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'Lauren Smith-Fields didn’t use drugs': Dead woman's family debunks fentanyl OD theory

The death of Lauren Smith-Fields, a Connecticut woman who died during a date last month, was ruled an accidental drug overdose

BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT: The death of Lauren Smith-Fields, a Connecticut woman who died during a date last month, was ruled an accidental drug overdose. Her family, however, has disputed the findings of the state officials, claiming that their daughter never used narcotics. Ruling out foul play, Connecticut’s chief medical examiner said that Lauren Smith-Fields was killed by “acute intoxication due to the combined effects of fentanyl, promethazine, hydroxyzine and alcohol". 

An attorney for the Bridgeport woman’s family, Darnell Crosland, said that Lauren's family believes the investigation into her death was not enough. They have claimed that not enough was done to see if someone had slipped her the toxic cocktail. “I’ve never seen a medical examiner conclude a mixer of drugs as an accident without knowing who provided the drugs, or how it was ingested,” he wrote in a post on Twitter. "Lauren didn’t use drugs."

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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 has mishandled the probe into her death.

According to a Bridgeport Police Department report, Lauren was drinking tequila at her apartment with Matthew LaFountain with 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 Lauren got a text and stepped outside her apartment. She then 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. 

Earlier too, Lauren'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, Jetter told NYPost. “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 claimed 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 had said back then.