Saturday, Aug. 28, 1999 | 11:56 a.m.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CARSON CITY, Nev. - A mother has filed a court petition seeking a grand jury investigation into the death of her 16-year-old daughter two years ago.
Attorney Day Williams filed the petition on behalf of Tammy Stelton in Carson District Court on Friday.
Stelton's daughter, Sadie Natasha Jennings, was visiting her father from California when she died July 8, 1997, at her aunt's Carson City apartment.
An autopsy did not determine a cause of death.
Stelton, of Manteca, Calif., believes facts have been covered up or left undiscovered by ineffective investigation.
"It would be a blessing if we found out that Natasha died of natural causes," she said. "But when no one will talk to us, it makes us suspicious."
She complained that District Attorney Noel Waters only spoke with her directly once, right after Jennings' death, and had not responded to several written inquiries from Stelton, her sister or her mother.
Williams said Waters has recently provided him with tapes of interviews conducted after the death, a video tape of the crime scene and autopsy photographs. But he said the district attorney has refused his request for Water's telephone records.
Besides calling for the grand jury to investigate her daughter's death, Stelton's petition asks that the investigation by the district attorney's and sheriff's offices be reviewed for possible misconduct or cover up.
Williams said he will appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court if the petition request is denied by District Judge Michael Griffin. And if an appeal fails, Stelton plans to petition for one by collecting signatures from registered voters.
The petition would require about 4,200 signatures to force a grand jury probe.
Waters on Friday said the investigation into Jennings' death remains open and action is taken when something new arises.
He added that he Nevada Division of Investigation reviewed case at his request.
"They did that and concluded that it was a fair and thorough investigation," Water said. "There's no indication that some sort of a formal proceeding is going to change the information that is available.
"There is simply nothing more that can be found except that the death is mysterious, because it is not common for people to drop dead. It does happen, but it is not common," he said.
archive
