Sunday, June 20, 2010

Answered Questions About The Last Night In The Life Of Kelly Amber DuPriest


Below, I posted in red, answers to some of the questions from my ealier post. I copied the earlier post, so the original post appears in black. 
In green, I have written some other info that has been revealed.

Scroll down until you see red script-


What Happened?


Where did the innocence go?
I will never have the answer to this one-

It will be a week tomorrow night that my daughter was killed.
It is five days since I heard the news.
I googled her name the night after hearing of her death, to read online newspaper reports.
I have read those newspaper accounts over and over again. 

My husband had a very brief conversation with the coroner's office. I can remember hearing him ask if there was anything he should be asking -

He had a brief phone conversation with a detective from the Henderson Police Department. When the detective called he told my husband he was returning my husband's call ---
My husband had never called him--

When I google her name now
there are no new articles to read--

There is no more reading information to allow me
to piece together what exactly happened that night --

The reporters have moved on to other stories-

As the shock wears off,
questions have been coming to me--
But
I am not sure where to get the answers-
Two Nevada Detectives showed up on my door step, Friday, unannounced. They were looking for the parents of Kelly DuPriest. At first I thought they were reporters. Just the way the mind works, I guess. But then I looked down and saw their badges, while at the same time they were telling me who they were. They asked if they could come in and talk to me for a while. I didn't know until a few minutes later that they were from Nevada--- I thought they were local detectives. I asked them if they knew Bud, ( local detective that had called us originally) and that was when I learned they were from Nevada. Once more my insides were reeling. I was having a jammie day -- no makeup, hair a mess, working on my photo shop class, actually having sort of a really good day. Luckily Chandler was at his best friend's house. Randy was in the valley and not coming back up until Sunday, Father's Day. I was having an alone day, sort of ozzing out, the best way I could , at this point in time. Than the knock came --
Then the reality set back in
More Than Ever--

We were told there would be an inquiry and we would be invited-
That won't take place until the end of July 
or the beginning of August-

When we were told that, being in shock, we did not think to ask why so much time would elapse before the inquiry -

I am wondering
what even takes place at an inquiry-
The answer to this one came from the Coroner's office. They called to let us know they were sending paper work concerning the Coroner's Inquest. It will be on July 23rd.It is a hearing. There is a hearing every time a police officer fires a weapon -- I think -- I don't know, it might just be when someone is harmed --
There will be a random jury pulled.

Is that when we should ask our questions?
Will we be allowed to ask questions?

We will be allowed to ask questions in written form. We can submit questions ahead of time ( we received paper work in the mail ) and/or after each person has testified. Plenty of time will be allowed for any questions we have, I was told. We may do this ourselves or have legal counsel. We may just send a representative and not attend, if desired. There may be explicit pictures shown. Neither Randy nor I are sure we would want to see these. Maybe we could ask to be excused when this takes place ---
I am wondering if the car she drove to Henderson was a stolen vehicle -
Yes, it was stolen. Amber has been living at the house where Carlos, his mother, grandfather, and Uncle live. This house would be consistent with the story we were told about her being in Silvercreek. (Now I wonder if any of these other family members were around when the sheriff's officers were there looking for her.)  A family member had a rental car --( I don't remember the detail of why ) On June 2nd, Carlos and Amber took off in the car. The family did report this to the police.According to Carlos' story, I was told they drove up into Colorado, then Utah and ultimately ended up in Las Vegas.
We do not know if there were any other crimes along the way.

Even high on drugs,
( I am wondering when we will get the autopsy report)
Still do not have this but was told there were needles found in the car, meth found in Amber's bra and Carlos has admitted to purchasing meth before leaving AZ and that they had been using drugs all day long on the 7th of June.
We all fully expect the report to show her system was filled with drugs.

I am wondering why in the world she would have driven through the gates of a storage shed facility-

There are no words to make any one understand why --- except DRUGS and her brain was not functioning properly in any way, shape or form.
I was told Carlos said Amber was talking erratically about things all day long but because of the drugs he thought they might be plausible. 
When they rammed the gate of the storage shed, the owner came out. Amber and Carlos jumped out of the car and Amber started screaming at the owner that he was running a chop shop inside and she knew he was doing this, and on and on. The owner told them he was running a legitimate business and they had damaged his gate. He needed to have paper work filled out to get it repaired and he needed to call the police. Of course the second the word police came out of their mouths, Amber and Carlos, jumped in the car and took off.



