CROWN POINT | Final results of an autopsy on a Lake Central student found dead last summer have been completed, but the coroner must meet with the boy's father before releasing any information.
Lake County Coroner Merrilee Frey met Friday with the mother of Lake Central High School student Levi Evans, 17, who was found dead on school property in August. The boy's body contained no signs of trauma or foul play, authorities have said.
Merrillville attorney Brian Smith, representing Karen Evans, said his client met with Frey to learn the final results from the boy's autopsy and toxicology tests.
Frey and Smith declined to release the results until Frey has the opportunity to have a similar discussion with the boy's father, Levi Evans Sr.
The teen's parents have been embroiled in a legal dispute over his body, which remains at a Gary funeral home.
The boy's father did not want the boy's body cremated in the event of a wrongful death finding.
The boy, who turned 17 on June 22, was last seen at 4:26 p.m. Aug. 8 at the Taco Bell restaurant on U.S. 41, steps from the Lake Central property. He visited the restaurant frequently during dinner breaks from marching band practice at the Freshman Center.
Three residents of nearby Ventura Estates found Evans' body about 6:35 p.m. in a field behind the restaurant. The field was bordered by black silk construction fencing adjacent to a new NIPSCO electrical substation. The teen wasn’t in the newly activated substation, which has a 7-foot-high fence, St. John Police Chief Fred Frego said at the time.
A Lake County magistrate on Oct. 3 gave custody of the boy's body to his mother, with the caveat the father had 10 days to obtain an independent medical examination because autopsy and toxicology results were not available.
Smith said Friday his opinion is that the 10 days are up this weekend and Karen Evans will have full custody.
"However, no action will be taken with regards to Levi's body over the weekend," he said.
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