Authorities said she overdosed. Her parents spent millions in pursuit of murder charges

"The 18-year-old checked herself out of Saddleback Recovery in Costa Mesa on a summer day in 2023, and hopped into a car with her ex-boyfriend and a man he called "Raider." Together, they drove up to the San Fernando Valley. After tracking his daughter down to what a prosecutor later called a "house of horrors" in Van Nuys, Ali Salehpour decided to call 911."

"Then, less than 24 hours later, someone inside the house called police to report a death. Officers found Amelia in a garage, next to syringes and a burned spoon with a sticky black substance. The first LAPD investigators on scene ruled it an open-and-shut case of accidental overdose. The medical examiner's office agreed, deciding against a more thorough autopsy. But the family was unconvinced."

Amelia Salehpour, 18, left a Costa Mesa treatment facility and traveled to the San Fernando Valley with an ex-boyfriend and another man known as Raider. Her father located her at a Van Nuys residence he described as a house of horrors and called police, citing her mental illness and cognitive vulnerability. Officers later found Amelia dead in a garage beside syringes and a burned spoon; LAPD investigators and the medical examiner ruled an accidental overdose and declined a full autopsy. The family hired private investigators and paid for a private autopsy that reported signs of strangulation, prompting a dispute within local law enforcement over the cause of death and the adequacy of the official investigation.

Read at Los Angeles Times