NEW ORLEANS — New Orleans police now confirm the 12-year-old boy left to die on Michoud Boulevard earlier this week was lying next to a stolen SUV.
The vehicle is also suspected to be involved in a series of crimes over the weekend.
Monday morning, police found Derrick Cash on the ground near a black Jeep Cherokee with Texas license plates.
WWL-TV has learned, Saturday morning the Jeep was stolen from the valet line at the Pontchartrain Hotel on St. Charles Avenue.
According to a source, the SUV returned to the same hotel the next morning. That’s when a passenger jumped out and stole another vehicle that was running in front of the building.
No guns were used in the two car thefts.
Later Sunday, just before 5 in the afternoon, a black Jeep fitting the same description was used in a carjacking on City Park Avenue.
According to police, a passenger pointed a gun at the victim and took off with the vehicle.
NOPD Superintendent Shaun Ferguson says detectives are now backtracking the jeep to determine what it may have been involved in prior to Cash’s death.
“We have not made that connection with regards to the vehicle and the deceased victim, but we are looking at what this vehicle may have been involved in prior to and up until the moment that this kid was found deceased,” Ferguson said.
According to Chief Ferguson, Derrick Cash’s connection to the stolen Jeep is unclear at this stage of the investigation and there is no indication that the 12-year-old was a part of any of the suspected crimes involving the vehicle.
“I can’t necessarily speak to whether or not that vehicle had anything to do with that 12-year-old victim at that location," Ferguson said.
Cash’s relatives have no idea who killed him or why.
His mother told the Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate she was aware that he went to a friend's house around 8 Monday morning.
That was the last time she spoke with her son.