MARBLEHEAD — The case of a Marblehead teen found almost frozen by the side of the road after a New Year's Eve party was nearly fatal because Bennett Barber's friends lied to police about his disappearance and the boy himself sought to elude searchers, according to a police report.
Both were seeking to cover up underage drinking, says the report released yesterday.
No charges will be filed, police Chief Robert Picariello said.
Barber, 16, suffered severe frostbite and hypothermia as a result of exposure to near-zero-degree weather.
By the time he reached the hospital, police said, his core temperature was only 88 degrees and his right foot seemed frozen solid.
He "was awake but unresponsive" when found, according to a report by Patrolman Christopher Gallo.
The family's blog indicates that Barber is now recovering as an outpatient. The Barbers could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The police report confirmed that alcohol was involved in the incident where Barber collapsed on his way home. While the high-schooler's name was blacked out, as were the names of the other juveniles involved, it's apparent that he left a house on Stone Terrace and was trying to make his way to his home on Taft Street.
"Mr. (David) Barber stated that (name redacted) told him that he was very drunk when he went outside," wrote police Sgt. Marion Keating, "and he remembers seeing all the lights, but told his father that he hid every time someone with a light went by, because he did not want to get in trouble for drinking."
Barber was found in the rear of a house on Jersey Street, between a snowbank and a boat.
"He had one shoe missing," Gallo wrote.
A missing shoe and sock were discovered at some distance from the scene.
Police report that they were notified Barber was missing around 3 a.m. "The call to the Police Department was from his mother," writes Keating, "who stated that he was due home at (1:30 a.m.) but did not come home."
They soon learned that the victim had been drinking at the Stone Terrace home of Vincent Conte. Both Conte and his wife had dined out that night. They could not be reached yesterday for comment.
A third person, a Conte "daughter," is mentioned in the report as initially telling police that Barber had arrived "intoxicated" with a bottle of rum and was subsequently walked part of the way home. But police heard conflicting versions of this story, and the girl later conceded that she was trying to disguise the fact that about 14 youths were at the house, with many drinking alcohol.
It was nearly 5 a.m. by the time police determined the truth, that Barber had gone missing at roughly 11:30 p.m. At that time, some of the youths were attempting to clear the house of invited and uninvited guests prior to the Conte parents' return.
"Two of the girls said they were going to walk (Barber) back up the street," Keating said, "but they went outside with him and he was too drunk, so they took him back inside and went to help ... clean up and that's the last time they saw (Barber)."
The sergeant added, "Due to false information provided by youths, the search area was too large." It included "parks, backyards and roadways" all the way to Taft Street, according to Gallo.
"Officers (Paul) Belyea, (Roy) Ballard and (Dennis) Defelice ... assisted in the foot search of the area between 9 Stone Terrace and 21 Park," wrote Keating.
When the correct information was received it helped narrow the search area to the vicinity of Jersey Street near West Shore Drive.
Five police officers led the search starting shortly after 3 a.m. They were accompanied by Vincent Conte and David Barber, who in subfreezing weather scoured nearby streets on foot with flashlights.
Police also attempted to speak to all of those who had been at the Conte home that night. State police were prepared to make an aerial search if the boy was not found before daylight.
Dogs were not available.
When the Marblehead Fire Department joined the effort, they tripled the number of searchers, according to Gallo. They also brought thermal imaging equipment, which can detect heat sources, including a human body.
The gear helped fire Chief designate Jason Gilliland and firefighter Greg McLaughlin locate the teen within 10 minutes.
The site where he was found had been searched previously, an indication that Barber might have been sporadically moving about. One firefighter reported "crawl marks" in the snow.
The high school hockey player was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, his parents riding in the ambulance with him. He was later transferred to the Shriners Burn Center.
In trying to reconstruct the events of the night afterward, Keating ran into one roadblock when the mother of a youth who had been at the gathering refused to speak on advice of her lawyer.
It seems from the report that David Barber later told Keating his son knows that what he did was wrong "and may make a good speaker for other kids sometime down the road." She added, "The family is dealing with a lot."
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