Autopsy Reveals Clues and Questions in His Mysterious Death, Experts Say (Exclusive)

Despite all the unanswered questions swirling around the death of Noah Presgrove, everyone agrees on this: The 19-year-old’s naked body had severe wounds when it was found by the side of the highway on Sept.4

Noah’s autopsy, released to PEOPLE in May, details the extent of the blunt force trauma that killed him, including major head and skull injuries — the middle base of his skull was split in two — as well as life-threatening fractures of his spinal vertebrae and more.

Noah Presgrove’s Autopsy Reveals Clues and Questions in His Mysterious Death, Experts Say (Exclusive)
“These are the cases that are gray. They’re not black and white”

By Emily Palmer, Wendy Grossman Kantor, and Adam Carlson Published on July 17, 2024 04:42PM EDT
Despite all the unanswered questions swirling around the death of Noah Presgrove, everyone agrees on this: The 19-year-old’s naked body had severe wounds when it was found by the side of the highway on Sept. 4.

Noah’s autopsy, released  in May, details the extent of the blunt force trauma that killed him, including major head and skull injuries — the middle base of his skull was split in two — as well as life-threatening fractures of his spinal vertebrae and more.

But his official manner of death remains “undetermined.”

According to 911 calls, Noah’s body was found shortly before 6 a.m. local time on Labor Day 2023 along Highway 81, just a few miles outside Terral in southern Oklahoma.

He was naked except for a pair of mismatched shoes, his autopsy states. A pair of white printed shorts were nearby that showed no “observable damage,” along with “three pieces of a white metal chain as well as part of a tooth [that were] present several feet [away].”

(The chain — one of Noah’s favorites — was never recovered in its entirety, one first responder tells PEOPLE.)

A “clump of hair” was found on his body, according to his autopsy; another clump was nearby. But no vehicle debris was observed, the autopsy states.