(gentle mysterious music) - Hi guys, welcome back to my channel. So happy to have you here today. If you are new, welcome. So, today we are talking about
a case that has been highly, highly requested in my request form. If you did not know, I
do have a request form, and I do monitor it, especially for cases
that are being requested over and over again, like this one. Today we're gonna be talking
about Lauren Smith-Fields. And, not only are we talking about Lauren, but we are also talking
about a woman who died in the same town on
the same day as Lauren, but really hasn't gotten
any attention at all. I don't think there were
actually any requests for Brenda's case, and that's not because people aren't interested, it's because people just
don't know about her case. There has been very limited
coverage on Lauren's, but also Brenda's. And I just wanted to take the time today to talk about both of them. Now, when it comes to these two cases, it's been very difficult to
pull together enough information for a full video, because
it's been extremely limited, just what's available. Like I said, there have
been so many requests for me to talk about Lauren Smith-Fields. And those requests
really started coming in after Cardi B had mentioned Lauren and gotten a lot more
attention to the case. Her family said they think
Cardi B is the reason that the police ended up
getting enough pressure to actually launch an
investigation in the case, because at first they didn't. And the way that this case
and Brenda's was handled is truly unbelievable. I first heard of Lauren's case
towards the end of December, and there was literally
no coverage on it at all at that point, maybe
one article, maybe two. And since Cardi B kind
of brought the spotlight on Lauren's case, there has
been so much more coverage, still not as much as there should be, but enough that I feel like I
can do a video at this point, but I did wanna explain that to people. I did get a lot of rather
aggressive messages, people who are very frustrated that Lauren's case isn't
getting enough coverage, frustrated that I hadn't covered it yet. And I totally understand
where they're coming from, but I do wanna explain to people that I'm just a girl with Google. I can't do much at the end of the day. I'm not an investigator. I am not a journalist, and I can only work with
what's available to me online. And sometimes it's so minuscule, and that is incredibly frustrating. I've had Lauren's case
on my calendar for awhile and I kept pushing it out, hoping that there's gonna be more coverage, there's gonna be more information. And, even at this point,
when I'm recording today, I thought there was gonna be
more, and there's really not. So, I might be covering this
case again in the future, depending on what comes out
and how everything plays out in the next couple of weeks to months. But I still wanted to talk about it today, and also talk about Brenda's case as well, even though the information
is very limited. But I hope this starts a conversation, and that maybe knowing the
basic details around the case can draw in some more interest. And, the more people are interested, the more the media seems to put out. And that's the unfortunate truth about it. It is truly disappointing how
every missing person's case is treated differently,
depending on public interest, media coverage, mainly
local media coverage, and how seriously the
police are taking it, whether or not they're
doing press conferences, are they making an effort
to get that public interest? Oftentimes they just don't. But one thing I have noticed
is the more public interest there is in a case, the more
coverage it's going to get. So hopefully we can keep
the conversation going about Lauren, really start
it up for Brenda, you know, that more can actually be done, and maybe there will be
closure and possibly justice in these cases. So let's start with Lauren Smith-Fields. So Lauren was born on January 23rd, 1998, in Bridgeport, Connecticut,
to her parents, Shantell Fields and Everett Smith. Lauren has three brothers,
Kyle, Lakeem, and Tavar. And Lauren was always a
dreamer from a young age. She had big plans for her future. And after graduating Stanford High School, Lauren attended Norwalk Community College where she was studying to
become a physical therapist. Lauren really loved all things fitness. And that really started with
running track in high school. But even after graduating, she maintained a steady gym routine. She was also very into nutrition
and ate a plant-based diet to supplement her lifestyle. Lauren was one of those
extremely goal-oriented people, and she was incredibly focused. She was known for putting up post-it notes all around her bathroom with her current goals written on them. And some of her big goals
were finishing college, and also eventually becoming
a physical therapist. And from what I found online, Lauren seemed to be incredibly
close with her family. especially her mother, Shantell. The two of them would often
get their nails done together. And Shantell said that
Lauren would always like to get acrylics with some type
of intricate design on them. And getting her nails done