A newspaper account says there was a confrontation with the owner of the storage shed facility-

Was that person hurt at all?No
Did that person see a gun?No
Did that person call the police?I don't really remember the answer to this --
What time did this happen?About seven in the evening.
This storage shed facility is I believe about a mile from the gated community.

From there the papers say they ended up in the upscale
 gated community with a guard at the gate-
Did they drive through and if so how?They were waved through --
Amber was in the residence lane as opposed to the visitor's lane. She was crowding the gate like she was in a hurry. The guard said he thought he saw a pass that was for workers at the golf course and he just waved them through.
The guard has been investigated and the detectives believe his story and think he had no prior involvement with Amber and Carlos.
Was this guard involved in calling the police?NO
Or
Did they not have a car at this point -
Did they jump over a wall and then proceed to enter one of the homes in order to rob it?
Maybe the gate guard never even saw them enter the community-

Let's back up to earlier in the day. I learned a couple of things that were not questioned, on this page ,as how would they be ---No knowledge of them at the writing --

Seems Amber and Carlos, found a car, in North Las Vegas, ( gentleman reported license plate missing from his car ) exactly like the car they had stolen from AZ. They took his front license plate --

There were receipts found in the AZ car showing purchases made at a Wall-mart and a Seven Eleven. 
Bee bees had been purchased at the Wall mart --
I don't know this for sure, but being her mother, I would guess a huge diet pop was purchased at the Seven Eleven. Carlos is on the security camera at the Wall mart.


An article says the owner of the house they were robbing
was notified by the security alarm system agency. It says the owner entered the house,
heard noise
and told them to get out of the house --

Where was the owner of the house that she/he was able to arrive while they were still in the house?She was at home. Her residence was close by.The house, in question, was for sale and staged with furniture. It had never been lived in. It was for sale and I guess just built as a spec house.

Did the alarm make noise?
Was the owner at the party across the street?No
Had police arrived, at this point, or did the owner just enter the house alone?The owner was contacted by the security system agency. She lived close and said she would run over there. She put her kids in the car, drove over, and got a neighborhood security person to go with her. The rules are the security people are not allowed on the properties --- alright -- this one is a little weird, if you ask me, but I am just repeating what I was told.
The owner got out of her car and started walking up the front walk. As she did so, she saw the legs of someone in her house. She yelled at them to get out of her house. At this point the security guard was placed next door, in between this house and one that is under construction. Amber and Carlos exited the house at the back or the side -- and were talking to the security guard. The home owner entered the house to make sure there was no damage, etc. She headed out to a deck and overheard Amber telling the security guard that the house was hers, that  she was the owner and she had a deed to prove that the house was hers. The real homeowner then hollered at Amber and a verbal altercation ensued. At that point the security guard called the police. 

Amber and Carlos headed across the street where a party was letting out.
Amber and Carlos hopped in the front seat of a red Mazda. It was a car which had a key less start. Amber punched the button and it started. In the meantime, the owner of the car, hopped in the backseat to tell them to get out of the car, it was his car. Carlos pulled a gun ( which, at this writing, we now know the gun was a bee bee gun ) and told the owner to get the expletive out of the car. Of course, he did so immediately. Amber and Carlos drove away -- Another 911 call was made.

At that point, there was already a police officer on his way to the scene, from the first 911 call made by the security guard.
The first police officer was inside the gates and traveling to the scene as Amber and Carlos were heading out. As Amber passed this police car, she swerved toward the police car, like she was going to ram it, and then she pulled back away, at the last minute. The police officer made the decision to follow them to see why they almost rammed him. About this same time, he is made aware of the next 911 call and he realized Amber and Carlos are the people in the stolen car.

Another piece of the story is this neighborhood is a huge neighborhood. There is a golf course behind the gates and there is a second gated community inside the first gate. It is a mystery as to how Amber and Carlos got through the second gates unless they tail gated behind another homeowner. There are not cameras to confirm this.

