Questions linger over how Milwaukee authorities did not discover the body of a teenage boy inside a stolen SUV that crashed and was taken to a city tow lot, leaving the body to decompose inside it for days.
Family members identified the body as that of 17-year-old James Stokes.
According to WTMJ, authorities towed a stolen white Kia SUV to the lot after they were called to the scene where it crashed into a tree near North 91st Street and West Fond du Lac Avenue on Thursday, June 1.
They discovered that the vehicle was stolen and took the driver, a 16-year-old boy, to the hospital. Officers arrested him after he received treatment for his injuries. The car, which was severely damaged after the crash, was towed to a lot located at 3811 W. Lincoln Ave.
Days later, on June 5, Milwaukee police got a call that morning for service at the tow lot. When they arrived, they found a body on the floor of the back seat of that stolen SUV.
Now, police alongside Milwaukee Public Works officials are trying to determine how the teen’s body wasn’t immediately found at the scene.
“So, my son is decomposed because you failed to look in the car and see another person was in the car? You just had the car towed to the Milwaukee tow lot?” said Stokes’ mother, Kina King.
In the days after the crash, King and her family put up flyers and made posts on social media about Stokes’ disappearance.
King told Fox 6 News Milwaukee that she attempted to file a missing person’s report shortly after the crash but was told that not enough time had passed for authorities to address his case. She knew he was with a friend that night, and the friend was injured in a crash near 91st and Fond du Lac.
“He meant the world to me. He took care of me,” King said of her son. “I had a stroke last year.”
King said police initially believed he fled the scene of the crash, but she later discovered that wasn’t the case. Police said it appears there were three people inside the car at the time of the crash. No information has been released on the third person.
“He was my number one protector. Always the first person I would call,” Stokes’ sister Danielle Carey said.
“I need answers, and it’s not too many people out here that can give me the right answers,” Jamie Stokes, his other sister, added.
The Milwaukee Police Department does have a procedure for searching towed cars.
Their protocol states, in part, “for the safety of members, towed vehicles shall be thoroughly searched. This search shall encompass the entire vehicle accessible by key, including the passenger compartment, glove box and trunk.”
This is the second time in two years a body has been left inside a wrecked car that was taken to a tow lot in Milwaukee. In January 2022, a car was towed away from the scene of a fiery crash near 76th and Green Tree. Mere hours later, a tow lot attendant found a woman’s body in the back of the car.
