You pull up the bumble lap on your phone and start scrolling, swiping away. You eventually connect with someone who seems like a decent match, make plans for a date, and yet you have no idea And how could you that this is the last time anyone will see you alive. My name is m William Phelps. I'm an investigative journalist and true Prime author. I've dedicated the past twenty years of my life to helping families of the missing and murder join me. Part one of this two part Crossing the Line. Twenty three year old Laurence Smithfields just wanted to meet that special someone, and in today's world of pandemics and social media isolation, a dating app is probably the most effective way to find love. A gorgeous black woman with long hair flowing past her shoulders, bright eyes, and a supermodel's figure. By late twenty twenty one, Lauren is well into her studies at Norwalk Community College after graduating from Stanford High School in Connecticut. Her goal is to become a physical therapist. So we usually don't make a point of mentioning race on the show, but we did in this case because there are some racial undertones in this case that I'll get to over the course of both episodes. Lauren was very how can I explain it too, very headstrong, very headstrong from preschool. I remember her father and I got a call saying we need to have a meeting, and we said okay. We went there and the teacher said that Lauren held all the pink crowns and she will allow any of her friends to color unless they picked pink. She was always the girl inside a classroom that would challenge the teacher, like if the teacher pronounced something incorrectly, then she would be the ones to be like, that's not correct. That is the voice of Lauren's mother, Chantell, who grew up in Stanford herself. Lauren is the youngest of Shantell's three children. She and I had a conversation one day recently about Lauren, and the things I learned about this case from Shantell were beyond shocking. They set off alarm bells in my mind. I reached out to Lauren's family for this episode because I think it's important in this case to understand the type of person Lauren is during the years twenty twenty and twenty twenty one and how she lived her life. This case needs to be publicized and people should be talking about it. There something very wrong about the course of events and where this case sits. Currently. In her early twenties, Lauren became very active on social media. She became a TikTok influencer, posting about the places she wants to travel and also giving beauty advice. Yeah, I checked out her socials, Phelps, and she really does have that sort of star quality about her. She's glowing. So many people call themselves TikTok influencers and are on social media today, but she really did, as you say, have that star quality about her. I agree, there's also something special about her. I think her warmth comes through in the photos as well, and that is Catherine Law by the way, for those of you who don't know, and shame on you if you don't know by now, she's my lovely producer. From an early age, Lauren is driven. Her shan'tell again. Always knew what she wanted to be like. She did really well on the track team at Stanfford High She was really really good. She got allowed awards and everything. After high school. She actually wanted at first, she wanted to be a mental therapist, and then she moved forward to be a physical therapist, so then she was going to school for physical therapy. She always was the type person that liked to help people, always wanted to help people, always wanted to be She was always able to make friends, always making friends because she smiles so much. Laura never really talked about boys or boyfriends growing up and even through high school. Chantell says she recalls only one time she brought a guy home to meet everyone. Chantell recalls that she, Lauren, and Lauren's grandmother took a trip to Dublin and Rome to celebrate Lauren's twenty first birthday, shortly after Lauren decides to move out of the family home and into her own apartment. I mean, the best part of life is traveling and experience everything that you can fit into your mind and into your heart. Yeah, so much fun. And I mean, okay, I know it's her birthday, but I was her personal photographer. Chantelle and Lauren are as close as a mother and daughter could be. Lauren's life at this time is busy and full, and that's important. Keep that in mind here. After they returned from Europe, her social media career took off, Chantel has moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut, which is actually the most populous city in the state at about one hundred and fifty thousand people. This is a busy place. It's also one of those Connecticut cities directly tied to I ninety five, the interstate, cutting a path right through downtown. Lauren moves fairly close to her mother to be near her family, which is everything to her. Her. You know, she was happy. She's a family oriented person, so she always had us over for dinner or cooking something or experimenting on us. A very outgoing young lady, very like sometimes she would think that she was my mom. Lauren is always stopping by her moms to do her mother's laundry clean or just say hello. They go shopping together, how to eat, or maybe just a night watching Netflix or a Bravo series. After her social media takes off, Lauren is sort of pushed into modeling and she starts to get these print ad gigs and is being noticed as a standout. Just like in high school. The only thing she rarely mentions to family is anything about her love life. Lauren never really said, hey, you know, I have a boyfriend or hey, I'm seeing someone. Not since high school. She haven't brought anybody to me. It didn't mean she wasn't dating, but Chantelle had no idea that Lauren had joined the dating app bumble. I'm pretty sure not. Our kids share everything with their moms and the acts, you know, So Philips just to pop in here and say, we've discussed this here before and crossing the line. There's sort of this life that you share with your friends, and there's a different life that you share with your family, with your parents. It's true. I mean, even as a fifty five year old adult myself, you know, I have a life I don't share with anybody. Trust. Oh yeah, not many people would want to know. I'm kidding, I'm kid. You know I have a life I share only with maybe my closest friend to I only have one friend. And you're going to tell your friends something different than you tell your kids about your dating life, right, I mean, it's just exactly. I think I get that. I think we've explained what's going on here in this situation very well for Lauren her life and that life she has with her parents and her siblings. And in December twenty twenty one, Lauren seems to be in a great space. Here's Shantell well right, Like, what was going on in her life is that? I mean, she was very happy hanging out with me, her brother, her friends. She was planning a big Christmas dinner at her house. She never had a Christmas dinner at her house, so she was planning a big Christmas dinner. We went out and we got matching outfits and stuff like that. The whole family was so excited to come over to her house for Christmas dinner. You know, she was working. She had her own business in her house. She was tinting eyebrows and waxing, so she had a little mini business going on. When she later heard that Lauren was on Bumble during this time, Chantel was surprised. There was no shortage of guys who wanted to date Lauren. They'd be in the supermarket and men would stare at her and want to chat with her. She had so many friends, and she was in school meeting new people all the time. It just wasn't a hard thing for her to do. So Chantel is shocked by this bumble thing, But again, bumble is the way to meet people these days. Dating apps, I in no way support Bumble. You know, I support all dating apps equally, but don't play favorite. Bumble just happens to be the one that we're talking about today, right, Hashjack not an ad. After a time, Lauren meets a thirty seven year old white man on Bumble and they begin chatting on the app. Many media outlets have named this guy. I am choosing not to, so let's call him Tom. I think that's really smart, because you know, there's some nuance in this case where we don't necessarily want to dock somebody if you know, we don't need to. I'm not going to hammer somebody to across if they haven't been convicted of something, or at least there's not. You know, they're sitting in jail with evidence, facing evidence. You know, right, it's not fair. I mean, social media does it every hour, minute of every day and ruins people's lives, and I'm fucking sick and tired of it. So there I said it. Yeah. Their conversation spills over into texting. Apparently it's going well. After three days of chatting, this man claims that Lauren asks him for forty dollars to quote do her nails, and she also invites him over to her apartment. So on the evening of December eleven, twenty