The brokenhearted family of the late 23-year-old Lauren Smith-Fields has dragged a Connecticut police department to court for allegedly “mishandling the investigation into how their 23-year-old daughter wound up dead after a night of drinking with an ‘older white man’ she met on a dating site.”
Lauren Smith’s family is frustrated over how the police are handling the investigations into the matter and since they do not trust the police will be fair in their investigations, they’ve dragged them to court hoping to get justice.
Lauren Smith-Fields, who is black, was found dead in her Bridgeport apartment on December 12 by the man she met on the Bumble dating app. More than a month later ‘her cause of death is pending further studies.’
Her loved ones are reportedly frustrated with how local police are handling the case, alleging the detective told them to stop contacting him and was uninterested in pursuing Smith-Field’s date as a suspect, whom they described as an ‘older white man.’
‘When I asked the officer about the guy, he said he was a very nice guy and they weren’t looking into him anymore. It was almost like he was sticking up for him and it seemed weird to hear that from a detective,’ her brother Lakeem Jetter told NBC Connecticut.
Jetter also alleged police were not thorough in their initial crime scene investigation, noting that while officers confiscated her phone, passport and $1,345 in cash, they neglected to collect other pieces of potential evidence. He told Rolling Stone they found a used condom in the trash, lubricant, bloody sheets on her bed and an unidentified pill in the unit.
‘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,’ said Jetter.
‘There was a big stain of blood in the middle of her bed, with streaks going to the right side.’ Smith-Fields’ mother also claims the officers made her feel as if the investigation was ‘not important.’
We now know the white man is named Matthew LaFountain and he is now telling his side of the story.
It is an interesting tale.
Here is what he had to say.
He told police that Smith-Fields asked him for $40 to get her nails done and invited him over to her apartment. While there they allegedly drank tequila, with Smith-Fields getting up to vomit in the bathroom.
After she came back, they continued to drink, as well as eat and start a movie. He said that in the middle of the movie she received a text from her brother to get something from him. She went outside with her brother before coming back in and heading to the bathroom. LaFountain says she was in the bathroom for over 10 minutes, which he found odd.
He then claims that she fell asleep on the couch while watching the movie, so he brought her to her bed. He then fell asleep beside her. At 3 a.m., he got up and noticed her snoring. When he got up at 6:30 a.m., he said that she was lying on her right side, bleeding from her nose and not breathing. He then called 9-1-1. He also claims that they didn’t have sex and he was laying with her fully clothed.
I will be honest I don’t believe him but he is white so the privilege is with him.
Flip to the next page to see photos of Lauren Smith-Fields and more about LaFountaine.