USPS Certified Mail Receipt # 7018 0680 0000 3326 8215
Detective Vincent Ingrassia
300 Congress St
Bridgeport CT 06604
Detective Ingrassia,
I am writing regarding an investigation you were involved in, on 30 September, 2000.
The case is OOD-01299, a 'sudden death' case at 112 Washington Terrace, involving one Mary Horvath, who was my grandmother.
Through a FOI request to the Bridgeport City Attorney I was provided with a copy of a single page form, titled 'DEATH INVESTIGATIONS'.
I am informed that this single page is - with one exception - the sum of the material available.
But the 'MISCELLANEOUS NOTES & REMARKS' section, at the bottom, says, "Refer incident report and case jacket for details'.
Do you know where the incident report and the case jacket might be?
If you do not know where these details might be, do you know whom I might speak to, who WOULD know where the incident report, and case jacket, might be?
I believe that the basis for my interest is of official interest to you and your agency.
I was the first person contacted by BPD personnel on scene when they entered the building - I was told, at the time, because my name and phone number were prominently posted on my grandmother's bulletin board.
During that conversation the officer mentioned an open safe in the kitchen.
Based upon that conversation, when I (accompanied by my mother) entered 112 Washington Terrace, some 72 hours later, I was equipped with a camera with which to record what I saw.
Indeed, the very first photograph I took, was of the kitchen, and the open safe - which safe I had not previously been aware of the existence of, despite having been in the house only six weeks before, and many times before that.
(I included this photograph in my FOI request to the City Attorney. The photograph was incorporated into the official record, and returned to me, as the OTHER element which is now officially available.)
I had been a frequent visitor to my grandparents' house. This last visit had been different. I had been with my mother, who had not been a willing companion.
During that last visit, I had overheard an argument between my mother and my grandmother, over my grandmother's will. This argument is detailed elsewhere.
Suffice it to say that I now think that my mother burgled her mother's safe, and stole her mother's last will and testament, so as to insure that she would be the sole inheritor of her mother's estate.
Six weeks later, my grandmother discovered the theft; tore her house apart, looking for the stolen will; and died, of shock.
If I am correct, then this should be a murder investigation; verging on manslaughter, except for that element of planning in the crime.
And so I have the following questions for you (and your department):
1) Did you or any other officer, to your knowledge, interview my mother, Penny Salanave, regarding her mother's death, in the days, weeks, or months, following Mary Horvath's death?
2) If you did interview her, did she disclose, to you, that she had been in the house, six weeks earlier?
I ask this because no one ever interviewed me; and I had been there, visiting my grandparents, with my mother, just six weeks before, as well.
Now I wonder: did my mother conceal our visit from the police? That would suggest guilt, to me.
The answers to these questions lie in your own personal notes. And so I add this third question:
3) May I have copies of the page(s) from your notebook for 30 September 2000 which relate to case OOD-01299, as well as any other pages that contain related information?
For your information, my mother died in October, 2015.
However, she caused a lot of damage in her last years. I am trying to discover the extent of the damage that she caused.
Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Richard Childers
POB 970 Fortuna CA 95540
Cc: Bridgeport City Attorney
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