was just one of the many beauty-related things
that Lauren loved to do. And, it was kind of self-care for her. - So you're back with
Lauren and we're gonna dye two wigs today. One's gonna be a periwinkle ice blue, like a pastel blue, and then
one's gonna be a bright orange. This is the finished
look, thanks for watching, and please like, comment, subscribe if you wanna see different
looks on me, bye. - She only had a few videos
posted to her YouTube channel unless some of them were privated, but she did have a couple
hundred subscribers, and she was definitely on her way to building a great channel. And as you can see, Lauren
was without a doubt, just beautiful, but she was
also beautiful on the inside. Her brother Tavar said that Lauren was just that kind of person who could always make you
smile, always make you laugh. She was really fun to be around and just had a good energy about her. And he said that she could
always make someone feel better if they happen to be feeling down. Lakeem said that she was the best sister that he ever could have imagined having, and he loved her so much. Lauren was a busy person. She was always working hard in school, working hard in the gym, traveling, but she would always make time for the people who mattered
most to her, and her family. - My daughter was funny. She was like, when she walked into a room, she lit up the whole room. She loved doing makeup. She loved hanging around with
her friends. She loves family. She was very family orientated. And just always being there for me, like going out and having
mother and daughter dates, getting our nails done. And just also, just spending
time together with each other, her cooking for me or, because
I work so late at night, sometimes she'd just
come over and be like, "Mom, let me just grab your
laundry and wash them for you." She was that type of daughter. - So on the afternoon
of December 13th, 2021, super recently, Shantell had trouble getting
ahold of her daughter. It's been reported that her
family was trying to have some type of Christmas
dinner at Lauren's apartment. And that was coming up, it was
December 13th at this point. So, her mom was trying
to get in touch with her to kind of solidify some of their plans. But when she contacted her, she didn't hear back from her daughter. And this was unusual for Lauren. So she texted her saying, "Are you okay?" And then said, "Please let me know." And after she sent her those messages, there was no response from Lauren, and her mom started to
get really freaked out. Lauren was just not the type
of person to ignore a text, especially from her mother. So that evening, around 9:00 PM, they decided to go over there. Shantell and Lakeem actually
went to her apartment to see if she was there. And when they got there, there was a note on the door that said, "If you're looking for
Lauren, call this number." And when Shantell called that number, Lauren's landlord answered. The landlord said that
they would be right down to talk to them in person. They quickly came down, and what she told them
was absolutely shocking. You wouldn't think you
would get this information from a landlord, but
the landlord told them that Lauren had died. And not just that, Lauren
had died the morning before, December 12th. Lauren Smith-Fields was
pronounced dead at 6:49 a.m. on December 12th, 2021. So, they are getting this
news from the landlord, 36 hours after Lauren had passed. Shantell said when they
started telling her the news, she just absolutely froze. She didn't even know how to
process what was going on. She said that she was just
trying to hold back the tears and make sense of what was going on so that she could take action. But she could not believe
that this was the way she was finding out that
her daughter was gone. And I truly cannot imagine
being in that position. There was not even caution
tape around Lauren's apartment or on the door, nothing to signify that
someone had just died there. And that made it even harder
for her family to believe that this had really
happened, and to process it. Lauren's landlord gave them
the contact information of detective Kevin Cronin from the Bridgeport Police Department. And they were hoping that he
would be able to provide her and her family with some more answers. But sadly, this phone call
did not give them any answers. It only made them more angry and confused. On the phone, the detective told them that Lauren had been on a Bumble date the night of December 11th. He told them that Lauren
had been on this date with a 37-year-old white male, and that he woke up to
find Lauren unresponsive, and he had called the police. And he also told them not
to worry about this guy because he was a really nice guy. Now, obviously when your
child is found dead, you don't really care if the
person they were found with was a nice person. You are going to want to know
more information about them, and want them to be
thoroughly investigated, no matter who they are. They asked detective Cronin
to come and meet them at Lauren's apartment so they could kinda get some more clarification and figure out where to go
from there, and he agreed. However, 30 minutes went
by, then 45 minutes went by, then an hour went by, and
