- Teenager’s drowning ruled accidental, but family believes there’s more to the story
- Arrests for evidence tampering, but family demands homicide charges
- Family and public seek full truth about teen’s final moments before disappearance
Months after Texas 18-year-old Daniel Erving’s mysterious drowning, the questions surrounding his final moments are only multiplying and getting louder and two recent arrests have only added fuel to the fire.
According to NBC News, Daniel’s mother, Tameca Erving, says the arrests of 19-year-old Lucas Roper and a 16-year-old juvenile on felony evidence tampering charges are only “partial justice.” The two teens are accused of tossing Daniel’s cellphone and clothing after the 18-year-old honor student and standout swimmer disappeared while jumping from a railroad bridge into Lake Ray Hubbard in April. Daniel’s body wasn’t recovered until four days later, and while the medical examiner ruled his death an accidental drowning, his family has never been convinced that’s the full story.
“As a mother, I knew something was wrong on day one,” Tameca Erving said at a news conference Tuesday. “I feel like my son only received partial justice. But we’re here to have murder charges brought against those two.”
The allegations paint a picture that’s difficult to ignore. As BOSSIP previously reported, investigators say the teens never called 911 after Daniel went under. Instead, prosecutors allege Roper ordered the juvenile to throw Daniel’s phone out of a moving vehicle, tossed his clothes into nearby brush, and even deleted messages from his own phone because he feared facing criminal charges for Daniel’s death. That’s the kind of behavior that has Daniel’s loved ones asking the same question many people online have been repeating for months. If this was simply a tragic accident, why erase evidence?
CNN reports that Daniel’s family, represented by ubiquitious civil rights attorney Ben Crump and attorney Sean Daredia, believes the evidence tampering charges barely scratch the surface the charges that Roper and the juvenile should be facing. They’ve publicly urged the Dallas County District Attorney to present the case to a grand jury for possible homicide charges, arguing that abandoning Daniel, hiding evidence, and allegedly attempting to cover their tracks deserves far more scrutiny than what’s currently on the books.
For Daniel’s family, however, the clock has already been ticking for months. They aren’t celebrating the arrests because they don’t see them as the finish line. Until they get answers explaining exactly what happened in those moments before Daniel disappeared beneath the water, justice remains incomplete. Judging by the growing public skepticism surrounding this heartbreaking case, they’re far from the only ones demanding the full story.