A family is seeking answers following the mysterious death of a 23-year-old Black woman in Connecticut. Lauren Smith-Fields reportedly passed away after a date with an older white man she met on Bumble.

According to News12 Westchester, Smith-Fields, a cosmetology student at Norwalk Community College, met up with her Bumble match on Dec. 12. She was later found in her apartment unconscious and taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Her older date reportedly made the call to emergency responders.

An investigation into Smith-Fields’ death has since been in motion, but the woman’s family is unsatisfied with the lack of action taken by authorities. According to her father, they were only able to speak to a “very insensitive, condescending and arrogant detective” about the matter. Her brother Lakeem Jetter added that requests to interrogate his sister’s older white date were rejected because he is a “nice guy.”

An autopsy was taken to determine Smith-Field’s cause of death, but the results were not disclosed. Taking matters into her own hands, the woman’s mother is getting a second postmortem examination done.

“Without a doubt, we know that my daughter was not a drug user, and I had a second autopsy myself paid out of pocket because we felt so uncomfortable with the way it was handled,” she said. She also reached out to Councilwoman Maria Pereira with complaints about the lackluster response from the police.

“She sent a really well-written email,” Pereira said of Smith-Fields’ mother. “It was lengthy, it was extensive, it was very detailed — and I was shocked when she told me just yesterday she had not even received a response.”

Despite concerns about the ongoing probe, the City of Bridgeport insists that the “Bridgeport Police Department takes these concerns very seriously.” They said that “the Command Staff of the Detective Bureau is reviewing the handling of this case” and extended their
“deepest condolences” to the 23-year-old’s family.