this dude never showed up. After an hour and 30 minutes, they decided to give him another
call and ask where he was. Shantell said that he
picked up the phone, said, "Stop calling me," and then hung up. And, you guys, this is not
the only time in this case that he hung up on her family. So Detective Cronin never
gave them the time of day. He never showed up. And because they had been told so little about Lauren's death, and they
still had so many questions, they called over and
over again for 16 days, trying to get ahold of Detective Cronin or someone that could help them. It wasn't until December 29th, when they went to Lauren's apartment to get some of her
belongings and clear it out, that they were informed
that Detective Cronin was removed from the
case after messing up. - [Reporter] And claim
a new detective came by to say he'd taken over the
case from Detective Cronin. - Detective said he
effed up, he messed up. F Cronin, he messed up. He's like, "He didn't
know what he was doing. He messed up the case." - And at this point, when
they went to the apartment, it had been two weeks since Lauren died and there was no sign at all that the police were
planning to collect evidence or process the scene as a crime scene. So, her family started
trying to investigate as much as they could. And inside the apartment, her
family found a used condom, a loose pill, and blood on her bed. The incident report also
noted that there was a plate of food tipped upside down
on the living room floor. So, they decided to call up
crime scene investigators, and had to literally beg them
to come process the scene. And eventually they did,
on December 29th, that day. And when investigators arrived, they informed them that
they would need DNA swabs from Lauren's family to move forward, and that they would not be
moving forward with the case or the investigation without those swabs. - That's the most unnerving. If you're gonna tell us,
"Leave the apartment," that you're gonna do this whole forensic, and at the same time, you
want to ask the family to give them swabs, because
we're in the apartment moving. But at the same time, where's the swabs from that night? They wanna take our DNA, but they don't wanna ask for
that person's DNA, or anything. And I find that absolutely rude. And they said to us, if we
did not get them our DNA, they would not move forward
with the investigation. - And this was one of the
most frustrating moments to her family. I mean, obviously they're
willing to comply, but they felt like they were
being treated as suspects. When the one man who was
with her the night she died, and the last person to see her alive was not being considered a suspect because he was a nice guy. So it wasn't until more than
two weeks after Lauren's death that they started kind of piecing together some of what had happened on that date. And this was coming from the guy himself. So like I explained earlier, Lauren was using the app Bumble, and I've never used a dating app myself, so I'm not super familiar with
all of the different apps, but from what I do know, I'm pretty sure that
Bumble is one of the apps where women have to be the one
to initiate the conversation. So Lauren must have been somewhat
interested in this person, and she was matched with
a 37-year-old, white male, like I said. And I'm not able to use
his name in this video because he is not even
named a person of interest at the point where I'm recording this. And so for legal reasons, to
protect myself and my channel, I cannot say his name. However, it is not hard to find, you guys. If you do a quick Google search, you'll be able to figure
out this guy's name. But I'm gonna be referring
to him as Michael. So it's hard to tell if
Lauren was using this app to try to find a boyfriend, or if she was just casually dating. But regardless of her intentions, the two of them set up their first date for the night of Saturday,
December 11th, 2021. Now, according to Michael, Lauren and him had been
chatting on the app for about three days prior to the date. And according to him, she was the one who invited
him over to her place to finally meet up. He said that the first
few hours of the night were spent playing games,
eating, and drinking tequila. Michael said eventually
they decided to start watching a movie, and during the movie, Lauren had stepped out of
the apartment to say hello to her brother who had stopped
by to drop something off. Now, obviously I don't know what exactly he was dropping off, but after he dropped off whatever he did, Lauren went into the bathroom
for, according to Michael, about 10 to 15 minutes. And after she was done in the bathroom, Lauren came back and
finished the movie with him on the couch. And he said that he didn't ask her why she was in the bathroom that long. Then he said Lauren fell
asleep on the couch, and after the movie, he
decided to pick her up and take her to bed. And he also went to bed with her. And Michael also claims that he and Lauren did not have sex that night, and that he never even
took his clothes off. He slept in them. He says that he woke up at 3:00
a.m. to go to the bathroom, and when he did, he heard
