Connecticut State Police respond to NAACP request for more information on 17-year-old boy’s death

WALLINGFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — Connecticut State Police responded to a request from the state NAACP on Friday to provide more information on the death of a 17-year-old boy who allegedly fled the scene of a crash involving a stolen car.

The NAACP held a news conference Friday morning, announcing that they are opening their own investigation into Khasir Jennette’s death.

His body was found in the woods by a dogwalker in Wallingford on Feb. 21, around 9:15 a.m., three weeks after a stolen Acura he was in crashed on Route 15 North in Wallingford.

The NAACP said they want more answers on how investigators searched for the teen after he was reported missing.

At the time of the crash on Feb. 1, around 9:48 p.m., police said there were about 12 to 16 inches of snow on the ground. K-9 units were called to track the area of the Quinnipiac River near the abandoned car around 10:30 p.m., which did not yield any results.

Police received another call at 1:34 a.m. from Jennette’s mother, stating that he was involved in the crash on Route 15 and was in the woods with his friends freezing. She had not seen him since Jan. 31 and provided a description of what he could have been wearing. She also said another mother had called her to say her son was in the woods, as well.

State police released a detailed summary in response, listing the resources deployed in searching for Jennette after he went missing, which included opening a missing persons investigation, distributing the information to social media, and issuing a Silver Alert.

Connecticut State Police stated that many resources were deployed on Sunday night, going into Monday morning, when they found tracks leading through “extreme conditions,” including frozen waterways, embankments, wooden unlighted terrain, brush, sticks and prickers, and into the Amazon property campus locations with solar farms.

State police also said that the Quinnipiac River was not fully frozen and had water flowing under breakable ice. The overnight temperature on the night of Sunday, Feb. 1, was -3 degrees.

Police said they used the following while attempting to locate the boy:

• CSP air 1 unit
• CSP drone unit
• CSP search and rescue K-9 units
• CSP Troop I K09 units
• CSP Troop I patrol units
• Troop G K-9 Units
• Troop G patrol units
• CSP Troop H patrol units
• CSP troop H K-9 units (patrol and bloodhound K-9)
• EMS services
• Wallingford Fire Department thermal imaging
• Wallingford Police Department patrol units
• CSP Central District Major Crimes
• CSP Intelligence and Operations Unit
• CSP Collision, Analysis and Reconstruction Squad

An arrest warrant shows that Jennette was one of the three people in the stolen car at the time of the crash, and that police have arrested at least one person, Khalil Marquis Council, in connection with the theft.

Jennette’s mother stated that she had texted him the day of the crash around 9:30 a.m., which he read but did not reply to. She said that his phone did not have cell service and connected to WiFi when it was available.

State police additionally clarified that a press release was not sent out upon the discovery of Jennette’s body, as “it is standard operating procedure that press releases are not completed
by police departments following unattended death investigations.”