Family of teen missing 3 weeks says they've received cryptic texts that he's dead

FOX 2 - Three weeks after 17-year-old Noah Winters left his Eastpointe home in the early morning hours of May 14, police and his family are still searching for answers.

The backstory:

According to investigators, Winters left home around 1 a.m. and got into a black Jeep Compass that came to pick him up. 

Hours later, his mother received messages claiming her son was dead and that his body had been left inside a vacant house in Detroit.

Since then, Detroit and Eastpointe police have launched an extensive investigation.

Investigators say they used video from Green Light locations to identify the Jeep Compass and have taken the vehicle into evidence. Police have also submitted multiple search warrants as they work to identify the people responsible for sending text and social media messages to Winters' mother.

Authorities say they have searched multiple locations in Detroit and elsewhere but have not found Noah.

Now, police, Winters' mother and his grandmother are pleading with the public for information.

"How do you send a mother a message that her child is deceased, and you can't tell her where he is?" asked Patricia Johnson, Winters' grandmother. "What's wrong with you?"

Johnson said the case has left the family devastated and searching for answers.

"Children hurting other children — what is going on in America?" she said.

Winters' mother, Brittney Mills, described the anguish of not knowing what happened to her son.

"To know him is to love him," Mills said. "I feel like I'm in my worst nightmare, and I can't wake up from it. I can't imagine life going forward without knowing where he is and what happened."

Johnson said the uncertainty has taken a tremendous emotional toll on the family.

"It's sleepless nights — the days, the weeks, going by that are just torture," she said.

Johnson said she has struggled to process her emotions as the search continues.

"I don't know if it's anger, grief, loss, I want to cry, I want to throw up," she said. "I'm out of my skull right now," she said. "We're just pleading, begging the public. There's someone out there who knows what happened to my grandson."

What you can do:

The family believes someone knows what happened and is urging that person to come forward.

Crime Stoppers is offering a $2,500 reward for information in the case. The family is offering an additional $5,000 reward for information that leads investigators to Noah.

Anyone with information can remain anonymous by contacting Crime Stoppers at 1-800-SPEAK-UP.

Missing PersonsEastpointe