Don't Jump to Conclusions - The Death of Lauren Smith-Fields

Vanished Voices, The Overlooked · Sep 17, 2026 · 1h 4m

On December 12, 2021, 23-year-old Lauren Smith-Fields was found dead in her Bridgeport, Connecticut apartment, the morning after a first date with a man she'd matched with on Bumble. Her family wasn't notified by police — they found out from a note taped to her door, left by her landlord, that pointed them to him, not to police.

What followed was weeks of uncollected evidence, a detective who hung up on a grieving family and told them to stop calling — twice, a month apart — and a rape kit that was never performed at all.

Then there's the detail that could have answered everything: the man…