Noah Presgrove’s best friend, Jack Newton, recently had an interview with PEOPLE that saw him recall the hours before Noah’s body was found by the highway. One would expect his account to shed more light on the mystery of his best friend’s demise, but it just creates more questions.
How Noah Presgrove’s Best Friend Found Him
According to Noah Presgrove’s best friend’s interview with PEOPLE, his body was found in the early hours of the morning on the side of Highway 81 in Oklahoma on September 4, 2023. Noah Presgrove’s best friend, Jack Newton, made the discovery by the glow of headlights, and when he got out of his truck, he thought at first his friend was simply passed out.
The 19-year-old said, “It just seemed like he was drunk, passed out on the side of the road when I first seen him.” Hours before, Newton and Presgrove were celebrating a friend’s 22nd birthday someplace outside Terral, Oklahoma, nearly a mile’s drive away.
The image that confronted him when he got out of his truck was of Noah Presgrove wearing only mismatched slip-on shoes and a pair of undamaged white shorts nearby. His body was lifeless, with a cracked skull and fractured spine.
Jack Newton said, “He was laying on his side. His knees were kind of pulled up to his chest a little.” He also noted that Presgrove, who had graduated high school just months before, had been “right by” the white traffic line of the rural roadside.
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Uncertainty Abounds
More than a dozen interviews have been conducted with law enforcement, partygoers, friends and family, and others at the scene. It has also been quite some time since it happened.
However, most details of Noah Presgrove’s death are still shrouded in uncertainty. Most of the truth of his final hours remains clouded by conflicting accounts, speculation, and rumor, but the police investigation continues.
Noah Presgrove’s Death
Records show that Noah Presgrove walked away from the party that he and his best friend Newton attended before his death and that passing drivers first spotted him on Highway 81 before 6 a.m. local time on September 4.
Authorities, who soon arrived at the scene, initially thought it was a horrible road accident. However, their suspicions have since darkened. A silver-plated chain necklace from Presgrove’s grandmother, an everyday accessory, was found scattered in pieces near remnants of a tooth.
The base of his skull was also split in two, and he had an 8-inch head wound that peeled part of his scalp to the bone. His later autopsy revealed his cause of death to be “blunt force injuries.” After he found the body, Newton called his dad—with whom he had planned to go on a fishing trip later that morning—to instead meet him at the scene.
More Details Of What Happened Before Noah Presgrove’s Death
Jack Newton spent much of that Labor Day weekend with a close group of nine friends who grew up together. They drank and went hog hunting in his ATV side-by-side. By Sunday night, the party had ramped up with a social media blast.
It extended to a group of teens and young adults from Texas who Newton claims were strangers to Noah Presgrove and most of the others.
Newton reportedly hit the sack at 2 a.m. local time on Monday, September 4. But before getting in bed, he says he put his thermal rifle in his truck and hid his ATV keys in the bedroom so no one would shoot or drive drunk.
An hour or so later, he was surprised when Presgrove grabbed the keys, and a group took off on his ATV, which tipped over, although no one was visibly injured. Other partygoers later told Newton that Presgrove became disgruntled after two female friends, apparently separately, turned down his advances.
“I’m going to go cool off,” he reportedly said, according to what Newton was told. But he nonetheless acknowledges that there are conflicting recollections. He said Noah Presgrove changed into his wrestling shorts—white with splotches of red and gray—after the ATV incident.
He also slipped on two mismatched shoes as he walked out the door around 3:30 a.m. Newton added, “Their house is damn near half a mile from the road. Nobody expected him to walk to the highway.”
But when Presgrove did not immediately return, another partygoer posted on social media that he was “missing” along with two spiral-eyed emojis.
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Noah Presgrove’s Best Friend Became a Suspect
In the hours after Noah Presgrove was found, Newton says several other partygoers also went to the scene. They learned of Presgrove’s death when he briefly returned to the Terral home to share the news.
He reportedly waved them off before they neared Presgrove’s body, warning them to go back. Everyone at the scene described him as being naked. They also say Newton moved the shorts soon after arriving to find Presgrove’s body.
However, Newton claims he tossed his best friend’s shorts in his truck to prevent passing traffic from blowing them away. But in the end, the shorts were folded beside Presgrove. Theories about what really happened to Noah Presgrove abound.
Unfortunately, some of them paint his best friend, Jack Newton, as a suspect. His dad, Caleb Newton, said in an interview that his son now feels a double loss. Not only did he lose his best friend, but he also lost the community where he grew up.
Caleb said, “He feels like they went and turned their back on him. Just over all these lies and accusations.”
What Noah Presgrove’s Best Friend Thinks May Have Happened
Jack Newton’s father, Caleb, has pointed out that there was no evidence of a beat-up or any of the “big stuff” people are talking about.
On his part, Newton believes Noah Presgrove may have suffered a freak accident that night. He said, “To me, it seems like he asked somebody for a ride [and] fell out of the back of the truck…. I don’t know. Something like that.”
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