The Placer County Sheriff’s Office says 16-year-old Dante De la Torre was found dead Thursday afternoon. When the authorities discovered the teen’s remains, they found him in a remote wooded area near the gold run rest stop off I-80.
De la Torre’s cause of death is currently under investigation. However, investigators do not believe there was any foul play involved in the teen’s untimely death.
The 16-year-old boy was reported missing on Dec. 7 after not returning home from a rest stop, officials said. He was there to do school work and was supposedly completing a high school project at the location.
According to police, he may have been equipped with water bottles, a hand towel, a shovel, and snow boots. But since leaving for the rest stop and arriving around 12:30 on Wednesday, he couldn’t be reached by any of his loved ones. At this point, police began searching for the teen.
Police issued a statement after hearing that there were “multiple civilian search parties” interested in joining the search, urging the public to leave the operation to them. The sheriff’s office posted an update at 11:40 a.m. calling on the public to stop searching for de la Torre as it may hinder the official search.
Dante was a junior at Colfax High School in the International Baccalaureate program. He was on the soccer team and was well-loved by many students and faculty on campus. His car is still at the rest stop near the location of his remains, a sad reminder of the life that was lost.
School officials wrote that chaplains and additional District Counseling staff will be on the Colfax High School campus to provide support to students and staff.