Evidence Joel says she doesn’t believe her son would walk alone in a forest at night unless he meets someone there

Richard Okorogheye’s mother, whose body was found in a lake in Epping Forest, told Sky News his heart “feels like it’s been torn apart”

Evidence Joel said it was “completely empty, devastated and empty” after police confirmed yesterday the body found in Essex on Monday was that of the 19-year-old

“Right now I just want answers on how my son lost his life I want answers I desperately need closure,” she told Sky News

She said she would continue to support the police to find out what happened to her son

M Okorogheye went missing after leaving his family home in Ladbroke Grove, west London, on the evening of March 22

Metropolitan Police said on Monday they were told by Essex Police that the body of a man was found in a lake in Epping Forest

Ms Joel told Sky News she went to the site where her son’s body was found to lay flowers

She said: “It was a very uncomfortable place to be. I wouldn’t want to be there

“My son I know can’t get into this darkness – no torch, no light One and a half hours from where he was last seen He must have guts to do this He is only 19 years old

M Okorogheye was a student at Oxford Brookes University, but he had protected during the pandemic because he had sickle cell disease

The teenager’s death is being treated as unexplained and the police do not believe at this point that there was any third party involvement

Investigators are still looking at his computer and searching the forest for his shoes, phone and bag that were not with his body when he was found

Ms Joel said she was “surprised” to learn that the police believed no one else was involved

“Something happened there It’s too far for Richard to enter this darkness alone You can’t, it’s boring, it’s darkness

“So how did he get there? What happened? We don’t know I feel something happened there”

The cause of M’s death Okorogheye is on hold while further investigations are conducted, but police have found no evidence of physical trauma or assault, detectives said

Ms. Joel described her son as “the perfect child” and said she was “lucky” to be his mother

“He will always be my baby and I will always be his mother and no one can take that away from me,” she said

Ms Joel also told Sky News that a number of fake GoFundMe pages were created in her son’s name

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Richard Okorogheye