twenty one, Lauren gets ready for her day to come over, and I'll just allow Chantelle to talk about that day before Lauren's day, which the family knew nothing about. By the way, so have they met before, because I don't know. For my part, I'm not asking a guy for forty bucks to do my nails unless i've at least like Madam before. Yeah, maybe a lot more than that. That didn't make sense to me when I read that Lauren had plenty of her own money. And we'll get to that. What happens during this time period, I think is an important fact in this case. The night before her brother and her went shopping, they came home to my house. They will put down their bags, talking about what the stuff that they bought and stuff like that. And then she laid on top of me and she was like, Mommy, I love you. And she looked at me. She said, always keep this picture next to your bed, and so that she's always putting spitty kissies all over me. And so I was laying there and so that she gave me a hug and she said Okay, mommy, I'm about to go home. And that's when he left. And then later on that night, either her brother called her or she called him to say, hey, I have your bag of clothes. So they had to which the bag of clothes because like, she mustn't have his stuff and you have her stuff. That right there, I feel is very important. One that Lauren is in good spirits, and also the fact that she and her brother had taken the wrong bags. Take note of that moment, please, because sometimes the most seemingly unimportant moments in life become unexpectedly vital. According to an incident report of what happened on the night of December eleven, twenty twenty one, and this is mostly information given by Tom, this is what occurs. Lauren has food ready when he arrives, They eat, Then, according to Tom, they start drinking tequila with mixers while playing games. After that, she puts a movie on and they sit in her living room talking and watching the film. Sounds like a pretty nice day to me, little Netflix and show. It sounds pretty normal. Yeah. It also sounds like Lauren is excited to meet this guy and now here she is spending time with him. The guy is sort of clean cut too, an engineer. He's not some chump bum, unemployed deadbeat. I checked his record. He has no arrests that I could find. While they're watching the movie, Tom later claims Lauren's brother stops by, but he doesn't come into the apartment. Lauren gets a text from him, and then she goes outside to meet him. She's not gone long. Harris Chantell talking about what took place outside, which Lauren's brother has confirmed in multiple public and media statements. You know, right now, he's still having a hard time because he says, Mom, Lauren was perfectly fine. She was out there at Ruth just laughing, and you know, she's holding the bag in the hand because I just exchanged the bag with her, and she was perfectly fine. Nothing was wrong with my sister, nothing, nothing. And the thing about is those two are closer than my oldest son could. When I would be at work. It was always those two at homes, you know, together, Yoway's protector. Lauren did not tell her brother she had a date waiting inside for her. When Lauren comes back into the apartment, her date later says in that incident report, she uses the bathroom and is in there for ten to fifteen minutes. Yeah, that's interesting because I think if I got a guy home, I'm gonna said as a little time as possible in the bathroom. So he doesn't think I'm booping exactly right, But you know, well he didn't say she brought the newspaper with her or anything. So still I will be panicked. He thinks I'm booping, right, right, right, right, No, you make a good point. I mean, right, there's there's a dance you do when you got a person over this. This jumps right out at us that she's in there for ten to fifteen minutes. If it's true, right, if it's true. Right, We don't know that it's true. We only have Tom's word for it. Right. She comes out of the bathroom and they continue to watch the movie. He doesn't mention that anything is different about her. Nothing seems out of place, and at Lauren actually falls asleep while they are watching the movie. Do we know how long that went on? I don't. There's no timeline. This incident report is very basic. This stuff, this stuff is not detailed at all. This is you know. Yeah, After a while, Tom says he then quote carries her into the bedroom end quote, and falls asleep beside her. Let's take our first break and come right back, and this case will become very intense. Our bumbledate guy Tom has just carried Lauren into her bedroom. Weird and very presumptuous, I'll say, as someone who's been on bumble dates. And then he lies down beside her and falls asleep. Okay, all right, that's a choice. Philb's what okay, what would you have done in this situation? Well, look, they've known each other for hours, right me. I would have left a handwritten note and taken off. Yeah, I would have let her sleep where she was. I mean, carrying her into her bedroom, lying down beside her. Look, that feels creepy and, as I said, presumptuous if you ask me. But then again, I don't know what they talked about obviously, or where they were in this relationship right right, or how intimate they had been before this. Yeah, I'll say this, It would not have crossed my mind to be carrying her like Frankenstein carries his bride, is what I'm picturing into the bedroom? Right. It just speaks to me of too soon for any of this type of behavior. Yeah, and like for me if a man is picking me up, I am awake. When you're five, you can kind of sleep through rouette. When you are twenties, you are immediately awake of someone is trying to lift your body up. Yeah, you know, there's stuff that's starting to feel wrong about some of this, you know. And then near three am, Tom says he wakes up to use the bathroom and Lauren is sound asleep. She's actually snoring, he tells police later on. Okay, But then about three point five hours after that is when things take a turn. Tom says he wakes up at approximately six thirty am and looks over at Lauren to find her a quote, lying on her right side with blood coming out of her right nostril end quote, seeping onto the bed. And then he says she's not breathing, so he calls nine one one. Going back to that incident report, Tom is quote trembling and visibly shaking, and police arrive. By this time. The first responder, a police officer, walks into the bedroom and views Lauren, now lying on her back on the bedroom floor. She's still not breathing and there is dried blood visible inside and around her right nostril. Tom, I should add here, also tells police that at one point during their day, she became sick and started vomiting, after which time she actually felt better and continued then to drink and eat more food. So that could be what she was doing in the bathroom for ten to fifteen minutes. But you know, it also occurs to me that maybe he did stay for a good reason. Maybe he was like, hey, she's getting a little sick. I want to make sure she doesn't throw up and choke. Or you know, maybe he was too drunk to drive and he brought his car. There's maybe a little more nuance here. All excellent points, and we're going to get into this later on in the episode and in part two. All of those questions should have been asked. All that information should be available to Lauren's family, right, okay, yeah, and this is one of my points of this episode. So Lauren is still not breathing, she's on the floor, there's dried blood one of her nostrils, and they couldn't revive her. So, at just twenty three years old, Lauren smith Fields is proclaimed dead. This beautiful, fit by all accounts, healthy, bright young woman has suddenly died in nobody at this time understands how or why. Very weird, very suspicious to say the least. It certainly is. So that's the narrative from the police incident report, which also includes a note about finding thirteen hundred and forty five dollars in cash inside the apartment, again going back to why would she want forty bucks if she had that kind of catch? That's fun to get guys to paper. Stoffelts, I know that I trust me. I know I should know, should know that why that is important to note in the report and not other things I later find out tells me the scene was not documented well or not at all right exactly. If I'm a cop in charge of this case, what's clear to me is that I need to send in a detective to interview this guy, contact Lauren's family, get their story, send the body out for autopsy, and find out what happened. As a public servant, that's my obligation. I also need to secure the scene and get the crime scene investigation unit over there to do a sweep if there's a suspicious death, which this is add to it that Lauren just met this guy in a dating app and he's the only source for what happened. As a public police need to do everything possible to find the facts and be able to provide Lauren's family with answers. That's standard protocol for any police department. The thing is, I'm not