Teen's parents find body at crash scene

[bachviet]

RIVERSIDE, California (AP) -- The parents of a teenager killed in a car crash found their son's body 13 hours after authorities towed away the car and left the scene.

Rick and Jeannette Walsh said they followed a trail of their son's belongings and found the body in brush less than 15 feet from the crash site.

A preliminary autopsy has shown that James Walsh, 18, died in the Sunday crash or soon after, the Riverside County Sheriff's Department said in a statement Wednesday. He had been thrown through the car's window, authorities said.

The Sheriff's Department is investigating why two deputies and a community service officer failed to find the teenager.

The parents said they were never contacted by the Sheriff's Department and only learned from a tow truck company that the car had crashed after their son failed to return home.

"They didn't even put out any effort," Jeannette Walsh said. "They didn't call us; they didn't do much."

Linky

I guess that's why there is no "CSI: LA".

[Showtime]

That sucks. It was all over the news this morning.

They followed his things to his body several feet from the accident and found his empty wallet sitting on top of him. Maybe someone killed him, crashed car and dumped body.... or maybe not.

-j

[navyones]

That sucks. It was all over the news this morning.

They followed his things to his body several feet from the accident and found his empty wallet sitting on top of him. Maybe someone killed him, crashed car and dumped body.... or maybe not.

-j

I suspect that someone found his body after the police left. That person cleaned out his wallet and dumped it at the scene. Of course, that is just a theory.

[welfareloser]

most likely an opportunistic rubbernecker. that's the least awful theory, too

yeah, a LOT of cops are sloppy asshats. when it coutns the most, they'll let you down.

[Gothic Girl]

That's fvcked up. I don't know what I would do if I found my kid's body. What's worse is, the deputies found the car crashed, nobody in the vehicle, and a hole in the windshield, and yet they don't find the body? Those deputies deserve to be shot.

Oh, and WTH didn't they call the parents???

[gugnheim]

I'm county, but the local city had a sort of similar situation a few weeks ago. A young black woman DUI'ed and wrecked off the expressway. Not having a seatbelt on, her body was flung so far away from the car, the city boys didn't even find it until the next morning where full daylight allowed a better look, but in the mean time, the car was towed as just abandoned.

Gug

[ShawnLee]

That sucks. I hope that the least bad thing that could have happened here is what really happened (I know the semantics of my sentence sucks, but it works, really). It's just a shame and a tragedy either way.

[cheapchinese]

if the article indicated a timeline, it'll be easier to see whose at fault. But 15 feet ....really makes me piss off that the cops seems like he/she didn't even do an effort in recovering the body. Don't they usually call the owner of the vehicle, when they find an abandon car before towing it, esp if there was a huge body hole on its windsheild?

[gugnheim]

Cheap-
I agree. There should be some investigating into this. As guardians of public saftey, we should be held to high standards, and part of being a good cop is just to be freaking aware of what is going on around you. Being observant. Sounds like basic investigation of the scene would have revealed that. Given, I don't know what time of day or what traffic conditions were like, but it should have at least triggered a twinge, no matter how busy you are.

Gug