'They were the ones who should have found Darius!' | Family wants answers after son found dead in Fredericksburg

A Fredericksburg family says they're disappointed with the way police handled their son's disappearance.

"They did not treat my son seriously. Whoever was supposed to make a decision, treated my son like an animal," said Maxwell and Eunice Appiah.

Their son, Darius Joshua Appiah, was just 22 years old. He was found dead inside Alum Springs Park, on Saturday, Feb. 3, according to police.

But, it wasn't police who found him. According to his family, a volunteer who was helping them search made the gruesome discovery.

"How do you claim you have emergency management people searching through this park, but you didn't find him, but the community was able to find him," questioned his mother.

She says Darius was found by a volunteer near the water, about a mile away from where police had told her K9's had captured his scent.

"Today I got a call from the funeral home and they're telling us because how long he was in the water they don't think it's a good idea to have an open casket," she told WUSA9 through tears Thursday night.

His family says he went missing on Jan. 24. His family says they don't feel like police took their concerns about him seriously.

"If we left it to the police we would probably forever be wondering when our child would come home," said Darius' mother.

However, police say they took extensive measures to try and find him.

"There was not a stone that went unturned," said Sarah Morris with the Fredericksburg Police Department

Thursday night, Fredericksburg Police sent WUSA9 this statement:

First, I want to say that the Fredericksburg Police Department extends its sincere condolences to the Appiah family and everyone who knew and loved Darius. We can only imagine the pain they're experiencing right now.

The search for Darius was our agency's largest, most extensive search for a missing person. In addition to requesting support from surrounding jurisdictions, we asked for assistance from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management's Search and Rescue Team and our Special Equipment Tactical Team (like SWAT) to search the area. In total, over 400-foot acres were searched over two days. Virginia State Police sent a helicopter to explore the area and four-miles down the Rappahannock River. The Fredericksburg Police UAS team flew their drones over multiple areas around the park. Multiple K9 Units from our agency and surrounding jurisdictions, including a Bloodhound specializing in picking up human scent, also assisted in the search.

It's also essential to the story that even though the Medical Examiner's final report may not be completed for three to six months, our detectives are not in a holding pattern. They are actively investigating Mr. Appiah's death. Yesterday, they met with coworkers, and today, they returned to Alum Springs Park with K9s in hopes of finding evidence. It's important to us to bring closure to Darius' family.

The Stafford County Sheriff's Department, who had initially taken the report from the Appiah's, sent WUSA9 this statement Thursday night:

Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Mr. Appiah.

We took the initial report and immediately entered Mr. Appiah into a national database as missing. Although he was last seen in a different jurisdiction, Stafford County Sheriff’s Office detectives vigorously investigated the case by sending “be on the lookout” broadcasts to other jurisdictions, checking area hospitals, checking license plate reader databases for Mr. Appiah’s vehicle, examining historical cell phone data, interviewing potential witnesses, managers and coworkers, posting social media flyers, working with State Police to enter Mr. Appiah in a critical alert database, and checking bank records.

We had 7 detectives that worked on this investigation. They canvassed other jurisdictions, checked the point last seen in another jurisdiction, processed Mr. Appiah’s car which was located in another jurisdiction, provided K9 support for searches, searched the computer of Mr. Appiah and assisted with a VDEM led search in another jurisdiction.

Mr. Appiah was found in another jurisdiction and it is their investigation at this point. We have continued to offer any assistance we can provide in the case.