Did Amber and partner run out a different door than where the home owner was or did they confront the home owner also?Answered above--
I would have been terrified had I been the homeowner.
Will I be able to apologize for the fear my daughter inflicted?

From what can be pieced together,
they then stole a car from the party going on across the street-
That is when the person, with Amber , pointed a gun at the owner of the car and yelled at him to get out of the car --
I left out the expletive --
Was the owner of the car already in the car when Amber's partner jumped into the passenger side of the car?
Amber was the driver of the car -See above
Were there other party goers outside witnessing this theft? 911 called

Were the police there yet?No
From what I can tell they ( Amber and other person ) were caught, in a vacant lot, where they were stuck in gravel,
 at a dead end-
Does this mean they were stuck because they had no where else to go?
Come to think of it, that is what it must mean, 
as if she backed up at them, at a fast rate of speed, 
she could not have been stuck in the gravel.
How far away is the empty lot from where the house was broken into and from where the car was stolen?About 3/4 of a mile.
Was it in the same gated community ?Yes
Were other homes close to where the end took place?Yes and No --- Amber and Carlos drove into a dead end undeveloped lot -- 
Did other homeowners witness the event?
I imagine other civilians were not allowed to be anywhere around the contained area.
There were six police officers on the scene. 
 All accounts report they pleaded with the pair to get out of the car for 45 minutes.
Did all six officers arrive at the same time 
or at different times?Different times and there were many more than six. A Swat team was called in and there was a helicopter on the scene. The Swat team was just arriving when the shooting took place.
Why would my husband have been told by the coroner's office the gun might have been a pellet gun?I still am not sure why to this one. They knew it was a bee bee gun but I was not told that when I called the Coroner's office. The Assistant Coroner,  with which I spoke, told me they knew but he did not have that information in front of him. He told me he had the picture of the gun and it certainly looked like a real gun to him --
He told me he would find out about the gun --
I certainly would not know a pellet gun from a real gun.  
Were either pointed at me,
 both would pose a dangerous threat.

I am just curious as to why
the Coroner's office would not have known
 what kind of gun it was by the time my husband
 was spoken to?
The crimes and killing took place on Monday night. 
 The Coroner talked to my husband on Wednesday. 

As I said in my previous post, I learned it was Amber's partner that was in possession of the gun -
Had he fired it?No -- the first time the gun was shown was in the car, when the second car was being taken --- 
thus, AT THIS POINT, 
they became armed and dangerous-
when Carlos pulled a gun ( bee bee gun which was not recognizable as such - it looked like a real gun ) on the car owner.


Now, let us back up and answer the question --
Where was the car that they drove into the neighborhood to begin with???? Why didn't they just return to it and drive it away?

Amber had driven the car, up behind the houses, on other very undeveloped land. This land was desert and had boulders scattered around. I was told it would have been quite the task to even get the vehicle into where it was found parked. ( This car was not even found by the police until the next day )

Amber and Carlos, from there, had walked down to the backs of these homes. The back door of the house they entered was found unlocked.
Carlos told the detectives, that when they entered the house, Amber waked over to the security pad, opened it and punched in a code, as if she was disarming the alarm --- just like it truly was her home and she knew the security code.

All day long Amber had been talking erratically and saying all kinds of things that would not compute at all to someone normal or not on drugs or????
She had been telling Carlos she owned this large big house and she had a deed to it to prove it and she wanted to show it to him. She had also told him she owned a plumbing company. 

Either the detective or the Coroner's office ( I don't remember which ) told my husband Amber and her partner 
said they had explosives.
At what point did they tell the officers this?
Were explosives found?No, there were no explosives. Amber had not said the word explosives.  When the police arrived on the scene, she told them not to approach the car, as it was booby trapped, and they would be hurt. They had just taken this car so how they would have booby trapped the car, while driving it in the past few minutes, is definitely questionable, 
But, as I was told by the detective, people wear explosives these days , which, of course, is true.

