FREDERICK, Md. — A missing 19-year-old was found dead in Frederick, Maryland, and authorities are investigating the death as suspicious.
The Frederick County Sheriff's Office said in a release Monday that Curtis Mason Smith was found dead in a car in the 8100 block of Runnymeade Drive in Frederick County on Sunday afternoon, around 2:30 p.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene, according to police.
Smith was reported missing by his family on Friday, March 19.
Frederick County Sheriff's Department Public Information Officer Todd Wivell said Monday in a release that Smith's death is suspicious and that detectives with the sheriff's office will conduct a full investigation.
Wivell did not specify why the death was thought to be suspicious. Information about how Smith died has not yet been released.
Wivell said deputies found Smith's body near a barn that neighbors said has sat abandoned on private property for years. He and multiple neighbors said it's a place teens frequently congregate.
“And I guess a vacant place, if people know about it, they’re going to take advantage of it," neighbor David Houck said.
Houck said he's lived across the street from the barn since the '70s.
“It’s a very tragic thing, and it’s too close to home for me," he said. "This neighborhood’s not like this.”
Family and friends had been circulating flyers around the community and on social media the past couple days, as they desperately tried to find him alive.
Houck said he didn't know anything was wrong before he saw streets full of law enforcement vehicles.
“There was police cars at least 10 or 12 on this side of the road, but they were lined up on Poole Jones Road too, on both sides of the road," he said.
As detectives work to figure out what led up to Smith's death, the community is mourning.
“I’m sorry for the family," Houck said. "I’m sorry for the young boy.”
The sheriff's office is asking anyone who may have any information to get in touch with them. If you have any information that could help in this case, please contact the FCSO tip line at 301-600-4131 and reference case # 21-025637.
This is a developing story. Stay with WUSA9 for the latest updates as the come in to our newsroom.