saying that this guy Tom did anything either. I want to be clear about that. I'm only saying for his benefit and for Lauren's family, a complete investigation needs to be done. You know, you don't have to bring the FBI in here. I'm just talking about standard investigation practices, and frankly, it's the right thing to do. I mean, that's why we have police as to investigate suspicious debts, or even if suspicious is the like strange debts. No one can say that this isn't totally out of left field for her to be fine one minute and then not alive the next. Catherine, She's a completely healthy, twenty three year old female, vibrant vivations, very suspicious. Yeah. So there are two detectives, Angel Janos and Kevin Cronan from the Bridgeport Police Department. Cronin is put on Lauren's case by Janos, who is the supervisor. As far as I can tell from the information, I gathered. No evidence is collected from Lauren's apartment. There is no CSI team brought in to investigate. Wouldn't that be standard protocol here? Well, let's go through that. Okay, this is what's called an untimely death in copspeak. The general procedure in that case is to inspect the scene look for any incidental items that could tell you the story of what happened. These are called items of evidentiary value. You also need to meticulously document the scene, and you also need, and this is very important, to look for any outward signs of foul play, illegal items like syringes or drugs, or anything that raises a red flag of any kind. The point is to look. You have to look, right, We're not just talking about murder per se, but what could have happened. A big piece of this is contacting the families and talking to them to get a bigger, broader picture of what, if anything, family can offer as far as facts, Yeah, you know, we're talking about a day's work here. A couple of days work here. Isn't a life worth that, right, But as far as I can tell, none of that is done here. I need to allow Chantelle to explain what happens next. On that night of the day, Chantelle had not heard from Lauren Harris Shantelle reading a text exchange between her and her daughter, I'm getting angrier as we're going on. Yeah, for sure you should be. This was become of the thirteenth. It's as good morning, my daughter. If I make an appointment to get my all change for tomorrow, can you take my card to it and change it? Let me know you love you. And I just want to say how difficult it was for Chantell to go into her phone as we spoke and look back at the text from Lauren. Okay, it was the first time she had done that really since early days. Yea. I thank her for doing that, you know, for going back to that dark place. It's a terrible task, but necessary to get at the truth here. Now. What significant about this seemingly common text is the date tom was there on the night of the eleventh, So the entire day of the twelfth goes by this text Chantel sends Lauren about the oil change is on the morning of the thirteenth. Wait, so police had not contacted Chantel or Lauren's brother about her death at all yet. No and I'll get there in a minute. Not hearing back from Lauren, Chantel texts her several times that morning and throughout that day. She gets no response. Lauren was supposed to put an item on her Amazon Christmas wish list she had talked about with her mom. Chantel goes into the Amazon account and notices she hasn't done it, very unlike her, So she sends a text near seven to fifteen PM on December thirteenth, are you okay? You're not responding to me. By this time, She's now incredibly worried, concerned, getting more worried as each minute passes, and Lauren has been dead now for about a day and a half. As I'm texting her, like usually she'll like, she will text back, olmmmy, I'm sleeping, olmammy, I'm doing this right here, or she will send me something saying hey, I get back to you or something like that, or come over and get it or whatever. But that was weird. So when I around seven fifteen, I sat on my bed and that's when I don't know what made me say, it's just something weird. I said, are you okay? You're not respond to me? And I'm like, if you're not respond to me, like, I don't know what made me say that. So then I don't know. I just got sick to my stomach. And then I called her brother and I said, isn't it weird? The family's been texting her. I've been texting her. She has not respond to no one. So I said, I'm going over to her apartment. And when I go over to her apartment, it's like, I don't know why, but it's like almost like a mom. A mom already knew that something. As her mom that carried her nine months restped off of me, I knew something was not right. When I got there. My heart is raising, my hands a sweating. When I got there, I see a note on her door. Look like someone that's rifted out of a piece of paper. Here's what that scribbled note says, if you're looking for Lauren, called this number. Imagine if you're looking for Lauren, call this number. That is unimaginably cruel. I have no other words. It's horrible. It's horrifying. You're too fucking busy to tell someone that their daughter died, Like is unimaginable to be so callous. I think it's more than being busy. That's what I think. And we're going to get to that in the part two of this special two part Crossing the Line. Okay, So then I called her brother and I was like, hey, there's a note on Lauren's door saying, if you're looking for Lauren, called this number, and he said is what he said? He said, call it and so then and he said, I'm on my way. I called the number. No one answers, and then I call it again, and then Lauren's landlord answered the phone, and I said, there's a no on Lauren's door, and I go, I'm looking for Lauren. I says, she's not home. And then a girl comes out from upstairs and I said, have you seen Lauren? And she goes She goes, hold on, hold on, hold on. Like that, as this group of people Chantel doesn't know begin to explain, one of them looks at Chantell and he drops his head. Chantell knows right then and there what happened. So she runs to her car, locks the door and refuses to hear anymore, just breaking down. Remember this is how a mother found out her daughter is dead. He kept on trying to come to my car to tell me if I didn't want to hear it. And then when my son got there, um, mister Hector told him. And when I see my son fell to the ground and was screaming bloody murder. I just I just sat there in the car helpless. I couldn't get the car, didn't even hug him to calm him down. I was frozen. I couldn't move. And he cuts on yelling, she's not dead, she's my sister is not dead. He's God, she's not. Please y'all, y'all playing with me. Please tell me my sister is in a house word somewhere. Don't tell me she's dead, and don't say I could just do. I said there, And then he comes and he's opening up the door and he's grabbing me and said, Mommy, she's good, Mommy, my baby, sisters good. That could dude to just stand there, just stand there with almost like almost like I died right then there. And these random people had to be the ones to tell a woman that her daughter is That is not their job. It's not something they're qualified for, it's not something they have practice, and like what the hell, it's not something that should ever ever ever happen. No, the landlord actually has the detective's number, Janos, so he calls him. While Chantelle and her son are standing outside Lauren's apartment crying. The landlord tells the detective that they are standing right there in front of him. The detective says he will meet Chantell at her house. She then called as other members of the family and they gather at her house awaiting the arrival of the detective. And here she is talking about what happens next. And everybody came to the house, and he said that he was going to be on this way there to talk to the family. He never showed up. Never showed up. And then when Lauren's father kept on calling him, saying, we just wanted to find out what happened. So far, they do not even know where Lauren's body is. We're better yet what happened to her. And that night Chantelle went over to Lawrence saw that note about a number to call. After her son arrived, they went into Lauren's apartment. This is what they saw. It was like play. A food was turned over and so then we videotaped the whole entire apartment. There was a place that was turned over, stuff that was knocked down inside the apartment and we seeing the blood that was on the bed and everything. Her panties was on the floor. The blood was in the middle of the bed, not on the side that he said that she was laying on. There was a condom in the garbage can, there was a liquor bottle that was there. I mean, to me, this sounds like there was some sort of something going on here, but again I cannot say that for sure. I'm not making accusations. I'm just pointing out that there are questions that need answers, questions that the police should have been asking themselves maybe thousand percent. Here is one of my biggest problems as a victim's advocate