Investigation Into Handling Of 911 Call Before DV Homicide Discovered
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – Police are conducting an internal investigation into what happened when officers responded to a Oak Cliff apartment on a disturbance call two days before a man confessed to suffocating his wife.
The victim, Ceaira Ford, may have already been dead when police showed up at her door. Police now believe the officers spoke to a close friend of Edelen's while Edelen was in another area of the apartment with the dead woman. A neighbor had reported hearing screams and a fight minutes earlier. Her family said police should have helped her.
"They never went inside… they never probably went upstairs to the lady that called," said Ford's mother, Sarah. "If they would have, they would've found Ceaira right then. Maybe she would've been alive, maybe she wouldn't have."
Ford's mother broke down outside Dallas Police headquarters after hearing department leaders detail the response by patrol officers to a 911 call around the time her 28-year-old daughter was being murdered.
"They did not see any signs of a disturbance but did notice the television was turned up loud," said Assistant Dallas Police Chief Randy Blankenbaker. Police said they did try contacting the neighbor who called.
Chief Executive Officer with Genesis Women's Shelter, Jan Langbein said DPD has improved its response to domestic abuse calls and would be surprised and disappointed if officers did what's called a "knock and walk".
"If that were the situation it certainly would not be safe to the police officer or the victim," said Langbein.
Edelen is in jail and has confessed he murdered Ford because she was talking too much. Police are considering charges against his friend who answered the door and got police to walk away.
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