New audio implicates last woman to see teen Quawan Charles before he was found dead, lawyers say
Editor's Note: Police have charged Janet Irvin in connection to Quawan Charles' death. Read the latest update here.
Attorneys for the family of 15-year-old Quawan Charles say newly-revealed audio implicates Janet Irvin, allegedly the last woman to see him alive, in the teenager's death, CBS News' Jericka Duncan reports.
Quawan had disappeared on October 30, and his body was found a few days later on November 3 in a sugar cane field, 30 minutes from his home.
The family's lawyers say the audio, obtained exclusively by "CBS This Morning," is Janet Irvin admitting to a private investigator that she did not call police right after she realized Quawan Charles had run away from her home.
"Yes, I should have called the cops. I should have went further," Irvin says on the audio recording.
Irvin and her 17-year-old son are allegedly two of the last people to see the 15-year-old alive. Now, his family attorneys are calling for her arrest.
"I get off of work at like noon, Friday. So, we go out to Baldwin. We pick him up," Irvin can be heard saying.
Surveillance video appears to show Irvin picked Quawan up outside his father's house in Baldwin, Louisiana on October 30 — the day his parents reported him missing.
In the audio recording, Irvin's son tells a private investigator that he and Quawan did drugs at Irvin's home.
"Did he smoke something, or did he, I mean…?" the investigator can be heard asking.
Irvin's son replied, "Yeah, he smoked some weed. That was it."
Ronald Haley and Chase Trichell, attorneys for the Charles family, believe there is enough evidence to arrest Irvin on "a slew of charges."
It was their private investigator who recorded the conversation with Irvin and her son.
Haley said Irvin committed a crime when she did not call the police until days after Quawan's disappearance.
"She knew something was wrong and did nothing," Haley said. "It speaks volumes as to what her involvement was in this case."
The coroner's office said Quawan likely drowned.
However, according to his family's attorneys, the water in the sugar cane field was very shallow. They believe if drugs were in Quawan's system, it contributed to his death.
"We think the toxicology report is going to vindicate what we're saying today," attorney Chase Trichell said. "Janet Irvin could be charged with delinquency to minors, serving minors drugs."
The local sheriff's office said it did not know about the recording, and the information was not shared.
Quawan's family attorney said the sheriff has agreed to meet, and they are hoping to compare notes to prompt an arrest. CBS News also reached out to Janet Irvin, but she has not responded.