Lauren snoring in bed, so he thought all was good. And then just a few hours
later, at 6:30 a.m., he woke up to see Lauren on her side with blood coming out of her nostril. And he said that he could
tell she was not breathing. Michael said that he
immediately freaked out and called 9-1-1, and that he was met by
officer Carla Remele at the apartment. Carla said that when she arrived,
Lauren was not in the bed, she was on her back on the floor. She said there was no sign of life, and that she confirmed
that there was blood around her right nostril. Now the incident report says
that Michael was asked by 9-1-1 to start giving Lauren chest compressions, which is why she was moved
off the bed onto the floor. We do not have access to that
9-1-1 call at this point, it might be released in
the future, who knows. Michael also stated in the incident report that Lauren had asked
him for $40 that week to get her nails done. However, her mother Shantell
says that this is not true, that Lauren never asked for money. So this is one of those details that has been hard to get an answer on. I was hoping that with
the lack of information that's available to the public, that I could get in touch
with Lauren's family and have them be part of this video, but I'm obviously not a
priority to them right now. They're extremely busy. I haven't heard back,
but it's also possible they haven't even seen my messages. I tried to reach out in
a couple different ways. I just wanted to let
them know that if they do want to tell their story
on one of my platforms, whether it's this channel or my podcast, I'm always open to that. And I will have my victim's
advocate form linked below and will be keeping an eye
out for a form from them. But as of right now, I just
have to go off the articles, and all I know is Michael
says that she asked for money, and they say that she didn't. So, obviously, if any of
us had lost a loved one this suddenly, and had no answers as to what happened to them, but we knew that they were with a person that was pretty much a stranger to them in the hours leading up to their death, and at the time of their death, that would be suspicious to us. So obviously, Lauren's
family is very suspicious of Michael at this point. But from the start, the
Bridgeport Police Department has not even considered that Michael could have anything
to do with Lauren's death. It's something that they just
have discounted completely. - Anyone that generally
cared, and they were there, the last person there, and they know that nothing bad happened, you would at least even reach
out to the family yourself. Like, listen--
- Exactly. - I'm sorry for your loss of
your daughter or your sister. - They have treated the information that she was on this Bumble
date as irrelevant to her case, which really doesn't make any sense. And aside from Michael telling the police his version of events and
what they did that night, the police have let him go
about his life as normal. And again, when Bridgeport
police were asked why they were not treating
Michael as a person of interest, at least, they said, "Because
he's a really nice man." Now, of course, I am
not saying that Michael, whose name is not actually Michael, but I'm not saying that
this man killed Lauren. We don't know at this point, but, you'd think that he
would be automatically a person of interest since he
was the one who was with her when she died. Obviously, this guy is
innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, of course. But I do think he's
noteworthy in this case. And I would assume most of you guys agree. The Smith-Fields family
has hired an attorney named Darnell Crosland. And mainly that's because
it's become increasingly clear that the police are not abiding by the law when it comes to handling Lauren's case. I mean, foul play or not,
the police should have afforded her the same
respect that they would any other victim. The fact that Lauren's
family was not even contacted when they found her body
is mind blowing to me. Can you imagine how pissed you would be if that was your daughter
or your loved one, your wife, your sister, whoever? What the hell? And members of the family have claimed that they were told by police that the reason they didn't contact them was because they already
identified Lauren. They didn't need their
help to identify her because they already saw her passport. What? That doesn't mean the family
doesn't still need to know that their child has died. And it's not like she was a Jane Doe. They knew exactly who she was
and how to contact her family. They literally had her information and all of her belongings, she
was found in her apartment. In fact, they had her cell phone. They also found $1,345 in cash. And they never made any effort
to contact anyone she knew. It's unbelievable. Now obviously, the state of
Connecticut does have rules and procedures in place for how to handle finding a deceased person, and how to alert their
family that they are gone. And all of that was just
ignored, for whatever reason. And this just set the pace for the rest of the investigation. I mean, they never even
collected evidence. The police just assumed from the beginning that this was an accidental death. And so, they treated it that way. They never collected evidence. They never followed any
