Lauren Smith-Fields’ Family to Sue Police Over Investigation Into Her Death

The family of a Black woman found dead in her apartment after a Bumble date plans to sue the local police department for allegedly failing to properly investigate her death and being “racially insensitive.” 

The body of TikTok influencer Lauren Smith-Fields, 23, was found in her apartment in Bridgeport, Connecticut, on the morning of Dec. 12, after going on a date with a man named Matthew LaFountain. According to a police report, LaFountain, who called 911 around 6:30 a.m., answered the door “frantic” and led police to where Smith-Fields was lying on the floor; she was unresponsive and had dried blood around her right nostril. A medic said she’d been dead for at least an hour. A cause of death has not been released. 

The police report said LaFountain gave a written statement on his version of events but did not indicate if he was taken in for questioning. 

“The police department has been racially insensitive to this family and has treated this family with no respect and has violated their civil rights,” a notice of claim filed by the family said. “They have failed to investigate this matter and they refuse to view the last person with Lauren Smith-Fields before she died as a person of interest.” 

In the notice of claim, lawyer Darnell Crosland said LaFountain, 37, is “old enough to be Lauren’s father.” Crosland said one of the detectives involved in the case, Kevin Cronin, “has some connection” to LaFountain and alleged he “may have unofficially arrived at the apartment to assist Mr. LaFountain in a cover-up.” 

Crosland said Cronin has since been removed from the case and is being investigated by Bridgeport’s internal affairs department. 

Bridgeport police have not responded to VICE News’ request for comment. In a statement to news station WTNH, the department said it is “awaiting the final report from the chief medical examiner’s office for cause and manner of death of Ms. Smith-Fields. The Bridgeport Police Department offers its sincerest condolences to the family and friends of Ms. Lauren Smith-Fields.” 

Police also said there are “elements of misinformation being reposted by various sources.” 

Speaking to Yahoo News, Crosland said typically the last person seen alive with someone is “pivotal to the investigation,” but in this case, “police have been very hesitant to even call this person a ‘person of interest.’” Smith-Fields’ brother, Lakeem Jetter, told NBC Connecticut police had told him LaFountain seemed like a “nice guy.” 

“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,” he said. 

Smith-Fields’ family told NBC Connecticut police didn’t notify them that Smith-Fields had died; they found out after seeing a note from her landlord on her door. 

Jetter told NBC Connecticut that when he followed up asking questions to Cronin, Cronin “told me directly on the phone to stop calling him and hung up in my face; it was just, like, total disrespect.”

The family intends to sue Cronin, Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim, acting assistant Police Chief Rebeca Garcia, and Sgt. Joseph Morales. The notice of claim said the police department has violated the family’s rights under the 1983 Civil Rights Act and has not provided them with due process under the 14th Amendment, which grants civil and legal rights to Black people. 

According to the police report, LaFountain said he had known Smith-Fields for three days and that she had invited him over for a date on Dec. 11 after they met on Bumble. He said she’d asked him to bring $40 for a manicure and a bottle of tequila. He said they were drinking shots when she got ill and began vomiting in the bathroom. Then he said they continued drinking, played games, and started watching a movie. 

He said she told him her brother was going to drop something off and that she left the apartment for a few minutes before coming back inside and going to the bathroom for 10-15 minutes. 

“He thought it was odd but didn’t feel it was his place to say anything as he didn’t know her that well,” the police report said. 

It said they both fell asleep and that when he woke up at 6:30 a.m. she was lying on her right side, not breathing, with blood coming out of her right nostril. 

Crosland said the physical evidence on the scene included a sedative pill, a condom filled with semen, and a blood stain on Smith-Fields’ bed. But he said Bridgeport police did not correctly process the scene and had not submitted the evidence to a lab for testing as of Jan. 5.  

Smith-Fields’ family also told Rolling Stone that her nails had been done earlier the week that she died; Jetter said when he saw his sister the evening of the Bumble date, she “looked normal” and didn’t seem drunk. 

The family is now crowdfunding so that it can hire a private investigator to conduct a separate investigation into Smith-Fields’ death. 

On Sunday, Smith-Fields’ family and friends held a protest outside the police station on what would have been her 24th birthday. According to Rolling Stone, a family in attendance echoed their concerns, accusing Bridgeport police of being indifferent to the death of Brenda Lee Rawls. Rawls was found dead in a home on Dec. 12; her family told News 12 Connecticut police didn’t inform them she died and said they couldn’t help them find answers.  

“We have seen the amount of resources that have gone to other cases involving missing white women like Gabby Petito, and we know so many Black women are missing so much in this country,” Crosland told NBC Connecticut.

Follow Manisha Krishnan on Twitter.