SLO County sheriff says there’s ‘no indication’ of crime in Nipomo woman’s suspicious death
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A Nipomo woman found dead in her home in what was initially described as a “suspicious death” died of blunt force trauma injuries to her head, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office says, but investigators don’t know how it happened.
Members of the woman’s family, however, claim she was murdered and are demanding answers.
Debra Glenn, 68, was found dead in her home on the 100 block of Tefft Street at about 2:30 p.m. May 20, 2020, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
The agency released very little information at the time, but said that Sheriff’s Office detectives were investigating the incident “as a suspicious death pending the results of an autopsy and toxicology report,” the release said.
Investigators had released no new information about the case until Friday, when Sheriff’s Office spokesman Tony Cipolla wrote in an email response to a Tribune inquiry that the autopsy showed Glenn’s cause of death to be “complications of blunt force cranial cerebral traumatic injuries.”
Her manner of death — whether it was a homicide, suicide or accidental — was ruled “undetermined” by the coroner.
Cipolla said the investigation is still active, but “detectives are close to finishing it.”
“As a result, we can comment to say there is no indication of criminal activity related to Ms. Glenn’s death,” Cipolla wrote.
When asked for elaboration on the circumstances of her death or how it is believed she sustained her injuries, Cipolla wrote that, as a result of the manner of death being undetermined, “we cannot say definitively how she incurred the blunt force trauma.”
Because the investigation remains ongoing, Glenn’s autopsy report remains a confidential record.
Family members of Nipomo woman demand answers
Friday’s news did not sit well with Susie Davison and Pam Madrigal, Glenn’s cousins.
They administer a “Justice for Debbie” Facebook group that seeks tips, calls for action and shares information about the case.
Davison and Madrigal claim that their family member was murdered — and they say they know who did it. They also claim that investigators “dropped the ball” early on in the case.
Both spoke to The Tribune by phone Friday and said that they have tried constantly to bring information to Sheriff’s Office detectives who refuse to speak with them, saying they can only speak to Glenn’s direct next-of-kin.
The investigation has gone through four head detectives, Davison and Madrigal said; the most recent told Davison “he had nothing to say to me ever again.”
The two said that, in the roughly one year leading up to Glenn’s death, she reported numerous break-ins at her home related to her daughter’s 23-year-old boyfriend. They said she had a “dysfunctional” relationship with her daughter and the boyfriend and pleaded with deputies to help her.
The man allegedly assaulted Glenn eight days before her death, but Sheriff’s Office deputies were not able to locate him at the time, they said.
The Tribune is not releasing the man’s name in this article because it has not yet reviewed their claims in-depth. He is currently serving a year-long sentence at Wasco State Prison.
Davison and Madrigal claim that they possess a cell phone video, taken by Glenn’s daughter as she found her mother’s body, that shows multiple bruises all over Glenn’s body, blood splatter covering walls, and what appears to be writing smeared in blood at the scene.
The Tribune has not reviewed that video.
But the two cousins said it’s impossible that Glenn caused those injuries to herself.
Davison and Madrigal said they are outraged that the Sheriff’s Office is saying Glenn’s death is not being investigated as a crime.
“She was brutally beaten to death,” Davison said, adding that she believes officials did not properly secure the alleged crime scene nor follow up on information they gave them about the boyfriend.
“The Sheriff’s Office really dropped the ball,” Davison said. “There are a lot of questions we have that they don’t want to answer.”
This story was originally published July 30, 2021 at 6:46 PM.