of the proper procedures they were suppose to,
which to me is scary. As a citizen of this
country, what the fuck? The police are not there to
make an assumption like that, that someone has died
accidentally, without proof, without solid evidence for that. There should have been
investigators involved from the start. Investigators should have been brought in to make that assumption on their own. There should have actually
been an investigation at all. I mean, just by hearing
the details of this case, I'm sure you guys can tell, that there is absolutely a possibility that foul play was involved. We don't know yet, because there's not enough
information collected. And just a reminder, her family
found blood on her sheets. They found a used condom, even this guy had claimed
they didn't have sex. I mean, it's possible this
was someone else's condom, of course, but why not
check into that more, 'cause that's an
inconsistency in his story. And a loose pill, hmm. Their attorney, Darnell, has contacted the state forensic lab to ensure that those items were processed. But the woman that he spoke with said that the Bridgeport police
ever made any submissions of evidence up until that point. - The 12th and 13th, the family, and then the police came to the scene. As of the 29th, we forced them
to collect matters of import, such as a condom with semen in it, a pill that we found on the
counter, a bloody sheet, and some lube. And they picked it up on December 29th. As of today's date, those items have still not been turned into
the forensic laboratory in Maryland for analysis. And so, there's something
terribly wrong here. So, they have big
refrigerations at this lab. It's the only lab we have in
the whole state of Connecticut. And as of today, these items
still have not been turned in. So we are like, "What's
going on with this? Where are these items? Why
haven't they been analyzed?" - This condom, which was
never taken into evidence until a few weeks after her death, when the family really
started pushing back, is a major red flag,
especially when Michael said that they did not have sex that night. Now obviously, his statement can either be easily disproven or proven
with a simple DNA test. But the police just decided
to believe him at his word because he's a really nice guy, and they just dismissed
the condom completely. It was never processed into evidence until thankfully, recently it was. - This gentleman said that they had no sex and he never took his clothes off yet. Yet still, the police failed
to see if in fact his statement comports with what was found on the scene. - Now, Michael's lawyer said
that he is not being considered a suspect, as we know. And, even though he's not,
he has been cooperative with the police every step of the way. However, the Smith-Fields
family feels very strange about this cooperation,
because he has never even reached out to their family, not even with condolences, or to maybe answer any
questions they have. And, it doesn't necessarily
mean he did anything. But I would say that that is kind of odd. Their family has been very
vocal that they believe that if the night had played
out the way that he said it did that it would've made sense
for him to contact them. If you were on a first date
with someone and they died while you were there,
while you were with them, you would think that
would be so traumatizing that you would want to
reach out to her family, and to make sure that they at least know. And so, it is Lauren's family's belief that he is hiding details from that night. Again, this is just their
family's opinion at this point. The Smith-Fields and their lawyer are also extremely skeptical out
Michael and the BPD, because it's suspected that
they might actually have a prior connection. This has not been confirmed. And of course I do not intend
to spread any misinformation, but their attorney
Darnell has publicly said that there could be a connection. And I believe that it's important
to at least include that. It hasn't been clarified what
this connection could be, and obviously, I don't know if it's true, if there's anything to
really back that up. But, I believe that since their attorney has publicly said this, it's
important that I mention it. And they actually plan on
filing a $30 million lawsuit against the city soon. - What I believe is that the police failed to collect and preserve that
environment from the first day. - [Reporter] The attorney has
now filed a notice of claim to sue Bridgeport for negligence, claiming key evidence was
not initially submitted to the state lab. - And two Connecticut
detectives have been accused of mishandling the investigation
into the deaths of Lauren and also Brenda, which
I will get into next. And two of them have been suspended. One of them being Kevin Cronin, who literally hung up on their family and told them to stop calling him, which obviously he should
lose his job completely, but at this point he's
only being suspended. Hopefully that goes a step
further in the future. Shantell says that every time they went to the police department, they were treated like suspects, and they would just refuse