for twenty three years. This sort of bullshit is unnerving to me. Bridgeport Police Department policy, straight from its policy book on the town website, clearly says this regarding death notification, the notification of next of kin of deceased, seriously injured or seriously ill persons will be carried out promptly, but no later than twenty four hours after identification has been made, and in a considerate manner. That's twenty four hours. That's less than two and a half days. Direct from the policy book regarding the collection of evidence operations, It says this, the scene of any crime is itself evidence and its preservation are vitally important to the successful clearance of the case. Improper protection of the crime scene will usually result in the contamination, loss, or unnecessary movement of physical evidence items, any one of which is likely to render the evidence useless. Therefore, the first officer to arrive at the scene of the crime automatically incurs the serious and critical responsibility of securing the crime scene from unauthorized intrusions. Right quote, which would also include they basically laughed without examining the crime scene, and Chantelle and Lauren's brother are coming in and walking around. The landlord is probably in there walking around like those are Schuemarcy. You know. The image I get is of a nineteen fifties or sixties police drama sitcom like Adam twelve or something like that, where yeah he's that, yeah, all right, take him out. Yeah. Chantelle is eager for some sort of explanation, not to mention she wants her daughter's body, and they have no idea where Lauren is. So Lauren's father continues to call the detective, and when Lauren's Foley kept on calling him, he says, he says, I already talk to your Why for Ray stop calling me? He said, don't call me no more. That is just so seconding. It's horrible. I mean, I think I gotta take a right polis. Let's take a break right now and we'll come back. Okay, sounds good. So we have a family confused, grief stricken in shock, who learned that their loved one has died days ago. God, there's been no communication from the Bridgeport, Connecticut Police Department, and they still have no idea where her body is. Shentell in her family now demand to know where Lauren is. They keep calling and calling the detective who is in charge of the case. He tells them to stop calling. They continue to call and he does not call them back. Lauren's father, in desperation, pleading, calls and leaves a voicemail for the detective. Here's Shantel, can't just tell me where my daughter's at. He can just please tell me where my daughters said. We didn't find out into probably two days later. She lived only fifty minutes away. For me, I'm so sorry. When we're gonna drive so far distical virgle body. Lauren was at the Connecticut State Medical Examiner's office in farming To, Connecticut, which is like an hour from Bridgeport on a good traffic day. They were given no details, no cause of death, no facts about what happened. Here's Shantal and I discussing this development. I'll call it. You don't find out that she's in Farmington until two days later, Yeah, two days later. And who told you she was in Farmington? The detective. We basically had to beg for where our daughter was at. So no one ever came to your house or called you and said your daughter is in Farmington, suspicious death, anything like that. Never, never, at all never. Chantel's son finally gets hold of the detective Cronan, the guy handling the case now. He asked him what happened to Lauren. According to Chantell, her sons told this quote, she met a white guy on bumble, but don't worry about that. He's a really nice guy. End quote. Oh yeah, don't just don't worry about it. Just don't even worry about it. It's fine. Chantell and Lauren's father began begging the Bridgeport police to collect evidence from Lauren's apartment, do a crime scene investigation, and collect what needs to be collected. A pill was found inside her apartment that condom the blood. How about a complete statement from the bumble day guy instead of an incident report taken on the day she is found by a patrol officer. So wait, the only statement we have is just by a patrol officer, just like a cop doing the beat, not anybody who specializes in this stuff. Remember, it's an incident report. It's not an affidavid of an interview with the guy. It's an incident report, which if you get in a traffic accident, you know they take an instant you're going to oh my god. Look. Evidence maybe sounds like a strong word here, but it can simply mean evidence of a natural death, an accidental death. The family makes plans to meet Detective Cronan over at the apartment during the week following Lauren's death. They go there, they wait an hour. He doesn't show up, so they wait another hour, and we all know that one plus one equals two, so that's two hours. Catherine, no Cronan. They call him. He tells them to stop calling Jesus for weeks shan'tell in. Laurene's father demand answers. Their daughter died and they need to know how, what in the hell happened? Has the man she was with that night been questioned? Did he give a full statement to police? What was the time of her death? Did he call nine one one immediately? These are all valid questions. Then something unbelievable happens on the same night, merely blocks away from Laurene's apartment, another black woman named Brenda Lee Rawls, who was also on kind of a date, dies unexpectedly what and just like in Laurene's case, December twelfth, December thirteenth go by and no one in Brenda's family can get hold of her. And on the fourteenth, Brenda's family tracks down the guy she went out with that night and he simply tells them I couldn't wake her and she died. Detective Crone and supervisor Detective Jano's assigns himself Brenda's case, But yet no one in the Bridgeport Police Department had notified her family that she's died. Again. Same thing. What we have here is not a failure to communicate as cool hand Luke that famous scene says, or the Guns N' Roses song. They kind they kind of use it too. This feels like something akin to white Woman's syndrome, a big, huge topic that we've covered here before. It appears that these cops don't care about these victims, or an accident or something even more sinister, and I'll give you one guess as to why. On January twenty second, twenty twenty two, the medical examiner announced that he will soon release the cause and manner of death for Lauren. And it's right around this time that Chantel tells me as laurence family is beginning to move her things out of her apartment. The Bridgeport police do this well, like a month later when they all of a sudden, when we was moving out Laurence about of the apartment after everything. Now we're like complaining and and mad about how everything was handled. Now they want to send a CEI, a person to come in there and look at like now they want to do it an investigation unit saying that, telling the family they need to get a squab from all of us, and we're like what. Months later they're telling us that they need to squab us and we're like, no, no, you said to suave the person that was in the apartment with her, and so they're saying he's a very nice guy and letting him go and just and just walk. I want to find out who was the first person that he called, because the land lord has a different story than what was in the report. The landlord told us, and we have the recording of him as well, saying that there was a police officer showed up earlier, much earlier, earlier than all the other police and the fire department and everybody else showed up. What she is suggesting is that a cop came by Lorne's apartment before those first responders or any law enforcement from Bridgeport arrived. Then he left before Bridgeport officers and emt s from the nine one call arrived. Next week, in part two, I'll speak more with Chantelle about where her daughter's case is now, and also talked to Brenda Rawls's sister, Dorothy Washington. Be safe, be aware, and don't be in Bridgeport. Sources for today's episode come from Lauren Smith Fields was found dead. Her family had to beg for answers. By Lola Fadulu, New York Times, January twenty seven, twenty twenty two. Connecticut police probe death of Lauren smith Fields, found dead after a date in December. By Rachel Triceman January twenty seven, twenty twenty two. NPR. Second Black family says Bridgeport police didn't notify them of death. By Lola Fadulu, January thirty first, twenty twenty two, New York Times. Crossing the Line is production of iHeartRadio. It's executive produced by me M William Phelps, an iHeart executive producer Katherine Law. Special thanks to producer Rose Bacchi and EP Christina Everett. Audio engineering, original music and sound design by Matt Russell. Additional thanks to Will Pearson at iHeartRadio. The series theme number four four four is written and performed by Thomas Phelps and money from more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows

