The family of Louisiana teenager Quawan Charles say they think he was beaten to death and did not drown, as police claim, before his body was found in a sugar cane field.
Quawan, 15, was found dead in a sugar cane field on November 3, four days after he vanished from his family's home in Baldwin, Louisiana.
He'd been picked up from his house by Janet and Gavin Irvin, a mother and 17-year-old son. Quawan attended school with Gavin before switching to a new school. His family say they'd never met Gavin.
They are the last known people to see him alive but say he left their trailer on his own without telling them where he was going. The Irvins have not spoken publicly and have not been arrested or otherwise implicated by the police in Quawan's death.
In the days after Quawan's death, they appear to have they moved out of their home.
People were seen boxing up items and putting them into a U-Haul last week.
When he was found, Quawan's face was so badly mutilated that half of his lips were gone and he had multiple lacerations on one side of his face.
A preliminary autopsy gave his cause of death as drowning. Unsatisfied with that, the family sent his body for a second, independent autopsy.
On Monday, that also gave drowning as the probable cause of his death. The full results of the first autopsy are expected in 12 weeks.
An unidentified man and woman were among several people seen moving things out of the Irvin home this weekend. It was previously reported that they'd been evicted from their trailer
A young man carries a chair into a U-Haul truck from the Irvin home. They say Quawan left their home on October 30 without saying where he was going
Quawan's family think it is unlikely that he drowned in the ankle-deep water in the field. They also dispute the police claim that the injuries on his face were from 'aquatic activity'.
On Monday morning, Quawan's cousin, Celine Charles, appeared on Good Morning America via video-link to say she and her relatives believe Quawan was beaten to death.
'I am angry, I am frustrated. I mean literally we think that somebody beat him,' she said.
Lawyer Andre Arceneaux said: 'We won't stop fighting and we won't stop pushing and we won't stop standing until we get justice for Quawan Charles.'
On Saturday, the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office said cryptically that they had obtained video footage which showed Quawa alone 'some time before or after' he was seen 'on the recording'.
Quawan's cousin, Celine Charles, said on Monday morning that the family believes he was beaten to death
Quawan was last seen at his father's home in Baldwin on October 30. His body was found 25 miles north three days later
The teenager's body was found i n a sugar cane field in rural Louisiana on November 3
They did not say what time the video was taken, where it was taken or what it showed.
'We have obtained and reviewed video evidence showing Quawan 'Bobby' Charles near that area.
'Video evidence indicates no other individuals present with Quawan 'Bobby' Charles or anyone else present for some time before, or after, he is seen on the recording,' the statement said.
A homicide inquiry has been launched but the sheriff's department says it is because it is standard procedure for any death and not because they necessarily believe Quawan was murdered.
The police response to the boy's death sparked protests across the country, with some claiming the case has the same hallmarks of the 1955 killing of Emmett Till - a black teenager who was lynched after being wrongly accused of offending a white woman.
Quawan's family say that he is the victim of a hate crime that police are refusing to investigate
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