17-year-old found dead in SUV four days after it’s towed from crash, Wisconsin cops say

A Wisconsin family is demanding answers after a 17-year-old boy was discovered dead in an SUV that was sitting in an impound lot for four days.

The body of the teenager, identified in media reports as James Stokes, was found on the floor of the damaged SUV around 11 a.m. Monday, June 5, in Milwaukee, police say.

It had been towed to the impound lot Thursday, June 1, after a crash involving a 16-year-old driver, according to police. The 16-year-old stole the SUV and was arrested after crashing it into a tree, police said.

But officers did not know the 17-year-old was also inside the vehicle.

Kina King, James’ mother, said she reported her son missing Friday but told WISN that officers “blew me off.”

It was three days later when officers gave King the news.

“I sat down, and he said, ‘Ma’am, we found your son. He’s decomposed,’” King told WITI. “I said, ‘What?’”

A cause of death will be investigated by the Milwaukee County Examiner’s Office, police said.

It’s unclear how officers did not see Stokes inside the vehicle. Police and the Milwaukee Department of Public Works will “conduct thorough inquiries” regarding the incident.

“I need answers, and it’s not too many people out here that can give me the right answers,” Jamie Stokes, James’ sister, told WISN.

King told WITI “it’s heartbreaking” she won’t get her son back.

“So, my son is decomposed because you failed to look in the car and see another person was in the car?” she told TMJ. “You just had the car towed to the Milwaukee tow lot?”