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Police Look Into Possibility Teen Fell From Plane

CHARLOTTE, N.C.,None — The family of a Charlotte teenager who was found dead more than 800 miles from his home said Tuesday they are still searching for answers about what happened.

Anthony Tisdale, the father of 16-year-old Delvonte Tisdale, said he last saw his son playing video games at his home on Whitewood Trail the evening of Nov. 14. The next day, Tisdale said, he believed his son had gone to school at North Mecklenburg High School, and only realized he was missing that evening.

That same evening, nearly 15 hours away in Milton, Mass., Delvonte Tisdale's mangled body was found in the middle of a suburban road.

"That is the most baffling thing," the family's pastor, James Woodson, said.

Tisdale said he has been working with detectives in Massachusetts but still does not know how his son died. Woodson said Delvonte had family "up north," but not in Boston. He would not elaborate on where those relatives live.

Investigators in Massachusetts have been considering several different leads, including one theory that the teenager stowed away in a plane's wheel well and then fell to the ground when the plane released its landing gear as it descended near Boston.

Logan International Airport officials said the neighborhood where the body was found is on the flight path to a landing runway. They have provided flight information to police, they said.

Woodson addressed that theory on Tuesday

"We have no conclusive evidence to that," he said.

Tisdale said his son loved his ROTC group, his friends at North Mecklenburg High and living in Charlotte.

"It is a hard loss for us," he said.

ROTC students and their parents plan to hold a vigil to remember Delvonte in the bus parking lot of North Mecklenburg High on Wednesday at 6 p.m., school officials said.

Previous Stories: November 22, 2010: Students Mourn Teen Found Dead Near Boston November 19, 2010: Charlotte, Massachusetts Investigators Gather Clues At Missing Teen's Home