Host of Party Noah Presgrove Attended Before His Death Speaks Out, Says She’s Cooperating with Police (Exclusive)

In a statement to PEOPLE, an attorney for Avery Howard says that she has "coordinated and cooperated with the investigating law enforcement agencies completely"

The host of the party that Noah Presgrove attended in the hours before his battered body was discovered beside an Oklahoma highway is speaking out to share her condolences.

But, otherwise, she's declining to answer specific questions in the media regarding the ongoing investigation into the teen’s mysterious death in September 2023.

The attorney representing Avery Howard — whose 22nd birthday bash at her home in Terral, Okla., was attended by dozens of teens and young adults, including 19-year-old Noah — says in this week's PEOPLE cover story that she and her extended Wilcoxson family are working with investigators.

“The entire Wilcoxson family mourns the tragic death of Noah Presgrove,” attorney Andrew Benedict says in a statement. “The Wilcoxson family has coordinated and cooperated with the investigating law enforcement agencies completely and intends to continue such cooperation until the investigation is concluded.”

Noah, a standout high school athlete, was last seen alive by his friends in the early morning hours of Sept. 4, 2023, at Avery's party.

Some of the attendees had been drinking and went hog hunting in an ATV side-by-side owned by Jack Newton, Noah's best friend, Jack tells PEOPLE.

For more on Noah Presgrove's life and death and his family's search for answers, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE or subscribe.

But the soiree got rowdier as the evening progressed and more people began showing up, around three dozen at most, according to Jack.

By 2 a.m., Jack says he had gone to sleep in a bedroom in the house — but about an hour later Noah got the keys to his ATV and went for a ride with several others.

After tipping the vehicle over on its side, Noah returned to the house not long afterwards, cleaned himself up and ended up having a disagreement with two young women at the party, whom Jack was later told, felt he had gotten too close to them.

Related: Noah Presgrove’s Okla. Community Hangs Banner Urging Anyone with Answers to Speak Up: ‘Why Don’t You Help?’

“That made him mad,” says Jack, who notes that his version of events is based in part on secondhand information from others at the party. “He told her [one of the women] that he was going to go cool off, to just walk around and cool off."

Noah was last seen leaving the house and disappearing into the night at 3:30 a.m., Jack says.

By 6:15 a.m. local authorities, acting on two 911 calls from motorists on nearby Highway 81, found Noah’s body about a mile's drive from Avery's house.

Noah was naked, the base of his skull had been split in two, his spine was fractured and an 8-inch head wound peeled back part of his scalp to the bone.

“He was laying on his side. His knees were kind of pulled up to his chest a little,” says Jack, who was heading out to go fishing when he spotted his friend’s body on the side of the highway before sunrise, noting that Noah was “right by” the white traffic line off the rural roadside.

Oklahoma state police — who are continuing to investigate the death — tell PEOPLE that they don’t believe the Comanche, Okla., native was murdered but have otherwise not publicly commented on what exactly led to his fatal blunt force injuries.

Noah’s family tells PEOPLE that local authorities never searched the house where Avery's party was held. They are working with a private investigator, who says she has zeroed in on some of the attendees that night, and are determined to solve the tragic case.

Says Noah’s older brother Dailen Pregrove: “Somebody knows something."

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