Teeth, Discarded Shorts and a Shoe That Wasn’t His: What Noah Presgrove’s Family Says Was Found Near His Body
The full autopsy report, which has not been publicly released, details blunt force trauma, broken ribs and knocked out teeth, says Noah Presgrove's sister
Courtesy of Madison Rawlings
Noah PresgroveNoah Presgrove, 19, was found dead with “multiple blunt force injuries" on September 4, 2023
Although his cause of death has been released, his manner of death is still unknown and an investigation into his death remains ongoing
"It doesn’t make sense that a good person like Noah is gone in such a cruel and unknown way," his brother, Dailen Presgrove, tells PEOPLE
Noah Presgrove’s body was already covered with a sheet when his brother pulled over to the side of the highway on Labor Day 2023 after learning the teen had been found dead.
But walking up to the Oklahoma investigators already at the scene, Dailen Presgrove says he could still make out his brother's form, curled in the fetal position, underneath.
“There was blood on the road next to his head and seeping through the covering,” Dailen tells PEOPLE. “There were also teeth laying near him and some shorts were folded and placed on the side of the road.”
Courtesy of Madison Rawlings
Noah Presgrove (center) with his parents, Victor Presgrove and Kasey Elliot, at his wrestling team's senior night.Related: Cause of Death Revealed for Noah Presgrove, Okla. Teen Found Dead on Highway Wearing Only Shoes
On Monday, April 29, the Oklahoma medical examiner said in a one-page summary report obtained by PEOPLE that Noah died of “multiple blunt force injuries” but that the manner of his death is still “unknown.”
Although the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation previously called the teens’s mysterious death "suspicious," authorities confirmed to PEOPLE on Thursday, May 2, that they won't be investigating his death as a murder.
Noah’s family says investigators say they still don’t know how he ended up dead along the highway completely naked and wearing only slip-on Hey Dude shoes, one of which did not belong to him, according to Dailen.
PEOPLE contacted the state's Department of Public Safety and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for additional comment on the ongoing case and full autopsy report. Neither agency immediately responded.
Courtesy of Madison Rawlings
Noah Presgrove at his senior prom in 2023.Investigators found Noah’s white shorts strewn in the middle of the road, according to Dailen, who says that by the time he arrived on the scene, they had been neatly folded by Noah’s body.
Missing from the scene were any tire marks or vehicle parts on the road that would have suggested he had been involved in a hit-and-run, according to Dailen, who adds that his brother’s teeth were “so close to him” that a large impact from a fast-moving vehicle at the scene seemed unlikely.
“It is strange,” Noah’s sister, Madison Rawlings, says in a separate interview with PEOPLE.
The full autopsy report, which has not yet been publicly released, details blunt force trauma to Noah’s head, along with broken ribs, missing hair and multiple teeth that were knocked out of his mouth, she says.
“I see the injuries,” Rawlings says. “I just don’t know how [they were] caused.”
Courtesy of Madison Rawlings
Noah Presgrove (in gray) was a four-sport athlete, wrestling, playing basketball and running both cross-country and track.Leading up to his September death, Noah — who had graduated high school that May and planned to join the military — was partying at a house in Teral, OK, over Labor Day weekend, according to his siblings.
Partygoers have told varying stories to authorities, who, Dailen says, pulled data from their phones, recovering videos, Snapchats and text messages regarding the party.
Eight months later, the family still “feels this hole because we have no answers," Rawlings says.
Courtesy of Madison Rawlings
Noah Presgrove, Summer 2022.Frustrated by the unknown, Dailen keeps going back to his brother’s mismatched shoes.
“That was odd,” he says, adding that without a proper timeline of events, he often imagines his brother’s last hours, churning over those “minor details” that do not add up.
“It doesn’t make sense that the investigation has been going on for so long, and there were so many people around, and, yet, there’s still so much uncertainty,” Dailen adds. “And it doesn’t make sense that a good person like Noah is gone in such a cruel and unknown way.”
Police have previously said that those with information about the case are encouraged to contact Southwest Regional Communications Center at 580-353-0783.
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