Footage shows Quawan Charles on day he vanished but family questions events "as soon as that video stops"
Police in Baldwin, Louisiana have released a video showing the moment they say 15-year-old Quawan Charles voluntarily left his home with two unidentified people. He was found dead four days later.
The teen's family says it reported he was missing, but police failed to take it seriously. Law enforcement officials say the newly-released footage shows why an amber alert was never issued for his disappearance.
The video appears to show Charles sitting outside his home on the afternoon of October 30, the day he was reported missing by his parents.
A silver car passes in front of him, and Charles appears to run after the vehicle. Several minutes later, that same car returns and pulls into the boy's driveway.
According to police, three people — including Charles — then exit the vehicle and head into his backyard before returning to the car and driving away.
"The family's not questioning the veracity of the video," Chase Trichell, a lawyer for the family, told CBS News' Jericka Duncan. "However, our interest is now solely focused on what occurs as soon as that video stops."
Trichell said the video supposedly showing the 15-year-old "willingly" leaving his home with two people does little to explain why police never issued an amber alert.
Baldwin assistant police chief Sam Wise told local station KLFY there was no evidence to suggest Charles was abducted or in any danger warranting an amber alert, and that the video was proof.
"They did follow protocol. They did everything by the book," Wise said.
Charles' family had previously stated that he left with a woman named Janet Irvin and her 17-year-old son. The teen's parents say they didn't know either of them.
They also said he left without their consent, which led them to call the police. Authorities found Charles' body in a sugar cane field in Iberia Parish on November 3.
His parents suspect foul play, but an independent autopsy reiterated the coroner's initial findings that his death was consistent with drowning. The Iberia Parish sheriff's office is investigating Charles' disappearance as a possible homicide.