A teenage heiress’s death under horrific circumstances in California after meeting a mystery man was ruled an overdose – but her wealthy parents are convinced she was murdered.
Amelia Salehpour, 18, died on July 26, 2023, after abruptly leaving a drug treatment center in Costa Mesa, California, and driving off with her ex-boyfriend and a man known as ‘Raider.’
Her parents alleged in a complaint that Amelia had been trafficked from the rehab facility and then beaten, raped and killed at a drug house ‘frequented by gang members, sexual deviants, drug users, and drug and assault weapon dealers.’
Police initially ruled that Amelia had died from an accidental overdose after finding her next to an open drawer marked with black tar heroin residue, per the Los Angeles Times.
But the family remained unsure at the ‘hastily and suspiciously’ made assessment.
Since the death of their daughter, the Salehpours have paid for a private security company to run their own investigation of the case, retained two locally-recognized prosecutors and conducted their own autopsy of Amelia.
The evidence obtained was used to file a lawsuit against seven people allegedly involved in Amelia’s death but the case was later dropped without an explanation.
Ali Salehpour, Amelia’s father, has an estimated net worth of about $107million, according to GuruFocus. He was previously a senior vice president at Applied Materials Inc, whose market cap is roughly $181billion.
Amelia Salehpour, 18, died on July 26, 2023, after abruptly leaving a drug treatment center in Costa Mesa, California
The private investigation was so thorough that Black Box, the firm hired by Amelia’s family, knew ‘who’s received pizza’ at the alleged drug house.
But the defense accused the Salehpours of using their wealth to obtain a prosecution.
Amelia had been checked into the Rising Roads women’s only in-patient substance abuse program in May 2023 after struggling ‘for years’ with drug abuse brought on by mental health and cognitive disability issues.
She was 18 but was ‘cognitively’ an eighth-grader, per her family’s complaint.
However, her family alleged that Amelia’s mental health ‘deteriorated greatly’ while at the treatment center.
She allegedly suffered from psychosis, hallucinations, paranoia and panic attacks. The teen was also self-harming.
Rather than report this alarming behavior to her parents, the suit claimed, the rehab facility’s ‘solution was to lie and tell them that everything was going ‘fine’.’
Amelia’s family, included her father Ali, have ‘found themselves spending time, energy and resources’ putting together a team of experts to investigate their daughter’s death
Amelia was discharged to Saddleback Recovery in Costa Mesa, and allegedly departed the treatment center after five days with her ex-boyfriend and a man nicknamed ‘Raider’
Amelia was discharged to Saddleback Recovery, a subcontractor in Costa Mesa – where she only stayed for five days, per the complaint.
The 18-year-old was ‘somehow allowed to discharge herself against medical advice,’ the family claimed, even though she was ‘a danger to herself and gravely disabled.’
Amelia was allegedly released from Saddleback without a phone, money or ID.
Rising Roads denied the allegations brought on by her family.
‘These are tragic and profoundly unfortunate circumstances,’ Brian Hoffman, an attorney for the center, told the LA Times. ‘Rising Roads denies the allegations made against it and its staff, and maintains that its team acted professionally and in full compliance with all applicable standards, policies, and legal obligations.’
Amelia’s parents claimed that ‘no timely notification’ was issued to them, so they could not travel to the facility in time from their Saratoga home to pick up their daughter and keep her safe.
Instead, she was picked up by her ex-boyfriend Nicholas Reyes and a man nicknamed ‘Raider’, who was later identified as Marlon Mancillas, per the LA Times.
Amelia’s body was found alongside needles, a burned spoon with black tar heroin residue and a purse with more needles and a spoon
Salehpour’s complaint claimed: ‘Despite these circumstances and the overwhelming evidence suggesting foul play and human trafficking of Amelia, Los Angeles police and medical examiner(s) hastily and suspiciously concluded – moments after finding Amelia’s body – that she had died of an accidental drug overdose.’
Amelia’s family urgently called the Costa Mesa Police Department, but the complaint claimed police ‘squandered critical time by refusing to accept a missing person report by telephone and investigate Amelia as a critical missing person as required by law.’
The Salehpours also ‘repeatedly’ asked the Los Angeles Police Department for help. Its officers searched the house Amelia was allegedly being held captive in – but ‘inexplicably failed to execute a complete search of the house.’
Someone in the house told the cops that ‘Amelia was not in a room with a closed door’ and they believed him, the complaint alleged.
One day later, LAPD was called to the alleged drug house for a ‘dead girl’ and discovered Amelia’s body next to needles, a burned spoon with black tar heroin residue and a purse with more needles and a spoon.
Since then, Amelia’s parents have ‘found themselves spending time, energy and resources assembling a team of expert investigators and various subject matter experts and securing a comprehensive private autopsy to help uncover the depths of the wrongdoing of the care homes, police and coroner.’
That included hiring Black Box for more than $1million.
Amelia’s family alleged that the rehab center had not notified them their daughter was being charged and could not travel from their Saratoga home to pick her up and keep her safe
The Salehpours accepted the decision to not pursue charges against the seven suspects, per the LA Times, and are hoping that Los Angeles police continues investigating their daughter’s death.
Los Angeles County district attorney Nathan Hochman told them he believed Amelia had been murdered, the Salehpours told the LA Times.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Salehpours’ attorney and the Los Angeles Police Department for further comment.