Family of teen found dead along highway last year still looking for answers

DUNCAN, Okla. (KFOR) — The family of a teen found dead along the side of a Jefferson County highway in September says they still have no answers about what happened to him.

19-year-old Noah Presgrove was found lying dead, wearing nothing but shoes, along a rural stretch of US-81 in Jefferson County on Labor Day in 2023.

The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation described Presgrove’s death as “suspicious.”

His family says Presgrove was last seen alive at a party he attended with a group of friends that night, but so far nobody has told them how he ended up dead, along the highway.

Seven months is a long time.

“Every single day, I think about him,” said Lindsay Fowler, one of Presgrove’s cousins.

A long time – for Presgrove’s many aunts, uncles, cousins, siblings and grandparents to reflect on the 19-year-old’s short life.

“There was not a time when you saw that boy, that did he not give you a hug, tell you how much he loved you.,” said Jessica Ashley, another one of Presgrove’s cousins.

“He was goofy, he was hilarious,” his aunt Robyn Smith said.

“Fearless, fearless, fearless,” his cousin Ashley Chadwick said.

“I’ve taught him life and just about having fun in life,” Presgrove’s grandmother, Deborah Smith said. “And he’s just always been there with us.”

The seven months has given his family plenty of time to wonder – how did Noah die? How did he end up naked on the side of the highway? And who knew about it?

“At the end of the day, what we know is that he lost his life,” Fowler said. “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.”

“You don’t have the answers, you can’t close your heart from that heartache,” Ashley said.

They hoped investigators with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP) – the agency leading the investigation into Noah’s 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,” Robyn Smith said.

She says the last time she heard anything from investigators was back in 2023.

Presgrove’s loved ones say investigators won’t share with them the medical examiner’s report, which could at least tell them what caused Noah’s death. 

“I mean, we’re just not getting no answers,” Deborah Smith said.

“I feel that we’ve been pretty much left in the dark for the past few months,” Fowler said. “They say that they’re working on it, but nothing’s happening.”

News 4 reached out to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and asked if they could share the latest updates from the investigation.

A spokesperson simply said “the investigation is ongoing.”

And for now, Presgrove’s family is just left to guess.

“You can’t move past,” Ashley said. “You just keep reliving the anger.”

They hope someone who knows more will feel it in their heart to give the family answers, before seven months turn into eight.

“What if it was their child,” Deborah Smith said. “How would they feel if nobody was talking or saying anything when you know that your child was with some of his best friends but nobody knows anything, how would you feel?