You pull up the bumble lap on your phone and start scrolling, swiping away. You eventually connect with someone who seems like a decent match, make plans for a date, and yet you have no idea And how could you that this is the last time anyone will see you alive. My name is m William Phelps. I'm an investigative journalist and true Prime author. I've dedicated the past twenty years of my life to helping families of the missing and murder join me. Part one of this two part Crossing the Line. Twenty three year old Laurence Smithfields just wanted to meet that special someone, and in today's world of pandemics and social media isolation, a dating app is probably the most effective way to find love. A gorgeous black woman with long hair flowing past her shoulders, bright eyes, and a supermodel's figure. By late twenty twenty one, Lauren is well into her studies at Norwalk Community College after graduating from Stanford High School in Connecticut. Her goal is to become a physical therapist. So we usually don't make a point of mentioning race on the show, but we did in this case because there are some racial undertones in this case that I'll get to over the course of both episodes. Lauren was very how can I explain it too, very headstrong, very headstrong from preschool. I remember her father and I got a call saying we need to have a meeting, and we said okay. We went there and the teacher said that Lauren held all the pink crowns and she will allow any of her friends to color unless they picked pink. She was always the girl inside a classroom that would challenge the teacher, like if the teacher pronounced something incorrectly, then she would be the ones to be like, that's not correct. That is the voice of Lauren's mother, Chantell, who grew up in Stanford herself. Lauren is the youngest of Shantell's three children. She and I had a conversation one day recently about Lauren, and the things I learned about this case from Shantell were beyond shocking. They set off alarm bells in my mind. I reached out to Lauren's family for this episode because I think it's important in this case to understand the type of person Lauren is during the years twenty twenty and twenty twenty one and how she lived her life. This case needs to be publicized and people should be talking about it. There something very wrong about the course of events and where this case sits. Currently. In her early twenties, Lauren became very active on social media. She became a TikTok influencer, posting about the places she wants to travel and also giving beauty advice. Yeah, I checked out her socials, Phelps, and she really does have that sort of star quality about her. She's glowing. So many people call themselves TikTok influencers and are on social media today, but she really did, as you say, have that star quality about her. I agree, there's also something special about her. I think her warmth comes through in the photos as well, and that is Catherine Law by the way, for those of you who don't know, and shame on you if you don't know by now, she's my lovely producer. From an early age, Lauren is driven. Her shan'tell again. Always knew what she wanted to be like. She did really well on the track team at Stanfford High She was really really good. She got allowed awards and everything. After high school. She actually wanted at first, she wanted to be a mental therapist, and then she moved forward to be a physical therapist, so then she was going to school for physical therapy. She always was the type person that liked to help people, always wanted to help people, always wanted to be She was always able to make friends, always making friends because she smiles so much. Laura never really talked about boys or boyfriends growing up and even through high school. Chantell says she recalls only one time she brought a guy home to meet everyone. Chantell recalls that she, Lauren, and Lauren's grandmother took a trip to Dublin and Rome to celebrate Lauren's twenty first birthday, shortly after Lauren decides to move out of the family home and into her own apartment. I mean, the best part of life is traveling and experience everything that you can fit into your mind and into your heart. Yeah, so much fun. And I mean, okay, I know it's her birthday, but I was her personal photographer. Chantelle and Lauren are as close as a mother and daughter could be. Lauren's life at this time is busy and full, and that's important. Keep that in mind here. After they returned from Europe, her social media career took off, Chantel has moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut, which is actually the most populous city in the state at about one hundred and fifty thousand people. This is a busy place. It's also one of those Connecticut cities directly tied to I ninety five, the interstate, cutting a path right through downtown. Lauren moves fairly close to her mother to be near her family, which is everything to her. Her. You know, she was happy. She's a family oriented person, so she always had us over for dinner or cooking something or experimenting on us. A very outgoing young lady, very like sometimes she would think that she was my mom. Lauren is always stopping by her moms to do her mother's laundry clean or just say hello. They go shopping together, how to eat, or maybe just a night watching Netflix or a Bravo series. After her social media takes off, Lauren is sort of pushed into modeling and she starts to get these print ad gigs and is being noticed as a standout. Just like in high school. The only thing she rarely mentions to family is anything about her love life. Lauren never really said, hey, you know, I have a boyfriend or hey, I'm seeing someone. Not since high school. She haven't brought anybody to me. It didn't mean she wasn't dating, but Chantelle had no idea that Lauren had joined the dating app bumble. I'm pretty sure not. Our kids share everything with their moms and the acts, you know, So Philips just to pop in here and say, we've discussed this here before and crossing the line. There's sort of this life that you share with your friends, and there's a different life that you share with your family, with your parents. It's true. I mean, even as a fifty five year old adult myself, you know, I have a life I don't share with anybody. Trust. Oh yeah, not many people would want to know. I'm kidding, I'm kid. You know I have a life I share only with maybe my closest friend to I only have one friend. And you're going to tell your friends something different than you tell your kids about your dating life, right, I mean, it's just exactly. I think I get that. I think we've explained what's going on here in this situation very well for Lauren her life and that life she has with her parents and her siblings. And in December twenty twenty one, Lauren seems to be in a great space. Here's Shantell well right, Like, what was going on in her life is that? I mean, she was very happy hanging out with me, her brother, her friends. She was planning a big Christmas dinner at her house. She never had a Christmas dinner at her house, so she was planning a big Christmas dinner. We went out and we got matching outfits and stuff like that. The whole family was so excited to come over to her house for Christmas dinner. You know, she was working. She had her own business in her house. She was tinting eyebrows and waxing, so she had a little mini business going on. When she later heard that Lauren was on Bumble during this time, Chantel was surprised. There was no shortage of guys who wanted to date Lauren. They'd be in the supermarket and men would stare at her and want to chat with her. She had so many friends, and she was in school meeting new people all the time. It just wasn't a hard thing for her to do. So Chantel is shocked by this bumble thing, But again, bumble is the way to meet people these days. Dating apps, I in no way support Bumble. You know, I support all dating apps equally, but don't play favorite. Bumble just happens to be the one that we're talking about today, right, Hashjack not an ad. After a time, Lauren meets a thirty seven year old white man on Bumble and they begin chatting on the app. Many media outlets have named this guy. I am choosing not to, so let's call him Tom. I think that's really smart, because you know, there's some nuance in this case where we don't necessarily want to dock somebody if you know, we don't need to. I'm not going to hammer somebody to across if they haven't been convicted of something, or at least there's not. You know, they're sitting in jail with evidence, facing evidence. You know, right, it's not fair. I mean, social media does it every hour, minute of every day and ruins people's lives, and I'm fucking sick and tired of it. So there I said it. Yeah. Their conversation spills over into texting. Apparently it's going well. After three days of chatting, this man claims that Lauren asks him for forty dollars to quote do her nails, and she also invites him over to her apartment. So on the evening of December eleven, twenty