When 18-year-old Amelia Salehpour walked away from an Orange County treatment facility in 2023, her parents feared the worst. She struggled with mental illness, had the emotional understanding of a young teenager, and was easily influenced, especially by people who didn’t have her best interests at heart. By the time her family traced her to a house in Van Nuys, they believed she was in grave danger — and pleaded for help.
Hours later, Amelia was dead. Authorities quickly ruled her death an accidental overdose.
But her parents insist that ruling was wrong.
What followed became one of the most intense private investigations Los Angeles has seen: a multimillion-dollar effort by Ali and Sue Salehpour to uncover what they believe really happened to their daughter. Their pursuit has now forced open deep conflicts within the LAPD, L.A. County prosecutors, and the units assigned to investigate violent crimes and narcotics.
A Desperate Search and a Mother’s Warning
On the day Amelia disappeared from Saddleback Recovery in Costa Mesa, she got into a car with her ex-boyfriend and another man known only as “Raider.” The pair drove her to the San Fernando Valley — to a location later described by a prosecutor as a “house of horrors.”
When Amelia’s father finally found the home, he called 911 and begged for officers to check on his daughter. To him, she wasn’t merely missing — she was a vulnerable young woman being manipulated by older men in a dangerous environment.
But the help he expected didn’t come in time.
A Rushed Ruling and a Family That Refused to Accept It
The county coroner quickly listed Amelia’s death as an accidental overdose. The LAPD followed suit. For most families, this is the end of the line. But the Salehpours refused to accept it.
They hired private investigators, forensic specialists, and attorneys — spending millions of dollars — and claim the evidence they uncovered showed strangulation, not overdose, caused their daughter’s death.
Their findings challenge the credibility of the initial investigation and raise questions about whether the LAPD missed — or ignored — signs of homicide. These concerns align with long-standing issues raised by watchdog groups, including those documented by the Innocence Project about investigative failures and pressured early conclusions.
A Case That’s Dividing Law Enforcement from the Inside
Sources familiar with the case say Amelia’s death has created friction inside the LAPD and L.A. County District Attorney’s Office. Detectives from the homicide unit and the narcotics division reportedly disagree about what really happened — and how the investigation was handled.
Some believe the case should be reopened. Others argue the original conclusions were correct. The internal tensions reflect a broader national concern about how departments investigate vulnerable victims — especially those struggling with addiction or mental health challenges.
This tension isn’t new. Institutions like the U.S. Department of Justice have investigated numerous departments nationwide for similar patterns of misclassification and oversight.
A Parents’ Fight for Accountability
Ali and Sue Salehpour are now suing the City of Los Angeles, accusing the LAPD of failing their daughter at every step: failing to respond urgently, failing to protect her, and failing to properly investigate her death.
Their lawsuit argues that Amelia didn’t die alone and wasn’t simply another tragic overdose. They say she was harmed, abandoned, and overlooked by a system that didn’t listen to their warnings.
For the Salehpours, justice isn’t just about prosecuting whoever may have been responsible — it’s about making sure no other family watches their pleas for help go unanswered.
Their fight has become a symbol of how much families can lose when institutions move too quickly to close a case and too slowly to question their own conclusions.
