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Family Frantically Searching For Answers After 23-Year-Old Woman Found Dead Following Bumble Date

Family Frantically Searching For Answers After 23-Year-Old Woman Found Dead Following Bumble Date

A family is desperately seeking answers after a young woman was found dead on the floor of her apartment last month, just days after last being seen alive by her Bumble date.

Lauren Smith-Fields (pictured above) was a 23-year-old college student in the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut, when she was found dead in her apartment in mid-December. According to a copy of the police department’s incident report investigating the death, Smith-Fields had last been seen by a man she’d met three days prior via the dating app Bumble.

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According to authorities, Smith-Fields, who was taking classes at Norwalk Community College in the area around Bridgeport, had gone on a date with a man she had met on the app on December 9 of last year. Three days later, on the morning of December 12, she was found dead in her apartment.

According to a copy of the police report obtained by People, police believe her Bumble date to be the last person who saw her alive in the days before her death. However, they do not believe there was any foul play involved in her passing. Needless to say, her family is searching for answers, and they are skeptical as to whether the police are really correct in that assessment.

Police did not initially release the man’s name, though they did say he called 9-1-1 at some point during their date after “realizing her nose was bleeding and she had stopped breathing.” According to NBC New York, who spoke to the grieving family in the aftermath of her death, sources close to the investigation say the man — who has not been named as a suspect — has since been identified at Matt LaFountain.

Now, Smith-Fields’ mother Shantell Fields is searching for answers. Speaking to WNBC, she said:

“They wanted us to forget about our daughter, their sister, our loved one. They thought they were just going to throw her away like she was garbage, like she wasn’t important, like she didn’t have family members who loved her. We’re fighting for her.”

And Smith-Fields’ brother, Lakeem Jetter, added that he felt the police department’s response to his beloved sister’s death was “careless.” Seeking more answers, Jetter alleges police failed to collect numerous items of potential evidence from the apartment, including what he claims was “a sedative pill and a used condom,” per People.

Jetter said:

“I feel like because he’s a white guy and she’s a Black girl, they’re just throwing it under the rug.”

Hundreds of people marched in Bridgeport on Sunday to demand justice for Smith-Fields, on what would have been Lauren’s 24th birthday. And now, the family’s attorney, Darnell Crosland, informs WNBC that he has filed a notice of claim with the city of Bridgeport, which alerts the government that he intends to sue “in an effort to obtain due process.”

Crosland’s notice reads in part, per People (below):

“The Police Department has been racially insensitive to this family, and has treated this family with no respect and has violated their civil rights. … [the police] 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. This behavior is unacceptable.”

Here is more on the situation from NBC New York (below):

So sad. Smith-Fields’ family has also set up a GoFundMe account to held raise funds for their ongoing legal battle. You can support that fundraiser HERE.

[Image via NBC New York/YouTube/GoFundMe]

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Jan 25, 2022 10:11am PDT