Found Deceased NC - Lauren Jenkins, 17, Wake County, 18 March 2017

[gracielee]

I'm wondering why the extensive search wasn't conducted on Saturday rather than waiting for today? Some of the news sources are reporting the accident was 'late Saturday night', but if I'm not mistaken the accident was late Friday night.

 

[gorealtors]

Gracie, I have also read conflicting reports as to the occurrence but pretty sure it was Friday night. I concur with you as to why the search was delayed until this morning. Makes no sense to me either.

 

[trenchmouth]

If it was my daughter I would have hired scent dogs to search that night. Not blaming parents but it drives me nuts every time I hear they are waiting until morning to search. A helicopter with heat imaging cameras would have found her too.

I suspect alcohol poisoning or she bleed to death. How sad.

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[gracielee]

The more I think about it I can't understand why when she didn't show up by midmorning Saturday the sheriff didn't bring in that search dog and search. She was found less than one half mile from crash site. It was cold and windy and raining overnight Friday and Saturday till around noon. She was last seen in shorts and sweatshirt. Dog picked up scent pretty quickly. She was also discovered by homeowner bordering the woods. My guess is she died from exposure, possibly along with blood loss.

 

[LisaWL7TR]

Perhaps they thought she ran off with the other or went to a friend's.
I think her death could be a combination of things...the effects of alcohol, possibly head wound and the trouble she would be in at 17 with dui....which would lead to others possibly since she is a minor. Moo

 

[zelmajane]

I hope and pray she didn't die of exposure.


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[lisette]

How far from the accident was her body found?

 

[lisette]

The more I think about it I can't understand why when she didn't show up by midmorning Saturday the sheriff didn't bring in that search dog and search. She was found less than one half mile from crash site. It was cold and windy and raining overnight Friday and Saturday till around noon. She was last seen in shorts and sweatshirt. Dog picked up scent pretty quickly. She was also discovered by homeowner bordering the woods. My guess is she died from exposure, possibly along with blood loss.

Nevermind...just saw this.

 

[JeannaT]

Very sad. It did seem likely that it was going to end this way.

I wonder how the boy is doing who was unconscious in the back of the car.

 

[Prancy]

I'm local as well. I just don't understand this at all. Seeing a young, injured person, especially if alcohol was suspected, running off to points unknown from the scene of an accident, would have created an emergency to search immediately and as zealously as possible. So many risks factors like exposure, brain damage, blood loss, etc. Can't scent dogs work at night in severe emergency?

I just don't get it. She could have been in shock and not even known what she was doing. What a terrible tragedy.

 

[tlorik]

What a shame. Pretty girl. Prayers for her family.

 

[GangaMa]

Looking around on Google, Leesville Rd. seems to be quite busy during the day. I'm not local, so don't know what it's like at night. But it's a simple two-lane road, and the crash was at an entrance to a subdivision. So it was not a highly lit area on Leesville Rd. itself, and if she hit the other car head-on, she must have been really impaired. Only one pair of headlights would have (normally) been visible to her. If you combine her condition with a head injury that was noticeably bleeding from the force of a head-on collision, then IMO she took off into the darkness in a state of shock. The passenger(s) in her own car were likely not able to say anything to her, and the driver of the other car had to stay put waiting for the police.
Very sad, not a fate that anyone would expect for a 17 year old girl. My condolences to her family.

 

[JeannaT]

Looking around on Google, Leesville Rd. seems to be quite busy during the day. I'm not local, so don't know what it's like at night. But it's a simple two-lane road, and the crash was at an entrance to a subdivision. So it was not a highly lit area on Leesville Rd. itself, and if she hit the other car head-on, she must have been really impaired. Only one pair of headlights would have (normally) been visible to her. If you combine her condition with a head injury that was noticeably bleeding from the force of a head-on collision, then IMO she took off into the darkness in a state of shock. The passenger(s) in her own car were likely not able to say anything to her, and the driver of the other car had to stay put waiting for the police.
Very sad, not a fate that anyone would expect for a 17 year old girl. My condolences to her family.

