(NewsNation) — The family of Noah Presgrove, who was found dead along an Oklahoma highway, told NewsNation’s “Banfield” on Monday that the teen had a caved-in skull, road rash on his hip, a gravel rash on his shoulder, multiple bruises and scattered teeth.
Presgrove, 19, was found lying dead, wearing nothing but shoes, along a rural stretch of US 81 in Jefferson County, Oklahoma, on Labor Day in 2023. His family says he was last seen alive at a party he attended with a group of friends.
Presgrove graduated from Comanche High School and had plans to join the military before he went missing after the multi-day party. Presgrove’s cousin Ashley Chadwick and aunt Robyn Smith revealed more details provided by investigators.
“There was a wound to the back of his head, different skull fractures. He had ribs broken, and it was all on the left side,” Smith said.
At the funeral home, Presgrove’s body was severely bruised and swollen, with his nose and cheek appearing broken, Smith said. Chadwick said his fingertips looked “shredded” as if he’d been holding on to something for dear life.
“They said that they didn’t think that this was from a vehicle,” Smith said. “There was no indication of any kind of injuries to the lower half of his body.”
Only one shoe found at the scene belonged to Presgrove, while the other belonged to a friend, the family said. Investigators stated the injuries did not seem consistent with being struck by a vehicle.
Smith said that one of Presgrove’s friends told them that he wanted to go for a walk but couldn’t find one of his own shoes, so he took one of his shoes and one shoe belonging to another person at the party.
The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation described Presgrove’s death as “suspicious.”
Presgrove’s family hoped investigators with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol — the agency leading the investigation into the death — would help fill in some of those gaps. But instead, they say, OHP investigators told them something else.
“That they’re working on it, and they just want to keep it quiet,” his aunt Robyn Smith said.
NewsNation affiliate KFOR‘s Spencer Humphrey contributed to this report.