Bethesda father who pulled his son’s body from a ravine recalls his last night
WASHINGTON — A grieving Bethesda father who found his teenage son’s body is sharing the details of the boy’s last night.
Frank Sepehri has seen body-worn camera video of a Montgomery County police officer interacting with 17-year-old Navid Sepehri hours before he died.After hours of searching for his son Sunday, Frank Sepehri said, he found Navid lying face-up in a ravine near the Bannockburn Swim Club. There, houses back up onto a steep and rocky wooded area that Sepehri said has a small six-foot by six-foot pond. He said he found Navid there.
“As you can imagine, I went crazy. I pulled him out of the water. I stayed there with him, thinking, ya know, ‘He’s alive’ and all that. But about 10 minutes later, because I was shouting so much, a neighbor … she came and she said, ‘Are you okay? What happened? Are you okay?’ And I couldn’t talk,” he recalls.
Sepeheri said he asked his daughter to wait in the car while he searched for his son where the app Find My iPhone last reported its location. He said there were no visible signs of trauma to Navid’s head or body.
“I was the one who pulled him out, and there was no broken head, broken skull or something. He was in perfect condition,” Sepheri said.
Sepehri maintains he was alone when he found his son. Montgomery County police say officers heard Sepheri exclaim and knew in that moment he likely found his son.
Police later found a bottle of vodka in Navid’s coat, and Sepehri said he could smell the alcohol on his son while holding his body in the woods.
Sepehri knew Navid was going to a friend’s house Saturday night. Looking back and noting that Navid did not take his new car, his father understands Navid likely expected to drink, since he knew he could not drink and drive. But Sepehri said he and his wife, Nasrin, discouraged their son from drinking alcohol.
However, an ATM transaction record shows that Navid pulled out $20 before 8 p.m., which Sepehri believes he used to buy alcohol at a store on River Road. Then the group of Walt Whitman High School seniors made their way to a house party being hosted by the younger brother of one of Navid’s friends.
“In that house, both parents were home,” Sepehri said of the house party his son attended. He said he has talked with many of Navid’s friends who were at the party hosted by other Walt Whitman High School students.
A source familiar with the party confirms that parents of a Walt Whitman sophomore hosting the party were home and amongst the children. The same source reported it appeared Navid had been drinking before arriving at the party with a group of Whitman seniors.
Around 10:30 p.m., the Montgomery County police say officers responded to a call about the possibility of underage drinking. Sepehri has seen body-worn camera video of an officer interacting with Navid outside the home.
“He was talking to my son … and my son was drunk. He was kind of like, shaking around. He asked [Navid’s] friends, ‘Get this kid out of here before I get him in trouble,'” Sepehri said, describing the video.
When the officer found six teens in front of the house, they were not violating any criminal or civil law, said Montgomery County police spokesman Captain Paul Starks. He said the officer had a conversation with the teens and asked Navid’s friends to get him home.
But Sepehri said he’s heard from Navid’s friends that they didn’t go home. They went to a 7-11 convenience store at MacArthur Boulevard and Goldsboro Road and spent time in the parking lot before Navid’s friends ordered an Uber to drive them home.
Navid’s friends tell his father Navid turned down the rideshare and assumed he was walking home, which from there would take at least 30 minutes on the snowy Saturday night.
The police believe the death was accidental, but they’re waiting for the results of an autopsy.
The post Bethesda father who pulled his son’s body from a ravine recalls his last night appeared first on WTOP.
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