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Policy unfulfilled in fatal runaway case
By RYAN DAVIS, Times Staff Writer After waiting nearly 24 hours for the Pasco County Sheriff's Office to take her daughter to court-ordered drug treatment, Tara Ramsdell grew worried the girl would run away again. She said she called the Sheriff's Office. "They told me to bide my time," Ramsdell said, "they'd get to her when they could." About 10 hours later -- before deputies arrived -- Ramsdell's 16-year-old daughter ran away. A day later, she was found dead. "They left her down to last priority," Ramsdell said. "They, in my opinion, helped murder my daughter." Sheriff's officials make no such admission. But an internal investigation has found that for at least five years the agency hasn't followed its own policy for responding to cases like Ramsdell's. Some supervisors said they don't remember ever following the policy. "At this point," said Kevin Doll, a spokesman for Sheriff Bob White, "we're looking to the future to make sure this doesn't happen again." They have decided no one will be punished. No new policy has been written. They are just going to follow the policy already in place. "That," Tara Ramsdell said, "is not good enough." Ramsdell found her runaway daughter -- Joshan Ashbrook -- on Monday morning, July 29. She took the girl to the West Pasco County Judicial Center and yelled from her car for a deputy. She was worried Joshan would run again if left alone. Bailiffs handcuffed the girl and took her inside. Ramsdell petitioned under the state's Marchman Act for the court to order Joshan into drug treatment. "My child is in trouble," Ramsdell wrote in the petition. "If I keep her home she will run again. I believe she is into Internet pornography." Mother and daughter went back to their New Port Richey house to wait. About 11 a.m. that day, a judge granted the order, and at 6:20 p.m. it was recorded into a log book at the Sheriff's Office. Deputies were to take Joshan to a drug treatment center. Apparently, spokesman Doll said, the order sat the rest of July 29, all day July 30 and into July 31 inside a sheriff's log book. No one tried to serve it. Though Ramsdell said she called the Sheriff's Office on July 30, officials there said they have no record of the call. By the time the order was taken from the book, Ashbrook had run away. According to policy, sergeants are responsible for ensuring an order is served. The internal investigation found that three sergeants or acting sergeants worked from the time the order arrived until Ashbrook ran away. One acting sergeant said he didn't check the log book. He said he didn't know why. Another sergeant said his subordinate checked the book. A third said he didn't see the order in the book. No one tried to serve the order until 3 p.m. July 31 -- more than 12 hours after Joshan ran away. "There's no way," White's spokesman said, "to look back and find out exactly what happened." According to department policy, the desk officer who received the order on July 29 should have immediately alerted the sergeant to the order. The desk officer said he was never trained to do that. The man who trained him said he was never trained to do that. For at least five years, Sheriff White said, no one has been doing that. From now on, they will, White said. And another department of the Sheriff's Office will review the investigation for any needed policy changes. The Sheriff's Office received two other Marchman Act orders last month, Doll said. "We have not checked back to see if any other ones fell through the cracks," Doll said. "We don't have any evidence that any of them did." White said he wasn't sure if following policy would have altered Joshan's fate. "You have to check with God on that one," White said. "I don't know. It's hard to say." Joshan's killing remains unsolved. The rising 10th grader at Schwettman Education Center was last seen the evening of July 31 in the neighborhood off Massachusetts Avenue near her home, her parents said. Three passers-by found her body the next morning on Shady Hills Road, about 12 miles from her home. She was partly clothed. Joshan ran out the back door of the single-story home about 2 a.m. July 31, her mother said. The girl who collected stuffed frogs and frog figurines had recently met a new group of friends, her mother said. "I couldn't save her from those people," Ramsdell said. "That's the end of that story." She said she is going to try to meet today with White. "I have been told to see a lawyer," Ramsdell said. "Right now I am still deciding whether I should put her things away or still keep them out." -- Ryan Davis is the police reporter in Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6245 or toll free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6245. His e-mail address is rdavis@sptimes.com. Looking for informationPasco County sheriff's investigators are seeking information about the whereabouts of Joshan Ashbrook on July 31 and Aug. 1. The 16-year-old, who had dyed her hair auburn, ran away from her New Port Richey home early July 31 and was found dead on Shady Hills Road early Aug. 1. Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Scott Gattuso at (727) 844-7781.
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From today's Pasco Times Letters |
