23-Year-Old Woman Who Was Found Dead After Bumble Date Died Accidentally, Officials Say

The family of Lauren Smith-Fields, a 23-year-old woman who was found dead last month after going on a Bumble date, is demanding answers.

On Monday, the Medical Examiner announced Lauren’s cause of death as acute intoxication due to the combined effects of fentanyl, promethazine, hydroxyzine, and alcohol.

Her death has been ruled as an accident, and authorities say no foul play was involved.

Per a police report, authorities arrived at her Bridgeport, Connecticut, apartment on December 12 and found “a young adult Black female lying on her back, on the floor” who “did not appear to be breathing.”

The report adds that Lauren, a student at Norwalk Community College, died the morning after going out with a man she had met three days prior through the dating app Bumble. Officials say the man who claimed to have met Lauren on the app was the one who called police after he saw “blood was coming out of her right nostril.”

As of this writing, police have not released the man’s name. ABC News adds that they are not identifying him.

However, a day before Lauren’s cause of death was announced, her family said they intend to sue Bridgeport city and police officials, alleging they have failed to properly investigate the circumstances surrounding Lauren’s death.

Specifically, the family claims investigators did not collect key evidence from Lauren’s home, such as an alleged pill used as a sedative, a condom, and “a round blood stain in the middle of [Smith-Fields’] bed.”

“I just could not believe that my baby sister was gone,” brother Lakeem Jetter told ABC News prior the Medical Examiner’s announcement. “Somebody who I love, somebody who I’ve protected, somebody I’ve been around my whole entire life, I literally held her when she was born.”

As reported by WTNH, the family’s attorney Darnell Crosland believes Lauren’s death might be manslaughter or a murder.

“Now to find out that all of these substances are in their daughter’s body that basically took her life, they’re so angry right now,” Crosland was quoted as saying via the outlet. “This looks further like a manslaughter. It looks more like a murder, and if the police don’t start acting fast, we’re going to have a real big problem on our hands.”

On Sunday, at a march and rally called “Justice for Lauren” held on what would have been her 24th birthday, loved ones walked from the Bridgeport Police Department to the city’s government center.

At the event, Lauren’s mother Shantell Fields declared, “No one is going to discard my daughter like she is rubbish.”

On Tuesday, WTNH reports that the Bridgeport Police Narcotics and Vice Division opened a criminal investigation into Lauren’s death. They will be assisted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.