twenty one, Lauren gets ready for her day to come over, and I'll just allow Chantelle to talk about that day before Lauren's day, which the family knew nothing about. By the way, so have they met before, because I don't know. For my part, I'm not asking a guy for forty bucks to do my nails unless i've at least like Madam before. Yeah, maybe a lot more than that. That didn't make sense to me when I read that Lauren had plenty of her own money. And we'll get to that. What happens during this time period, I think is an important fact in this case. The night before her brother and her went shopping, they came home to my house. They will put down their bags, talking about what the stuff that they bought and stuff like that. And then she laid on top of me and she was like, Mommy, I love you. And she looked at me. She said, always keep this picture next to your bed, and so that she's always putting spitty kissies all over me. And so I was laying there and so that she gave me a hug and she said Okay, mommy, I'm about to go home. And that's when he left. And then later on that night, either her brother called her or she called him to say, hey, I have your bag of clothes. So they had to which the bag of clothes because like, she mustn't have his stuff and you have her stuff. That right there, I feel is very important. One that Lauren is in good spirits, and also the fact that she and her brother had taken the wrong bags. Take note of that moment, please, because sometimes the most seemingly unimportant moments in life become unexpectedly vital. According to an incident report of what happened on the night of December eleven, twenty twenty one, and this is mostly information given by Tom, this is what occurs. Lauren has food ready when he arrives, They eat, Then, according to Tom, they start drinking tequila with mixers while playing games. After that, she puts a movie on and they sit in her living room talking and watching the film. Sounds like a pretty nice day to me, little Netflix and show. It sounds pretty normal. Yeah. It also sounds like Lauren is excited to meet this guy and now here she is spending time with him. The guy is sort of clean cut too, an engineer. He's not some chump bum, unemployed deadbeat. I checked his record. He has no arrests that I could find. While they're watching the movie, Tom later claims Lauren's brother stops by, but he doesn't come into the apartment. Lauren gets a text from him, and then she goes outside to meet him. She's not gone long. Harris Chantell talking about what took place outside, which Lauren's brother has confirmed in multiple public and media statements. You know, right now, he's still having a hard time because he says, Mom, Lauren was perfectly fine. She was out there at Ruth just laughing, and you know, she's holding the bag in the hand because I just exchanged the bag with her, and she was perfectly fine. Nothing was wrong with my sister, nothing, nothing. And the thing about is those two are closer than my oldest son could. When I would be at work. It was always those two at homes, you know, together, Yoway's protector. Lauren did not tell her brother she had a date waiting inside for her. When Lauren comes back into the apartment, her date later says in that incident report, she uses the bathroom and is in there for ten to fifteen minutes. Yeah, that's interesting because I think if I got a guy home, I'm gonna said as a little time as possible in the bathroom. So he doesn't think I'm booping exactly right, But you know, well he didn't say she brought the newspaper with her or anything. So still I will be panicked. He thinks I'm booping, right, right, right, right, No, you make a good point. I mean, right, there's there's a dance you do when you got a person over this. This jumps right out at us that she's in there for ten to fifteen minutes. If it's true, right, if it's true. Right, We don't know that it's true. We only have Tom's word for it. Right. She comes out of the bathroom and they continue to watch the movie. He doesn't mention that anything is different about her. Nothing seems out of place, and at Lauren actually falls asleep while they are watching the movie. Do we know how long that went on? I don't. There's no timeline. This incident report is very basic. This stuff, this stuff is not detailed at all. This is you know. Yeah, After a while, Tom says he then quote carries her into the bedroom end quote, and falls asleep beside her. Let's take our first break and come right back, and this case will become very intense. Our bumbledate guy Tom has just carried Lauren into her bedroom. Weird and very presumptuous, I'll say, as someone who's been on bumble dates. And then he lies down beside her and falls asleep. Okay, all right, that's a choice. Philb's what okay, what would you have done in this situation? Well, look, they've known each other for hours, right me. I would have left a handwritten note and taken off. Yeah, I would have let her sleep where she was. I mean, carrying her into her bedroom, lying down beside her. Look, that feels creepy and, as I said, presumptuous if you ask me. But then again, I don't know what they talked about obviously, or where they were in this relationship right right, or how intimate they had been before this. Yeah, I'll say this, It would not have crossed my mind to be carrying her like Frankenstein carries his bride, is what I'm picturing into the bedroom? Right. It just speaks to me of too soon for any of this type of behavior. Yeah, and like for me if a man is picking me up, I am awake. When you're five, you can kind of sleep through rouette. When you are twenties, you are immediately awake of someone is trying to lift your body up. Yeah, you know, there's stuff that's starting to feel wrong about some of this, you know. And then near three am, Tom says he wakes up to use the bathroom and Lauren is sound asleep. She's actually snoring, he tells police later on. Okay, But then about three point five hours after that is when things take a turn. Tom says he wakes up at approximately six thirty am and looks over at Lauren to find her a quote, lying on her right side with blood coming out of her right nostril end quote, seeping onto the bed. And then he says she's not breathing, so he calls nine one one. Going back to that incident report, Tom is quote trembling and visibly shaking, and police arrive. By this time. The first responder, a police officer, walks into the bedroom and views Lauren, now lying on her back on the bedroom floor. She's still not breathing and there is dried blood visible inside and around her right nostril. Tom, I should add here, also tells police that at one point during their day, she became sick and started vomiting, after which time she actually felt better and continued then to drink and eat more food. So that could be what she was doing in the bathroom for ten to fifteen minutes. But you know, it also occurs to me that maybe he did stay for a good reason. Maybe he was like, hey, she's getting a little sick. I want to make sure she doesn't throw up and choke. Or you know, maybe he was too drunk to drive and he brought his car. There's maybe a little more nuance here. All excellent points, and we're going to get into this later on in the episode and in part two. All of those questions should have been asked. All that information should be available to Lauren's family, right, okay, yeah, and this is one of my points of this episode. So Lauren is still not breathing, she's on the floor, there's dried blood one of her nostrils, and they couldn't revive her. So, at just twenty three years old, Lauren smith Fields is proclaimed dead. This beautiful, fit by all accounts, healthy, bright young woman has suddenly died in nobody at this time understands how or why. Very weird, very suspicious to say the least. It certainly is. So that's the narrative from the police incident report, which also includes a note about finding thirteen hundred and forty five dollars in cash inside the apartment, again going back to why would she want forty bucks if she had that kind of catch? That's fun to get guys to paper. Stoffelts, I know that I trust me. I know I should know, should know that why that is important to note in the report and not other things I later find out tells me the scene was not documented well or not at all right exactly. If I'm a cop in charge of this case, what's clear to me is that I need to send in a detective to interview this guy, contact Lauren's family, get their story, send the body out for autopsy, and find out what happened. As a public servant, that's my obligation. I also need to secure the scene and get the crime scene investigation unit over there to do a sweep if there's a suspicious death, which this is add to it that Lauren just met this guy in a dating app and he's the only source for what happened. As a public police need to do everything possible to find the facts and be able to provide Lauren's family with answers. That's standard protocol for any police department. The thing is, I'm not