Family still seeking answers 8 months after death of Oklahoma teen
Madison Rawlings, sister of the 19-year-old teen who was found dead along an Oklahoma highway on Labor Day of 2023, shares what last eight months has been like.
An Oklahoma family is still searching for answers nearly a year later for Noah Presgrove, who was found naked and dead along a rural highway on Labor Day.
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said Presgrove's body was found in the early hours of Sept. 4, 2023, alongside U.S. Highway 81 approximately 1.2 miles north of Terral, Oklahoma, in Jefferson County.
Presgrove's sister, Madison Rawlings, recalled that fateful day she found out her brother was gone in an interview with Fox News Digital.
"I live in South Texas. I live about eight hours away. So, I got a phone call early that morning, probably around seven-ish, that something had happened to Noah and that he was dead. So I loaded the car and drove straight up there… Eight hours later, I detoured around Noah's body. I don't know if they had picked him up off the ground yet or not. They were still delaying traffic at that time," Rawlings said.
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Noah Presgrove, 19, was wearing only his shoes when his body was discovered on a desolate stretch of U.S. 81 near Terral, Oklahoma, on Labor Day of 2023. (Kristen Smith)
Presgrove was last seen alive at a party he attended with a group of friends that evening, but the family said that seven months later, they still do not know how he ended up dead, along the highway.
Rawlings said the house her brother was partying at was 30 miles from where he lived and that he would not have walked home from the party and did not try to contact anyone the night of his death.
"It's not like he's just going to walk home. But there have been, I guess, other occasions where Noah would get frustrated and just walk off but come back, like he'd go cool off. We've heard accounts of that. So that's what they're all saying, ‘he does this all the time,’ and, they said that they had looked for him but could never find him whenever they realized he wasn't around," Rawlings said.
Madison Rawlings, the sister of 19-year-old Noah Presgrove, who was found dead on the side of an Oklahoma highway on Labor Day 2023, shared details with Fox News Digital about the investigation into his death. (Madison Rawlings)
Rawlings said officers told the family early on in the investigation that a hit-and-run had been ruled out as his injuries were not consistent with those of being hit by a vehicle and ruled it a "suspicious death" at the time. Authorities have since said they are not investigating Noah's death as a murder.
"If he was hit with a mirror and if he was hit by a semi, then he would be in a lot worse shape than what he was. So he (the officer) pretty much wrote off the whole hit-and-run real fast. But they never put a public statement out there. But he said to us, that there's no way that it was a hit-and-run. There was no kind of situation where it could be that. And so that's what we've known pretty early, is that it wasn't hit-and-run," Rawlings said.
Members of Presgrove's family have created a Facebook page, "Justice for Noah Presgrove," to keep everyone up-to-date on the latest developments in his case.
"His family and friends are left with the pain of his loss and the unanswered questions. As a community, we can come together to celebrate his life and keep his memory alive," Ashley Chadwick, one of Presgrove's cousins, wrote in a post.
A medical examiner’s summary report obtained by Fox News Digital said that Noah Presgrove died of "multiple blunt force injuries," but the cause of those injuries remains unknown. (Kristen Smith)
Presgrove was just 19 years old when he died. He had graduated a few months early from Comanche High School and was set to join the military.
"I never knew of Noah just being hated. Everyone out there seemed to really love Noah. He wasn't someone that really looked for problems. He wasn't out there just going and getting in fights. I know, like the few times he did fight, he was helping some friend that got into a situation, like it was never him," Rawlings said. "I don't know of any kind of enemy or anyone that would want to maliciously go after him in that way. Like I couldn't imagine anyone just like, ‘oh, that dude needs to be put down.’ That doesn't cross my mind at all."
With very few answers, Rawlings said her family has no ill will to whoever knows what happened to Presgrove. They just want closure.
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Noah Presgrove's body was found along a Oklahoma highway on Labor Day of 2023, and the manner of his death is still unknown. (Madison Rawlings/Kristen Smith)
"Seven months is a long time, but I also, I think we're all pretty, like, realistic enough to know that Noah, he was number one to us, and I know that he's also not the only person that probably died that day, you know?" Rawlings said.
Rawlings said that she believes that Presgrove was not killed intentionally.
"I believe that something happened, like there was an accident and the kids got scared. Whether it was when they were doing Fight Club, whether it was when they were on ATVs, whether it was, I don't know, someone got mad. I do not, I just can't imagine someone intentionally hurting Noah," Rawlings said. "He wasn't into trouble like that, and he wasn't ever into drama like that. He was just like, whatever, you know? So I just can't imagine that happening."
Rawlings added that going into eight months now without answers, she is hoping someone comes forward with the truth.
Rawlings shared the medical examiners report with Fox News Digital which concluded that the manner of Presgrove's death is still not known. His cause of death was listed as "multiple blunt force injuries."
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What led to the death of 19-year-old Oklahoma teen Noah Presgrove is still not known nearly a year later. (Madison Rawlings/Kristen Smith)
"Further investigation revealed that the decedent was at a house party and drinking on September 3, 2023. Then he rode an ATV ranger vehicle with several men that had a roll-over incident. The decedent was alive following the incident and returned to the party where he got into an argument with his girlfriend. The decedent left the house party and was not found until the morning of September 4, 2023, on the side of the highway," the report stated.
Rawlings said those findings just do not add up.
"I’m not sure who the girl he is ‘supposedly’ arguing with. That is a question I reached out about with the medical examiner," Rawlings said.
A spokesperson for the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, who have taken over the investigation, told Fox News Digital that the investigation is ongoing.
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However, someone - somewhere, knows the truth. Lindsay Fowler, Presgrove's cousin, is urging that person to come forward.
"At the end of the day, what we know is that he lost his life," Fowler told KFOR. "He was found on the side of the highway, and it appears that he was dumped there and someone knows what happened. And we want to know what happened."
