A Washington, D.C. teenager mysteriously vanished after a police car chase in January. Now, months later, his mother is demanding the truth about what happened, and is accusing authorities of withholding information.
Nyair Raymond, 17, left a family home at around 5 p.m. on January 15 before he became involved in the car chase, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
Officers reportedly chased down a black Kia Sportage for a traffic violation. When the car finally pulled over, both the driver and the passenger fled on foot, according to police.
The 18-year-old driver of car was arrested at the scene, but the passenger — who is believed to be Raymond — escaped and hasn’t been seen since. Raymond was listed as a missing person three days later.
His mother, Sharnell Ford, was told her son fled from the passenger side of a stolen vehicle during the police chase near the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge, and was last spotted under the bridge.
Three days after Raymond’s disappearance, Ford told Fox5 that her son’s phone was recovered from the area.
His jacket was also recovered a week later, submerged in the Anacostia River — over an hour from where National Missing and Unidentified Persons reported that he was last seen.
A body was s found March 7 in that river, but police have not formally identified the remains, DC News Now reported.
Ford told Fox: “It’s an African American male, about six feet tall. It all fits the criteria of my son.”
Ford said she hasn’t been allowed to see the body. “They’ve had that body for over a week, and they’re telling me they won’t let me see it,” the mother explained.
“My son has been wronged somewhere,” she added.
Ford suspects that the Metropolitan Police Department is hiding the truth, and she’s demanding to see body camera footage taken on the evening of the car chase.
“I want to know what they did and what they didn’t do,” Ford told Fox5. “Something happened under that bridge.”
A GoFundMe page created by the family after Raymond’s disappearance described the teen as “a very outgoing young man with a promising future” who adored his family. The family is trying to raise enough money to offer a reward for information on the teenager’s whereabouts.
A police investigation is ongoing.
The Independent contacted Nyair’s family and the Metropolitan Police Department for comment.
