom door to find that he was not there, prompting him to contact the Baldwin police department.
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Haley stated that when the family reported the incident to the police, the department responded by suggesting to them that Charles may have gone to a football game and asking whether he had a troubled past, also waiting until three days after the initial report to ping his cell phone. Haley also stated that the Baldwin Police Department "gave no indication over the next few days that they were searching for the teen or actively investigating his disappearance." The department neither alerted local news nor contacted Louisiana State Police requesting an Amber alert regarding Charles's disappearance.
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In a news release, the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office stated that it was investigating the "suspicious circumstances" surrounding Charles's death, adding, "Investigators have interviewed multiple individuals and collected physical evidence which is being processed." The office later published another statement, sharing that they were "actively tracking" the whereabouts of those who were with Charles prior to his death and that they obtained video evidence from an unnamed individual which indicated that Charles was alone in the field where he died both before and after the video was taken. The death is being investigated as a homicide.
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A preliminary autopsy report claimed that the cause of death was "likely drowning", as the coroner's office stated they found Charles with hyperinflated lungs and muddy water in his airways but no injuries, adding that the cause of his facial condition was likely "aquatic animals" and that there was "no evidence of ante mortem trauma". Charles's family denied the claims of drowning put forth in the report based on the nature of Charles's remains. In a picture posted online alongside a GoFundMe campaign by Charles's family requesting an independent autopsy, he appeared disfigured, with a knot on the left side of his face, an incision on the right side of his face, and his teeth on the outside of his mouth.
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Attorney Haley suggested that officers did not show a "sense of urgency" in responding to the disappearance report, and that he believes his death and the slow response time by police were both racially motivated.
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Witnesses claimed they later saw the Irvin's packing their belongings and moving out of their mobile home following Charles's disappearance.
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