Lauren Smith-Fields: Family of murdered Connecticut Black woman sue police over probe
Lauren Smith-Fields, 23, a woman of color, was found dead in her apartment on December 12 under mysterious circumstances. The family of the woman has expressed dissatisfaction with the investigation into the case and claimed that the police have mishandled the probe into her death. More than a month after her death, the answers to how and why she died remain undisclosed.
According to a Bridgeport Police Department report, Smith-Fields was drinking tequila at her apartment with Matthew LaFountain, a White man whom she met on dating app Bumble, when she became ill and started throwing up. The two continued drinking into the night when Smith-Fields got a text and stepped outside her apartment. Following this, she went into her bathroom and stayed in there for several minutes. Her date, LaFountain, later told an officer “he thought it was odd, but didn’t feel it was his place to say anything as he didn’t know her that well,” according to the police report.
READ MORE
The woman's family said that they found inconsistencies in the report including the fact that the 23-year-old was intoxicated when she went outside the apartment, which she did to see her brother.
“I haven’t texted my sister since December fourth,” Jetter, the brother of the woman, said, recounting the night of December 11, when he called Smith-Fields to bring out his basket of clothes he was picking up.
“I didn’t know that anybody was in there. She came out and she was out there for like 10-15 minutes and she walked back into the house. She looked normal. She didn’t look sick, she didn’t look tired, she didn’t look drunk. I’m her second older brother, if I would have seen her drunk I would’ve said ‘What are you doing?’ … ‘Why do you look like that?’”
Jetter also cited other evidence that he had found in the apartment that had remained uncollected by the police when they started the investigation. “The first night we saw cups there, flipped plates and the lube. The cops didn’t take any of the cups to test the liquor,” Jetter told a news outlet. “There was a big stain of blood in the middle of her bed, with streaks going to the right side.”
The family also claims Bridgeport Police were unprofessional in their handling of the investigation and told the family to stop calling them regarding the probe. The family also complained about the fact that LaFountain had not been identified as a suspect in the case. The family announced Sunday they would be suing the department.
“We’re filing a lawsuit here in Bridgeport to compel them to process this case, to protect this family, and to give them the equal rights they deserve under the Connecticut Constitution,” attorney Darnell Crosland for the family told NBC Connecticut.