saying that this guy Tom did anything either. I want to be clear about that. I'm only saying for his benefit and for Lauren's family, a complete investigation needs to be done. You know, you don't have to bring the FBI in here. I'm just talking about standard investigation practices, and frankly, it's the right thing to do. I mean, that's why we have police as to investigate suspicious debts, or even if suspicious is the like strange debts. No one can say that this isn't totally out of left field for her to be fine one minute and then not alive the next. Catherine, She's a completely healthy, twenty three year old female, vibrant vivations, very suspicious. Yeah. So there are two detectives, Angel Janos and Kevin Cronan from the Bridgeport Police Department. Cronin is put on Lauren's case by Janos, who is the supervisor. As far as I can tell from the information, I gathered. No evidence is collected from Lauren's apartment. There is no CSI team brought in to investigate. Wouldn't that be standard protocol here? Well, let's go through that. Okay, this is what's called an untimely death in copspeak. The general procedure in that case is to inspect the scene look for any incidental items that could tell you the story of what happened. These are called items of evidentiary value. You also need to meticulously document the scene, and you also need, and this is very important, to look for any outward signs of foul play, illegal items like syringes or drugs, or anything that raises a red flag of any kind. The point is to look. You have to look, right, We're not just talking about murder per se, but what could have happened. A big piece of this is contacting the families and talking to them to get a bigger, broader picture of what, if anything, family can offer as far as facts, Yeah, you know, we're talking about a day's work here. A couple of days work here. Isn't a life worth that, right, But as far as I can tell, none of that is done here. I need to allow Chantelle to explain what happens next. On that night of the day, Chantelle had not heard from Lauren Harris Shantelle reading a text exchange between her and her daughter, I'm getting angrier as we're going on. Yeah, for sure you should be. This was become of the thirteenth. It's as good morning, my daughter. If I make an appointment to get my all change for tomorrow, can you take my card to it and change it? Let me know you love you. And I just want to say how difficult it was for Chantell to go into her phone as we spoke and look back at the text from Lauren. Okay, it was the first time she had done that really since early days. Yea. I thank her for doing that, you know, for going back to that dark place. It's a terrible task, but necessary to get at the truth here. Now. What significant about this seemingly common text is the date tom was there on the night of the eleventh, So the entire day of the twelfth goes by this text Chantel sends Lauren about the oil change is on the morning of the thirteenth. Wait, so police had not contacted Chantel or Lauren's brother about her death at all yet. No and I'll get there in a minute. Not hearing back from Lauren, Chantel texts her several times that morning and throughout that day. She gets no response. Lauren was supposed to put an item on her Amazon Christmas wish list she had talked about with her mom. Chantel goes into the Amazon account and notices she hasn't done it, very unlike her, So she sends a text near seven to fifteen PM on December thirteenth, are you okay? You're not responding to me. By this time, She's now incredibly worried, concerned, getting more worried as each minute passes, and Lauren has been dead now for about a day and a half. As I'm texting her, like usually she'll like, she will text back, olmmmy, I'm sleeping, olmammy, I'm doing this right here, or she will send me something saying hey, I get back to you or something like that, or come over and get it or whatever. But that was weird. So when I around seven fifteen, I sat on my bed and that's when I don't know what made me say, it's just something weird. I said, are you okay? You're not respond to me? And I'm like, if you're not respond to me, like, I don't know what made me say that. So then I don't know. I just got sick to my stomach. And then I called her brother and I said, isn't it weird? The family's been texting her. I've been texting her. She has not respond to no one. So I said, I'm going over to her apartment. And when I go over to her apartment, it's like, I don't know why, but it's like almost like a mom. A mom already knew that something. As her mom that carried her nine months restped off of me, I knew something was not right. When I got there. My heart is raising, my hands a sweating. When I got there, I see a note on her door. Look like someone that's rifted out of a piece of paper. Here's what that scribbled note says, if you're looking for Lauren, called this number. Imagine if you're looking for Lauren, call this number. That is unimaginably cruel. I have no other words. It's horrible. It's horrifying. You're too fucking busy to tell someone that their daughter died, Like is unimaginable to be so callous. I think it's more than being busy. That's what I think. And we're going to get to that in the part two of this special two part Crossing the Line. Okay, So then I called her brother and I was like, hey, there's a note on Lauren's door saying, if you're looking for Lauren, called this number, and he said is what he said? He said, call it and so then and he said, I'm on my way. I called the number. No one answers, and then I call it again, and then Lauren's landlord answered the phone, and I said, there's a no on Lauren's door, and I go, I'm looking for Lauren. I says, she's not home. And then a girl comes out from upstairs and I said, have you seen Lauren? And she goes She goes, hold on, hold on, hold on. Like that, as this group of people Chantel doesn't know begin to explain, one of them looks at Chantell and he drops his head. Chantell knows right then and there what happened. So she runs to her car, locks the door and refuses to hear anymore, just breaking down. Remember this is how a mother found out her daughter is dead. He kept on trying to come to my car to tell me if I didn't want to hear it. And then when my son got there, um, mister Hector told him. And when I see my son fell to the ground and was screaming bloody murder. I just I just sat there in the car helpless. I couldn't get the car, didn't even hug him to calm him down. I was frozen. I couldn't move. And he cuts on yelling, she's not dead, she's my sister is not dead. He's God, she's not. Please y'all, y'all playing with me. Please tell me my sister is in a house word somewhere. Don't tell me she's dead, and don't say I could just do. I said there, And then he comes and he's opening up the door and he's grabbing me and said, Mommy, she's good, Mommy, my baby, sisters good. That could dude to just stand there, just stand there with almost like almost like I died right then there. And these random people had to be the ones to tell a woman that her daughter is That is not their job. It's not something they're qualified for, it's not something they have practice, and like what the hell, it's not something that should ever ever ever happen. No, the landlord actually has the detective's number, Janos, so he calls him. While Chantelle and her son are standing outside Lauren's apartment crying. The landlord tells the detective that they are standing right there in front of him. The detective says he will meet Chantell at her house. She then called as other members of the family and they gather at her house awaiting the arrival of the detective. And here she is talking about what happens next. And everybody came to the house, and he said that he was going to be on this way there to talk to the family. He never showed up. Never showed up. And then when Lauren's father kept on calling him, saying, we just wanted to find out what happened. So far, they do not even know where Lauren's body is. We're better yet what happened to her. And that night Chantelle went over to Lawrence saw that note about a number to call. After her son arrived, they went into Lauren's apartment. This is what they saw. It was like play. A food was turned over and so then we videotaped the whole entire apartment. There was a place that was turned over, stuff that was knocked down inside the apartment and we seeing the blood that was on the bed and everything. Her panties was on the floor. The blood was in the middle of the bed, not on the side that he said that she was laying on. There was a condom in the garbage can, there was a liquor bottle that was there. I mean, to me, this sounds like there was some sort of something going on here, but again I cannot say that for sure. I'm not making accusations. I'm just pointing out that there are questions that need answers, questions that the police should have been asking themselves maybe thousand percent. Here is one of my biggest problems as a victim's