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Saturday, February 25, 2012

A Death in California

KABC reports on Van Ingraham, a man with mental retardation and severe autism. who died under mysterious circumstances Fairview Developmental Center in Orange County, California.



California Watch provides more detail:

California Watch enlisted homicide detectives from the Seattle and Chicago police departments to review hundreds of pages from case files on the Fairview investigation. The two investigators each pinpointed six mistakes made by officers and detectives at Fairview – the most significant of which came in the hours and days after Ingraham was discovered on the linoleum floor of his room.
The Seattle and Chicago detectives, who have a combined 51 years of experience in law enforcement, noted that Fairview police did not secure Ingraham’s room to protect evidence, did not promptly interview witnesses, and did not realize that the patient’s broken neck should have been investigated immediately.

"It is my belief that the initial responders did not recognize the scene as a potential crime scene,” Det. Al Cruise of the Seattle Police Department wrote in his review.