Seeking answers in their child's death

Parents hired their own investigators in a case that has divided L.A. law enforcement.

- BY LIBOR JANY

AL SEIB For The Times ALI AND SUE SALEHPOUR hired investigators who said Amelia's death was a homicide. "The LAPD let our daughter down," Sue says.

When Amelia Salehpour walked away from an Orange County drug treatment facility, her parents turned to the police for help. She was in danger — they were sure of it.

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.

Amelia, he said, struggled with mental illness and had the cognitive abilities of an eighth-grader, which made her vulnerable to manipulation. Her family pleaded for officers to come check on her.

The first cops arrived hours later. They knocked on a side gate and left after getting no response.

The next day, after more prodding by Amelia's father, police received permission to search some parts of the house but found no sign of her. 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.

They hired a high-end investigative firm that said it uncovered evidence that Amelia was being groomed for sex work and that her death had been made to look like an overdose. A private autopsy paid for by the family found signs of strangulation.