Was the car surrounded? There were two police cars parked behind where Amber was. They had their doors open to be used as protection. I was told they could not have been parked to the side of where Amber was parked because this was undeveloped land and the path up to where Amber had driven was narrow. There was only room for the two police cars to be side by side behind where Amber was parked. Other police cars were back behind the first two police cars but I think they were closer to the street.
Why were officers standing behind the car ?Answered above-


I am wondering why, in the 45 minutes of pleading, the tires were not blown out ,on the vehicle, so it would not be able to move.

I was told this just would not have been done ---
There are other points to be discussed that are not mentioned in regards to my original post questions -

I was told Amber kept calling out the name of Paul to the police officer that was calling to her over the megaphone. They were both told to put their hands up and get out of the car. Amber told them her foot was stuck under the accelerator -
Carlos was sitting there, putting his hands up sometimes, putting them back in his lap, sticking them out the window.
Exchanges continued but at some point, officers saw Amber stick both hands and both feet, at the same time, out of the window of the car. Now they knew she did not have her foot stuck under the accelerator. 
The officers continued to ask them to get out of the vehicle. Amber continued to holler at Paul -
( only, of course, the policeman on the megaphone is not  named Paul )

At some point, Amber got out of the vehicle and started walking towards the police officers. She did not, however, turn her back to them, with her hands in the air, as she was being instructed to do. She got to within 20 to 30 feet of them and stopped. The detective told me it was not safe for them to send a police officer or a canine in to grab her. I asked why, if there were so many policeman on the scene, why some of the police could not have covered Carlos, with their weapons, while someone grabbed Amber. I was told she was still too close to the vehicle, for it to be safe to do this. 

Amber, all of a sudden, walked back to the car and got back inside the car. The detective speculated, at this point, Amber might have realized the person she thought was Paul, was not Paul. I guess we will never know.

Anyway, when she got back in the car, she put her sunglasses on, and lit a cigarette. It appeared she leaned over and kissed Carlos and started revving up the tires on the car. Dirt and gravel were flying around and then the car got enough traction to engage and it traveled backwards towards the policemen, which were situated behind the doors of the police cars. Shots were fired to take out the immediate threat --- 
Carlos was not hit. He had very minor injuries from shrapnel from the bullets fired at Amber. 
He exited the car, police got him and -----

I heard about the night twice--as I asked the detectives, if they were leaving right away. I wanted to call my husband and have him come up immediately ,from the valley, so he could hear this story first hand. They kindly agreed to return the next day ( yesterday ) at ten in the morning.

I forgot to ask them why they had not called and let me know they were coming. They had arrived in town on Thursday. I could have had Randy drive up on Thursday so he could have been here ,with me, the first time they came.
I need to let them know, at some point, this would have made things much easier for me. I did not like being alone, without my husband. I definitely wanted answers. I am grateful to have gotten some answers but I think they should have let me know they were coming so I could have made sure Randy was here. I was lucky Chandler was spending the night with his best friend and not at home when they arrived.

When my husband heard the story yesterday, he asked them where the car Amber was driving ended up. He asked if it did indeed hit the police cars -
No
It stopped. The detectives did not know how the car stopped --- It is a mystery. 

I asked again, if the tires were revving and so forth and so on, why some other way was not employed to stop the car --

Again, happened within seconds, trained to take out the immediate threat of danger ----

As it turned out, the detectives told us, they had since learned Paul was the name of Amber's probation officer and he was the probation officer of Carlos. Randy pointed out we did not understand this ---- as to our knowledge, Amber had NEVER been convicted of anything and thus would not have had a probation officer. We knew she had been assigned someone ( don't remember the legal term ) by the court , to make sure she showed up to court ---- which in the end she did not show up ----


There were some other items we discussed but, at this point in time, it is not appropriate for discussion.

So now there are more questions to be answered----

so this process and story is

TO BE CONTINUED








1 comment:

said...

Oh Cece, I guess it's good you have answers to some of your questions, but how sad to see how quickly things can escalate to such a tragic end. People make mistakes and my husband and I often revel at how one thing leads to another and before you know it, something crazy happens. Again know how sorry I am for you all and this horrific end for your daughter. Though what she was doing was not right, I am so sorry for your loss.