Death of Quawan Charles

On November 3, 2020, Quawan "Bobby" Charles, a 15-year-old African American boy, was found dead in a sugar cane field in Iberia Parish, Louisiana. He had been reported missing on October 30, 2020, after leaving his house in Baldwin, Louisiana with a friend, 17-year-old Gavin Irvin, and Irvin's mother, Janet. His last known whereabouts before his disappearance, according to his father, were with his friend, 17-year-old Gavin Irvin, and Irvin's mother, Janet, who picked him up from his father's house at around 3 pm while his father was out shopping. Janet's boyfriend, Tyler LeGros, was allegedly also with the Irvins when Charles was picked up. According to Charles's father, Kenneth Jacko, neither he nor Charles's mother, Roxanne Charles Nelson, were familiar with Irvin and had not given the Irvins permission to pick Charles up. Irvin would later state that both boys wanted to spend time together that day, but Charles left the Irvins on his own.

Haley stated that when the family reported the incident to the police, the department responded by suggesting to them that Charles may have gone to a football game and asking whether he had a troubled past, also waiting until three days after the initial report to ping his cell phone. Witnesses said they later saw the Irvins packing their belongings and moving out of their mobile home following Charles's disappearance.

Case Haley suggested that officers did not show a "sense of urgency" in responding to the disappearance report, and that he believed his death and the slow response time by police were both racially motivated.

In a news release from November 5, 2020, the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office stated that it was investigating the "suspicious circumstances" surrounding Charles's death, adding, "Investigators have interviewed multiple individuals and collected physical evidence which is being processed."

Police stated that they never requested an Amber alert because footage from his departure showed him voluntarily leaving his home with two people and there was no evidence which suggested that Charles had been abducted. The death was initially investigated as a homicide starting in November 2020.

A preliminary autopsy report by the coroner's office stated that the cause of death was "likely drowning" due to findings that Charles had hyperinflated lungs and muddy water in his airways but no injuries, adding that the cause of his facial condition was likely "aquatic animals" and that there was "no evidence of antemortem trauma". Charles's family's lawyers said that they had not authorized the public release of the preliminary autopsy report. Charles's family also denied the claims of drowning put forth in the report based on the nature of Charles's remains. In a picture posted online alongside a GoFundMe campaign by Charles's family requesting an independent autopsy, he appeared disfigured.

A preliminary report from an independent autopsy by local forensics company American Forensics suggested that the state of his remains was "consistent with drowning" with "no evidence of trauma or natural disease". An autopsy report prepared by the Louisiana Forensic Center and released by Charles's family on February 8, 2021 revealed that, after taking drugs at the Irvins' home, Charles was seen crawling in culverts alone near a school, acting combative, and threatening to kill himself, indicating that he may have been experiencing a psychotic episode. According to investigators for Haley's law office, members of the Irvin family and their "inner circle" stated that Charles had been high on a hallucinogen.

On February 9, 2021, Janet Irvin was arrested on charges of failure to report a missing child and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and was arraigned in the 16th Judicial District Court, where her bond was set at $400,000. In November 2021, Charles's mother sued the Baldwin Police Department and the St. Mary Parish Sheriff's Office for failing to notify the Louisiana State Police about her son's disappearance, also suing Janet and Gavin Irvin and Tyler LeGros for taking Charles 25 miles away from his home and not reporting his disappearance or attempting to find him.

Charles's relatives as well as local activists held a march of about 100 people in Baldwin, which called for the removal of the Baldwin police chief and mayor as well as the Iberia Parish sheriff and coroner.

American singer Beyoncé put a picture of Charles above a message reading "Rest in peace Quawan 'Bobby' Charles 2005-2020" on the homepage of her website in the wake of his death.