to answer any questions that they had about the
case, which is terrible. I truly can't imagine
being in that position, and then being treated that way. - It was careless. There was no concern. There was no like, care for
the family about how we felt, our grief, our pain, none of that. - And like I said, from the beginning, there was a major lack of media coverage. It really wasn't until Cardi B spoke up that the coverage started picking up. And with this lack of media coverage, on top of the continued misconduct, there was a march held
to the mayor's office, led by Lauren's family, that took place on January 23rd, 2022, which would've been
Lauren's 24th birthday. This march demanded that further action would be taken on her case. And that the mayor, who
has been silent thus far, speak out about the unjust
actions taken, or in this case, really not taken by police. So the same weekend as the march was held, the medical examiner
released their report. Lauren's cause of death
was ruled an accident, as a result of acute intoxication due to the combined effects
of fentanyl, promethazine, hydroxyzine, and alcohol. Now, her family says
that none of these drugs, excluding the alcohol,
would have been something that Lauren would've taken knowingly. They're adamant that
she was not a drug user. And it doesn't make sense
with her lifestyle either. I mean, Lauren was super health conscious. She was a driven person, and
involving herself with drugs would've been the complete opposite of everything that she stood for. Forensic expert, Joseph Morgan, who was an expert correspondent during the George Floyd trial, said that he doesn't believe
Lauren would've had the time, as a 23 year old, to develop
the type of dependency on these drugs that would
cause her to take so much that it would kill her. And of course, Michael's
story from that night make Lauren look suspicious. You know, getting something
dropped off to her house by her brother, then being in the bathroom for 10 to 15 minutes. And obviously, it could have been drugs. We don't know what Lauren
was doing in the bathroom. But the police should not just be assuming that that's what happened that night. They should do a full investigation and make sure that she wasn't drugged by someone else that night. But her brother Lakeem has clarified that he wasn't dropping anything off. In fact, he was picking
something up, some laundry. He said that when he saw her,
she seemed completely fine, she didn't seem intoxicated really at all. And that if she was, he would've stayed around
and made sure she was okay. So, we don't know if
Lauren took these drugs or if she was slipped them, because an investigation
is now finally underway. So it's important that we
hold off on any assumptions either way, until that
investigation is completed. Attorney Darnell Crosland
has said he has never seen a medical examiner rule a
mix of drugs an accident without first knowing how the individual obtained the drugs, and
how they ingested it. And in Lauren's case, they
never even looked into how she got this cocktail of drugs, and how or why she
consumed them that night. So the public outcry for Lauren
has really only just started because the majority of
people just did not know, due to lack of coverage. Like I said, her case really
started getting traction after Cardi B made a tweet about her case. And in the end of her tweet,
she says, "Justice for Lauren. Connecticut, you have
failed that young lady." Mayor Joseph Ganim didn't
make his first comments on the case until shortly
after the family and community marched for justice. In his final address, he
expressed condolences, and stated that he is
extremely disappointed with the leadership of the
Bridgeport Police Department. He went on to talk about how he recognizes the pain that they are in. and that sensitivity and care
is of the utmost importance when working with the family of a victim. He also added that he will
work with the chief of police to make the necessary changes
that the department needs in their policies and practices when it comes to notifying
family members of a death. - The Bridgeport Police
Department has high standards for officer sensitivity,
especially in matters involving the death of a family member. It is an unaccepted failure
if policies were not followed. To the families, friends, and all who care about human decency, that that should be shown in
these situations, in this case, by members of the police
department, I'm very sorry. To again make it clear, both
to members of the public and to the department,
insensitivity, disrespect, inaction, or deviation from policy,
will not be tolerated by me or others in this administration. My disappointment and demand
for accountability in these and all other matters brought
to my attention will remain until all the questions are answered to the satisfaction of all. - He also said that he has contacted the state medical examiner
to request assistance in expediting this matter so the family can have the
answers that they need. He also states that the
handling of Lauren's case has been sent to the police department's office of internal