As I understand it, the girl in the passenger side also ran off, but apparently made it to safety because she was never listed as "missing". The boy in the back of her car was unconscious, so yes, he couldn't have helped keep Lauren there.

 

[Mainely16]

Very sad. It did seem likely that it was going to end this way.

I wonder how the boy is doing who was unconscious in the back of the car.

Sorry if any of this is repetitive, but here is some info:

The backseat passenger is in the hospital with injuries, but appears to at least be stable. In this case, being left behind, unconscious, in the backseat of the car remarkably was a "good thing" because he was found immediately and 911 was summoned.

Apparently, there had been drinking and partying, so the kids were not only impaired, but likely fearing punishment.

Of course, fear of getting a DUI or worse has sent people running from such accidents, but reports say the driver also had a head wound. I know nothing about the passenger other than she apparently made it home.

I am not why either of those two things alone didn't set off immediate, fuller-scale searches. It seems like a K-9 unit found the girl, Lauren.

(All info is based only on what I have read in media, or heard from an aquaintance who lives nearby...)

 

[gracielee]

Two things, todays report said she was found 3 blocks from accident scene, and back seat boy has a couple broken ribs. Front seat passenger was located by Saturday morning.

 

[gracielee]

JMO, but I'm thinking apathy by sheriff's office. Drinking partying kids, fled the scene, probably hiding out somewhere until sober. It doesn't seem as if law enforcement took it seriously until Sunday. There was a lot of local chatter starting Saturday evening, attempting to get up a search party for Sunday morning. What I read on the local sites was 'parents asking people to please come and help search.' Cops set a time of 8:30 Sunday morning for searchers to meet. I read the dog found her around 7:00 a.m., before the searchers went out. Guessing they wanted to get the dog in first, before other searchers scents. So why didn't they get that dog out Saturday afternoon/evening? No word yet on cause of death or time of death.

 

[trenchmouth]

Kind of hoping she died quickly. So there is no guilt over not searching that evening.

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[LisaWL7TR]

I'm local as well. I just don't understand this at all. Seeing a young, injured person, especially if alcohol was suspected, running off to points unknown from the scene of an accident, would have created an emergency to search immediately and as zealously as possible. So many risks factors like exposure, brain damage, blood loss, etc. Can't scent dogs work at night in severe emergency?

I just don't get it. She could have been in shock and not even known what she was doing. What a terrible tragedy.

I agree about the shock possible concussion. My son and I saw what appeared to be a minor accident(no airbags deployed, cars still somwhat in line right after it happened during bumper to bumper traffic.
The one guy got out of his car and started picking up pieces of his car and THEN he just laid down in the hot summer road. Possibly Shock?

 

[JeannaT]

JMO, but I'm thinking apathy by sheriff's office. Drinking partying kids, fled the scene, probably hiding out somewhere until sober. It doesn't seem as if law enforcement took it seriously until Sunday. There was a lot of local chatter starting Saturday evening, attempting to get up a search party for Sunday morning. What I read on the local sites was 'parents asking people to please come and help search.' Cops set a time of 8:30 Sunday morning for searchers to meet. I read the dog found her around 7:00 a.m., before the searchers went out. Guessing they wanted to get the dog in first, before other searchers scents. So why didn't they get that dog out Saturday afternoon/evening? No word yet on cause of death or time of death.

I read the dog found her trail, but by the time they were following that trail, a homeowner had discovered her remains and was flagging down LE to tell them that.

 

[JeannaT]

The thing is, family and LE had from about midnight Friday - Sunday morning where they weren't seriously searching. Being a parent of adult children and remembering teenage years, I think it's likely LE and the family were kind of giving her a break to sober up before they located her at a friend's house. They were sort of looking the other way for a bit.

How very, very sad that she needed to be located. This is a connected community. I think if the family cried out for help from neighbors, they could have gotten a dawn patrol going Saturday morning and would have found her by Saturday noon. She was on the edge of a property in the neighborhood. Coulda woulda shoulda. This will haunt them forever, sadly.