NAACP investigates after teen found dead in Wallingford woods 20 days after Feb. crash
The Connecticut National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, is investigating after it learned that a 17-year-old’s body was found in the woods 20 days after a crash on Route 15 sparked a multi-agency search in February.
The body of 17-year-old Khasir Jennette was found Feb. 21 along the banks of the Quinnipiac River near the Wallingford Compost Center. Jennette had been missing since Feb. 1, when police say he may have fled into the woods after a crash on Route 15 in Wallingford during dangerously cold overnight temperatures, state police said.
The NAACP held a news conference about the incident at 11 a.m. on Thursday. Connecticut State Police released an outline on their response to the case shortly after NAACP’s conference.
“I’m deeply concerned about this particular matter because we just found out about this about two days ago,” said Scot X Esdaile, president of the Connecticut NAACP, in the conference.
The crash happened on Feb. 1 around 9:45 p.m. State police received a report of a multi-vehicle crash with a vehicle still in the lane on Route 15 North near Exit 58A in Wallingford, according to state police’s report.
When officers arrived, they found three vehicles involved in the crash, including a black Acura RDX that was unoccupied with several cell phones inside. The people in that car were later determined to have fled on foot, state police said.
It was also later determined that the Acura had been reported stolen and linked to an armed carjacking in North Haven earlier that evening, according to police. Police began searching for anyone who was in the car after that.
Around 1:30 a.m. on Feb. 2, a woman called state police and told them she believed her son, Jennette, was involved in the accident and “is in the woods freezing.” She described what Jennette looked like and the clothes he was wearing, police said.
State police said they then initiated a missing person investigation and later issued a Silver Alert.
According to state police, multiple agencies participated in search efforts, including K9 units, drones, aviation teams, Wallingford police and fire personnel, and detectives from the Central District Major Crime Squad. Police said searches covered riverbanks, wooded terrain, embankments, highway ramps and the Amazon warehouse area nearby.
Investigators later reviewed surveillance footage that appeared to show a person believed to be Jennette getting into an Uber after the crash. Detectives said they pursued leads involving Uber ride records but were unable to identify all passengers connected to the incident.
Jennette’s body was ultimately found by a Wallingford resident walking their dog on Feb. 21 near the Quinnipiac River, according to police.
State police said they did not issue a press release when Jenette’s body was found because “it is standard operating procedure that press releases are not completed by police departments following unattended death investigations. Furthermore, press releases are not issued for juvenile deaths as a standard communications protocol.”
During Thursday’s news conference, Esdaile said NAACP has launched its own investigation into Jennette’s death.
“We don’t know if it was foul play or what exactly took place,” Esdaile said. “But it’s extremely important that the NAACP investigates when we find out that a minor — someone that’s 17 years old — body is found in the woods in Wallingford, and we’ve never seen anything public about this young person being found.”
Esdaile said the NAACP is assembling a team of lawyers and private investigators to conduct what he called a “full-fledged investigation.”
Other NAACP leaders at the conference questioned whether the case received enough public attention and transparency.
“When our children are in crisis, missing, harmed, or deceased, we cannot simply accept silence, delay, or confusion from the systems responsible for protecting life,” said Corrie Betts, the president of the NAACP Greater Hartford branch, during the news conference. “When white children go missing, the public sees immediate alerts.”
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