An Oklahoma family was awarded a nearly $12 million settlement following a botched police investigation and a wrongful death lawsuit over their teen daughter’s death.
On December 8, 2020 Heather Williams found her 14-year-old daughter, Alaunna Raffield, inside the family’s garage with a gunshot wound to the head –
Despite the fact that authorities quickly ruled her death a suicide, ‘nothing’ in the teen’s journal where she routinely ‘expressed herself’ pointed to suicidal ideations.
‘The evidence doesn’t add up,’ the late teen’s mom told 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 been stalking the teen.
The Prague Police Department identified a suspicious relationship between the pair as he admitted to police that he logged into Raffields social media account after her death to get pictures.
Upon closer investigation, police revealed nude photos of an unidentified 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 the one responsible for multiple 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 the night of her death and her family claimed his testimony of his account of that night was convoluted.
‘I discovered one message that stated Baker was “in bed” on a Monday 12/07/2020. I asked him where he was in bed at and he stated he would have to be at his grandparents in Prague. This contradicted what he previously told me in the interview,’ police reports by Prague Police Department officer, Matthew Hensley revealed.
It was determined in the course of the lawsuit that Baker has used at least six different names or aliases, and had his name legally changed to ‘Cody Mullen’ after Raffield’s death.
Baker has also called himself ‘Cody Terrell’ during the period he allegedly stalked Raffield.
Additionally, both parents claim they never heard a gunshot that fateful December evening, News4 reported.
The gun police said Raffield used was also found several feet from her body and has never been positively identified as the gun used in her death.
Adding to the seemingly botched investigation, a gun powder residue examination was never conducted on the teen’s hands or head.
The clothing she was wearing was tested, however, it was only after a funeral home had washed it three times.
The Prague Police Department said they closed the case, yet, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations said they never opened one.
Abiding by their persistent suspicions of foul play, Raffield’s parents pushed on with their suit.
Baker failed to report to all but the final case hearing, unsuccessfully claiming he was not 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 yet been filed against Baker.
The civil case played out in Lincoln County District Court over that two-year span with minimal updates until September 12, 2024 when Brandon Pierson, the family’s lawyer said: ‘We secured an $11.6 million judgment this week.’
‘Unfortunately, being civil in nature, it’s symbolic … but it forever and officially applies legal culpability … in the death of Alaunna Raffield.’
The judgment totaled a whopping $11, 688,485 and was based on punitive damages for ‘shocking behavior,’ for pain and suffering, lost future earnings and loss of companionship.
Raffield’s projected future earnings were calculated under the assumption that the teen, who loved cooking 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 firmly believes, along with Raffield’s family, that the OSBI should have handled the case to potentially avoid having to pursue civil damages.
Following the teen’s untimely death, the family has organized the Alaunna Raffield Fund with the aim to assist local law enforcement partners with the cost of attending training facilitated by the OSBI.