affairs for investigation. The narcotics and vice division of the Bridgeport Police Department have now been brought
into the investigation, and the DEA has announced that
they will be investigating if any crime was committed, and if anyone should be
charged with her death. That is all the verifiable
information I could find at this point. Of course, there are a
lot of rumors on Reddit and social media and stuff, but I wanna keep it about
the facts in this case and what we know so far. I am recording this on
February 13th, 2022. My videos take about a
week to go through editing. So, if there is more information by the time that this video uploads, I will leave that below
and append a comment, or in the description box. But, that's all we know as of right now. So now let's talk about Brenda. Brenda Lee Rawls is a
53-year-old black woman who died just two miles from
Lauren on the exact same day. Now her case has gotten
almost no coverage, and no public outcry whatsoever. And, I don't think that's
the fault of the people. I think it's the fault of
the police and the media for not bringing it to people's attention. Brenda was born on December 2nd, 1968, in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where she spent the majority
of her 53 years of life. Brenda's a very funny
person, a very lively person. She was an avid member of her church and would frequently
volunteer in her spare time, helping the homeless
people in her community. She has three sisters,
Angela, Dorothy, and Deirdre. And her family says that she
was an extremely hard worker. She had a full-time job working as a customer
service representative, and also lived a very healthy lifestyle. Not a lot of information besides that has been released to the
public at this point. But considering the devastation
that has been expressed by her family, I'm assuming
Brenda was a lovely person who was adored by the people in her life. Now, just like in Lauren's case, Brenda's sisters noticed
that she wasn't responding to their phone calls on December 12th. And Brenda was in pretty
much constant contact with her sisters, they
spoke, like every day. So this was unusual for her. And, when they didn't hear back from her, they started to get concerned. So on December 14th,
two of Brenda's sisters, two of her nieces, and one
of her niece's boyfriends went to her place to check on her. They went and knocked on her door. They kept on knocking,
but there was no answer. And that's when they started
to get really worried, and they started calling
around to local hospitals. They called the police department. They even tried some funeral homes, and no one had any
information about Brenda. Then they remembered that on the 11th, Brenda said that she was
going down the street to a man's house, a friend of hers, or I guess, I'm not sure
how close they were. It was someone that she knew, and she said she was
going down to his house. So, they ended up walking
down to this guy's house to see if he knew anything
about where Brenda was. And when they got there, this man told them that Brenda
actually had died in his home two days prior. And this is the first that her
family was hearing about it. The police never contacted them. He told them that when
he woke up that morning, Brenda was in his bed unresponsive, and that he had no other information about where she was now. He gave them Brenda's clothes
and shoes, which he still had. The police didn't even take them in. And at that, they're just
trying to find her body. So they call a local funeral
home, and they tell them that they should call the
medical examiner's office and that they probably have
an idea about where she is. And sure enough, when they
called the medical examiner, she was there, but they had
not been notified at all that she had passed. Right now it is not believed
that these two cases are linked in any way, and it
doesn't seem like they are. However, there are definitely
some similarities here. And the biggest similarity
is how they were handled by the police, and the
straight up just misconduct. - We wanna know why our sister
was treated like a Jane Doe. Nobody notified us. It's almost like they
want it to disappear, and for us to disappear. - We had to figure out
everything on our own. No one took the courtesy
to inform a relative. - And we're not gonna stop until we get some type of answers. - Please look into sensitivity training for all your officers. That's all I wanna say. - The Rawls family didn't even learn the name of the detective
assigned to the case until a few days after. Turns out, it was Detective Angel Llanos with the Bridgeport Police Department who was assigned to the
case to investigate. But he made no attempt
to contact her family, even though they left
four messages for him. And once again, there was
absolutely no investigation into her death. It appears that detective Llanos didn't even file an incident report. And at this point, the
family is not even sure if a 9-1-1 call was even made. The police likely know
if there was a call made, I mean, we would hope so. But at this point, that information is
being kept under wraps. And, the man that Brenda
was last seen with, was apparently with her when she died, was not even brought in
