An Oklahoma family was awarded a nearly $12 million settlement after a botched police investigation and wrongful death lawsuit over the death of their teenage daughter.
On December 8, 2020, Heather Williams found her 14-year-old daughter, Alaunna Raffield, in the family’s garage with a gunshot wound to the head.
Despite authorities quickly ruling her death a suicide, “nothing” in the teen’s diary in which she routinely “expressed” herself indicated suicidal thoughts.
“The evidence doesn’t add up,” the deceased teen’s mother said Fox25. “She loved life.”
Two years later, Raffield’s parents, Heather and Kevin Williams, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2022 against an 18-year-old man, Cody Baker, who had allegedly stalked the teen.
Fourteen-year-old Alaunna Raffield was found in the garage of her parents’ home on December 8, 2020 with a gunshot wound to the head
Despite authorities quickly ruling her death a suicide, “nothing” in the teen’s diary in which she routinely “expressed” herself indicated suicidal thoughts.
Prague police identified a suspicious relationship between the pair when he admitted to police that he had logged into Raffield’s social media account to take photos after her death.
Upon further investigation, police revealed nude photos of an unknown woman and other inappropriate messages between the pair – some from Raffield telling the man to stop communicating with her.
He also admitted to investigators that he was responsible for several cryptic messages sent from her account after her death.
However, police failed to include in their investigation into Raffield’s death that Baker had access to a vehicle on the night of her death and her family claimed his testimony of his account of that night was complicated.
“I discovered a message stating that Baker was ‘in bed’ on Monday 12/07/2020. I asked him where he was in bed and he said he had to be with his grandparents in Prague. This contradicted what he had told me earlier in the interview,” revealed police reports from Matthew Hensley, an officer of the Prague Police.
Raffield’s parents, Heather and Kevin Williams, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in 2022 against an 18-year-old man, Cody Baker, who allegedly stalked the teen.
Prague police identified a suspicious relationship between Raffield and Baker when he admitted to police that he had logged into her social media account to take photos after her death.
During the course of the lawsuit, it was determined that Baker used at least six different names or aliases, and that his name was legally changed to “Cody Mullen” after Raffield’s death.
Baker also called himself “Cody Terrell” during the period when he allegedly stalked Raffield.
Furthermore, both parents claim they never heard a gunshot that fateful December evening. News4 reported.
Gun police said the gun Raffield used was also found several feet from her body and has never been positively identified as the weapon used in her death.
To add to the apparently botched investigation, no examination of gunpowder residue was ever conducted on the teen’s hands or head.
The clothes she wore were tested, but only after a funeral home had washed them three times.
Prague police said they closed the case, but the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations said they never opened one.
Raffield’s parents adhered to their lingering suspicions of foul play and proceeded with their lawsuit.
Two years after Raffield’s death, no criminal charges have been filed against Baker.
Following the teen’s untimely death, the family established the Alaunna Raffield Fund with the goal of helping local law enforcement partners with the costs of attending training sessions facilitated by the OSBI.
Baker failed to report to all but the final hearing, claiming unsuccessfully that he had not been properly served with the lawsuit.
The Lincoln County District Court judge ultimately decided Baker was “too late” and sided with Raffield’s family, court records show.
Two years after Raffield’s death, no criminal charges have been filed against Baker.
The civil case played out in Lincoln County District Court during those two years with minimal updates until September 12, 2024, when Brandon Pierson, the family’s attorney, said, “We secured an $11.6 million judgment this week .’
“Unfortunately, because it is civil in nature, it is symbolic… but it forever and officially applies legal culpability… in the death of Alaunna Raffield.”
The verdict totaled a whopping $11,688,485 and was based on damages for “shocking conduct,” for pain and suffering, lost future earnings and loss of companionship.
Raffield’s expected future earnings were calculated on the assumption that the teenager, who loved to cook pastries, would have become a pastry chef if her death had not been caused by Baker, an allegedly obsessed stalker who called the 14-year-old cheerleader “my forever’. Love’.
Pierson added that he, like Raffield’s family, firmly believes that the OSBI should have heard the case to potentially avoid having to pursue civil damages.
Following the teen’s untimely death, the family established the Alaunna Raffield Fund with the goal of helping local law enforcement partners with the costs of attending training sessions made possible by the OSBI.