Quawan Charles' disappearance didn’t meet Amber Alert criteria, source says; drowning possible factor in death

BALDWIN, La. (WAFB) - An independent autopsy ordered by the family of 15-year-old Quawan Charles says the teen likely drowned, the family’s attorney says.

That determination falls in line with findings released by a coroner’s office that suggested the same. Those findings are treated as preliminary. An official cause of death could take weeks to determine, investigators say.

The Baldwin Police Department is expected to release an update about their role in the case Monday, WAFB has learned. That agency took the initial missing person report but is not linked to the death investigation which happened miles away in Iberia Parish. The agency’s Facebook page where updates about the case have been shared in the past weeks was unreachable for part of Monday morning.

An error message said, “This page isn’t available. The link may be broken, or the page may have been removed. Check to see if the link you’re trying to open is correct.”

When questioned by WAFB Monday morning, a police department source said the page was “overloaded” because the department was “receiving threats.”

That source denied that the page was intentionally pulled down because of the onslaught of criticism the department has faced online after the teen was found dead.

Critics have mainly questioned why an Amber Alert was never issued by the department.

That source who has knowledge of the case told WAFB an Amber Alert wasn’t issued because no evidence was presented that Charles had been abducted.

Baldwin Mayor Abel “Phil” Prejean weighed in Monday. He said he was concerned social media users were spreading, “far more conjecture than truth" about the case by raising and repeating certain claims.

Video shows no one was with the 15-year-old around the time of his death, deputies in the Iberia Parish Sheriff’s Office reported Saturday, Nov. 14.

The sheriff’s office said the video recorded Charles near the area of a creek where his body was found. No one is recorded before or after he is seen on video “for some time,” the sheriff’s office said.

Still, a statement issued on behalf of Sheriff Tommy Romero confirmed Charles' death is being investigated as a homicide.

Read more about that investigation by clicking the link here.

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