for questioning, initially, and was not considered a suspect. And although the medical
examiner, under pressure, has finally now released a
cause of death for Lauren, nothing has been released as far as a cause of death for Brenda. In fact, the medical
examiner's office said it's gonna take six to eight weeks before they have that information. I'm hoping that maybe by the
time this video goes live, there will be an update
about her cause of death. Luckily, the Rawls family
is also working with Attorney Darnell Crosland
to look into the misconduct from the Bridgeport Police Department, because they feel that
because Brenda was black, and a female living a low-income area, that police believed nobody
would come looking for her if they just brushed
her death under the rug. They feel that they have
been completely ignored, and that Brenda wasn't taken seriously, even though she was a loved
member of the community. And they also plan to sue the
Bridgeport Police Department. And in the mayor's response to the public, he also has noted Brenda's death and sent his condolences to the family. Of course, after all the pressure came in. And like I said, as of
the last week of January, it was announced that both
detective Kevin Cronin and Detective Angel Llanos
have been suspended, and an internal investigation
into their conduct is currently taking place. - What we were disappointed
about the most was that the world can hear us
crying for justice and equality, but the city of Bridgeport
and its administration had done nothing until this week, when they finally put the two officers in charge of this investigation
on administrative leave. So, it's an enema of sunshine, but we've been in the dark for so long that we'll have to accept that for now, as we continue to strive for justice. - And people are not satisfied with the decision to suspend them, because even though they
are removed from their jobs, temporarily, they are still being paid. The Rawls family has been
outspoken that they believe the entire department
needs to be broken down and reconstructed from the bottom up. And when I tweeted about the
Bridgeport Police Department, so many of you were responding saying that you're not surprised
by this misconduct, that they are a total mess, and that they mistreat
people all the time. The president of the
Bridgeport NAACP chapter has also spoken out about how the Bridgeport Police
Department handled these cases. And he has stated that he recommends a variety of new training
and hiring practices so this can be avoided in the future. He also thinks that there
should be more community input and oversight, so that the
police department can address the insensitivity and
prejudicial treatment towards black citizens, and improve these
relations moving forward, especially considering that
35% of Bridgeport's population is black. The Bridgeport chapter of
the NAACP has also demanded that the Department of Justice
investigate the actions of the Bridgeport Police Department and their handling of
Lauren and Brenda's cases. So right now, this is all we know when it comes to Brenda
and Lauren's cases. Obviously, it could be proven
that there was no foul play in one of these cases, or both of them. We just don't know at this point. But with or without foul play, the way that these families
were treated is just disgusting. It's absolute garbage
in today's day and age that these families, with all the way you can contact people, the fact that these families
were not even alerted that their loved ones had
died is reprehensible. These families deserved
way more respect, care, sensitivity, urgency, reporting. I mean, this community deserves that. I'm hoping that with all of
the increase in public demand for information in these cases, and public outcry and outrage, that there will be more
information coming in the future. And hopefully this video
can be a small part of that in some way. There are GoFundMes set up
for both of these cases. Luckily, Lauren's has gotten
quite a bit of support. They have raised a large
amount of money so far. Brenda's family has not gotten the same. And again, I think that's
because a lotta people just don't know about Brenda's case. I will be making personal
donations to both of them, and I encourage you guys
to check out their page, and anything helps. I mean, whatever you
can offer these families really means a lot. I will also will leave
ways that you can contact the Bridgeport Police
Department and let them know how you feel about this case. And the mayor, I'll leave
his information below. Even something as simple as a
tweet, it makes a difference. That pressure really goes a long way. I wish I had more
information for you guys. Let's all hope that more will come out and we will have some answers when it comes to these two women who were loved by their family,
friends, and communities. I send my condolences to these families. I want them to know that my
victim's advocate form is open and I am here to support
them in any way possible. But that is it for me today, guys. I hope you have a good day. I hope you stay safe out there, and I will see you next time. (gentle mysterious music)
