The family of a missing Northern California teen found dead on the side of the Concord freeway suspects foul play in his death.
Concord Police Department found Damond Lazenby Jr.’s body on Jan. 7 below the shoulder of eastbound Highway 4 in Concord, between the Port Chicago Highway and Willow Pass Road. The 19-year-old Pittsburg, California, native was reported missing by his family on New Year’s Day, Fox 2 reported.
When a passing motorist discovered the body close to a guardrail on the busy highway, the man’s family members were already in the area looking for the teen. They positively identified it as Lazenby.
“We received a phone call from a lady who said she had some information about the location of where his body was,” said Kevin Hope.
Lazenby’s body was located not far from where his green Volkswagen had been discovered on Jan. 1. Officers found the car with its engine running and a flat tire. The family reported him missing that day. They had canvassed the particular freeway segment several times since Lazenby was assumed missing and never saw anything.
“We had walked and searched the area days prior to where the body was actually found today, and that’s why we don’t think the body was there because we actually walked it ourselves,” Hope said.
Damond Lazenby Sr., the victim’s father, told CBS News he personally walked “that freeway … on January 1st, 2nd, and all the way to the 3rd.”
The family was not alone in this effort. Over the last week, the Concord police also looked up and down the highway utilizing drones, K9s and ATVs.
Looking at where the teen was discovered, the family asserts their loved one was killed and discarded on the side of the road.
“We assumed that his body was thrown from a vehicle. And we assumed that somebody they had to take their time get out of the vehicle and do it,” the teen’s father said. “And I don’t think that nobody would have went unseen doing something like that. He’s a 6-3 guy, so he’s not a small guy.”