advocate for twenty three years. This sort of bullshit is unnerving to me. Bridgeport Police Department policy, straight from its policy book on the town website, clearly says this regarding death notification, the notification of next of kin of deceased, seriously injured or seriously ill persons will be carried out promptly, but no later than twenty four hours after identification has been made, and in a considerate manner. That's twenty four hours. That's less than two and a half days. Direct from the policy book regarding the collection of evidence operations, It says this, the scene of any crime is itself evidence and its preservation are vitally important to the successful clearance of the case. Improper protection of the crime scene will usually result in the contamination, loss, or unnecessary movement of physical evidence items, any one of which is likely to render the evidence useless. Therefore, the first officer to arrive at the scene of the crime automatically incurs the serious and critical responsibility of securing the crime scene from unauthorized intrusions. Right quote, which would also include they basically laughed without examining the crime scene, and Chantelle and Lauren's brother are coming in and walking around. The landlord is probably in there walking around like those are Schuemarcy. You know. The image I get is of a nineteen fifties or sixties police drama sitcom like Adam twelve or something like that, where yeah he's that, yeah, all right, take him out. Yeah. Chantelle is eager for some sort of explanation, not to mention she wants her daughter's body, and they have no idea where Lauren is. So Lauren's father continues to call the detective, and when Lauren's Foley kept on calling him, he says, he says, I already talk to your Why for Ray stop calling me? He said, don't call me no more. That is just so seconding. It's horrible. I mean, I think I gotta take a right polis. Let's take a break right now and we'll come back. Okay, sounds good. So we have a family confused, grief stricken in shock, who learned that their loved one has died days ago. God, there's been no communication from the Bridgeport, Connecticut Police Department, and they still have no idea where her body is. Shentell in her family now demand to know where Lauren is. They keep calling and calling the detective who is in charge of the case. He tells them to stop calling. They continue to call and he does not call them back. Lauren's father, in desperation, pleading, calls and leaves a voicemail for the detective. Here's Shantel, can't just tell me where my daughter's at. He can just please tell me where my daughters said. We didn't find out into probably two days later. She lived only fifty minutes away. For me, I'm so sorry. When we're gonna drive so far distical virgle body. Lauren was at the Connecticut State Medical Examiner's office in farming To, Connecticut, which is like an hour from Bridgeport on a good traffic day. They were given no details, no cause of death, no facts about what happened. Here's Shantal and I discussing this development. I'll call it. You don't find out that she's in Farmington until two days later, Yeah, two days later. And who told you she was in Farmington? The detective. We basically had to beg for where our daughter was at. So no one ever came to your house or called you and said your daughter is in Farmington, suspicious death, anything like that. Never, never, at all never. Chantel's son finally gets hold of the detective Cronan, the guy handling the case now. He asked him what happened to Lauren. According to Chantell, her sons told this quote, she met a white guy on bumble, but don't worry about that. He's a really nice guy. End quote. Oh yeah, don't just don't worry about it. Just don't even worry about it. It's fine. Chantell and Lauren's father began begging the Bridgeport police to collect evidence from Lauren's apartment, do a crime scene investigation, and collect what needs to be collected. A pill was found inside her apartment that condom the blood. How about a complete statement from the bumble day guy instead of an incident report taken on the day she is found by a patrol officer. So wait, the only statement we have is just by a patrol officer, just like a cop doing the beat, not anybody who specializes in this stuff. Remember, it's an incident report. It's not an affidavid of an interview with the guy. It's an incident report, which if you get in a traffic accident, you know they take an instant you're going to oh my god. Look. Evidence maybe sounds like a strong word here, but it can simply mean evidence of a natural death, an accidental death. The family makes plans to meet Detective Cronan over at the apartment during the week following Lauren's death. They go there, they wait an hour. He doesn't show up, so they wait another hour, and we all know that one plus one equals two, so that's two hours. Catherine, no Cronan. They call him. He tells them to stop calling Jesus for weeks shan'tell in. Laurene's father demand answers. Their daughter died and they need to know how, what in the hell happened? Has the man she was with that night been questioned? Did he give a full statement to police? What was the time of her death? Did he call nine one one immediately? These are all valid questions. Then something unbelievable happens on the same night, merely blocks away from Laurene's apartment, another black woman named Brenda Lee Rawls, who was also on kind of a date, dies unexpectedly what and just like in Laurene's case, December twelfth, December thirteenth go by and no one in Brenda's family can get hold of her. And on the fourteenth, Brenda's family tracks down the guy she went out with that night and he simply tells them I couldn't wake her and she died. Detective Crone and supervisor Detective Jano's assigns himself Brenda's case, But yet no one in the Bridgeport Police Department had notified her family that she's died. Again. Same thing. What we have here is not a failure to communicate as cool hand Luke that famous scene says, or the Guns N' Roses song. They kind they kind of use it too. This feels like something akin to white Woman's syndrome, a big, huge topic that we've covered here before. It appears that these cops don't care about these victims, or an accident or something even more sinister, and I'll give you one guess as to why. On January twenty second, twenty twenty two, the medical examiner announced that he will soon release the cause and manner of death for Lauren. And it's right around this time that Chantel tells me as laurence family is beginning to move her things out of her apartment. The Bridgeport police do this well, like a month later when they all of a sudden, when we was moving out Laurence about of the apartment after everything. Now we're like complaining and and mad about how everything was handled. Now they want to send a CEI, a person to come in there and look at like now they want to do it an investigation unit saying that, telling the family they need to get a squab from all of us, and we're like what. Months later they're telling us that they need to squab us and we're like, no, no, you said to suave the person that was in the apartment with her, and so they're saying he's a very nice guy and letting him go and just and just walk. I want to find out who was the first person that he called, because the land lord has a different story than what was in the report. The landlord told us, and we have the recording of him as well, saying that there was a police officer showed up earlier, much earlier, earlier than all the other police and the fire department and everybody else showed up. What she is suggesting is that a cop came by Lorne's apartment before those first responders or any law enforcement from Bridgeport arrived. Then he left before Bridgeport officers and emt s from the nine one call arrived. Next week, in part two, I'll speak more with Chantelle about where her daughter's case is now, and also talked to Brenda Rawls's sister, Dorothy Washington. Be safe, be aware, and don't be in Bridgeport. Sources for today's episode come from Lauren Smith Fields was found dead. Her family had to beg for answers. By Lola Fadulu, New York Times, January twenty seven, twenty twenty two. Connecticut police probe death of Lauren smith Fields, found dead after a date in December. By Rachel Triceman January twenty seven, twenty twenty two. NPR. Second Black family says Bridgeport police didn't notify them of death. By Lola Fadulu, January thirty first, twenty twenty two, New York Times. Crossing the Line is production of iHeartRadio. It's executive produced by me M William Phelps, an iHeart executive producer Katherine Law. Special thanks to producer Rose Bacchi and EP Christina Everett. Audio engineering, original music and sound design by Matt Russell. Additional thanks to Will Pearson at iHeartRadio. The series theme number four four four is written and performed by Thomas Phelps and money from more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows