Teen’s body found in car days after it was towed from crash

The body of a Wisconsin teenager was discovered inside the wreckage of a vehicle this week, four days after the car had been towed from the site of a grisly accident.

James Stokes, 17, of Milwaukee, was found dead on the floor of the back seat of a damaged white Kia at the city tow lot on Monday morning, FOX 6 reported.

The vehicle, which was determined to have been stolen, arrived at the lot on the night of June 1, after it crashed into a tree on North 91st Street and West Fond du Lac Avenue, the Milwaukee Police Department said in a statement.

The driver of the vehicle, a 16-year-old male, was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, and was later arrested.

The cause of the 17-year-old’s death is being determined by the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office, police said.

Both the MPD and the Department of Public works are currently investigating how Stokes’ body went unnoticed.

“This is supposed to be a multi-level approach so that this kind of thing doesn’t happen,” attorney William Sulton told CBS 58.

“When vehicles get to the tow lot, we have another set of rules and responsibilities that apply to those officers at the tow lot. They can’t process or release the vehicle until they can confirm a search was conducted.”

The discovery of Stokes’ body is the third time the Milwaukee authorities have towed a vehicle with a person still inside in five years.

In 2018, a four-year-old girl spent the night alone in the tow lot after her mother was arrested for operating while intoxicated, FOX 6 reported.

Then, in 2022, the Milwaukee Fire Department towed a burned-out car, only for a lot attendant to find human remains inside the vehicle hours later. 

Sultan represented the 4-year-old’s family in their subsequent settlement with the city after the 2018 incident.

“[The latest discovery] shows me that not only do we not care, but we still don’t care,” he told CBS 58.