Police said she overdosed.

Her parents don’t agree

- 

LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton oversaw the department's Valley Bureau at the time of Amelia's death.

(GENARO MOLINA Los Angeles Times)

She tried to take her own life several times, and after one attempt, in 2019, her family says, she was committed to a mental health facility.

Soon, she began using drugs to self-medicate, keeping her parents in a state of constant worry. Desperate for a solution, they checked her into Rising Roads Recovery, a $30,000-a-month, women-only inpatient mental health treatment center.

A few months before her death, Amelia’s parents dropped her off at the clinic in Costa Mesa. In the weeks that followed, they allege in a lawsuit against Rising Roads filed in L.A. County Superior Court, the staff repeatedly misled them about Amelia's worsening condition.

Cut off from her family and friends, she began suffering panic attacks after being sexually assaulted by another patient, the family’s lawsuit says. They claim Amelia confided in staff members that she heard nightly voices in her head suggesting she kill herself or harm others.

The Salehpours contend they were kept in the dark when Amelia was transferred to a sister facility for substance abuse, Saddleback, after she was caught with a vape pen.

Despite her ongoing struggles, the family’s lawsuit says, Saddleback staff allowed Amelia to check herself out of the facility on July 22, 2023. Around 3:49 p.m. that day, she walked out with a suitcase of clothes, five weeks’ worth of medication—and no cellphone or ID.

Surveillance video showed her getting into a car and driving off, the lawsuit says.

An attorney for Rising Roads responded to an inquiry about Amelia’s case with a statement that said the center was “deeply saddened by her passing.”