MIDWEST CITY, Okla. – The parents of a man who has been found dead in a creek are waiting on toxicology results after the autopsy showed no signs of trauma.
“It’s very, very hard. That was my baby,” Denise Evans told News 4.
Fighting back tears, Denise talked to News 4 about her son, 43-year-old Gabriel Bronson Pack.
Pack was found dead, face up in the shallow waters of a Midwest City creek on Tuesday.
Three days before that, Denise said she received an alarming phone call from him.
“He says ‘I’m going to walk over to your house, and I said, ‘No it’s so cold, just go back to your house and, if you need me to come over, I will,’” Denise said.
Denise said her son insisted on walking nearly five miles from his Del City home to their house in Midwest City.
“He didn’t know his way around because we lived in Duncan. That’s where he was born and raised,” Denise said.
Pack spent the past 20 years in prison for a short list of non-violent crimes, two counts of first-degree burglary and unauthorized use of a vehicle. He was released about four months ago.
A lot of changes since 1998, and Pack’s parents said he was struggling with the transition back to the real world.
“He was supposed to start an outpatient drug treatment program like the next day,” said Tommy Evans, Pack’s step father.
“The next day, I was supposed to take him, and the last thing he said to me on the phone was, ‘Mom, I can’t do this anymore. I need to go to sober living or inpatient, and I said ‘We can do that,’” Denise said.
The Evans said Pack was trying to turn around his life. He had just started a new job at a local pizzeria that he was excited about.
“He stayed with us for three months, and he had been clean but, you know, he didn’t have any transportation, no money, no way to really do anything but he thought that that was behind him. Then, when he got his own place, he kind of had a relapse,” Tommy said.
The Evans told News 4 the autopsy results came back with no signs of trauma. Now, they’re waiting on the toxicology results, hoping that might shed some light on how Pack died and why he ended up in that creek.
“Even though he was 43 years old, he was still my baby,” Pack’s mom said. “Just breaks my heart because I wanted a second chance with him.”