Cellular 911 Not Located, Family Found Dead

Someone inside Tia Hendricks’ apartment dialed 911 at 7 a.m. on Thanksgiving day, yelled the name “Caron,” and then hung up after 17 seconds. The next day family members became worried and called Columbus (Ohio) police, and officers discovered Hendricks dead inside, along with her 10 year-old daughter and 2 year-old son. Police arrested Caron Montgomery, Hendricks boyfriend, for the murders after they found him inside the apartment with a knife stuck in his neck, apparently a suicide attempt. Police officials say the dispatcher who fielded the 911 call called back the number twice, but didn’t reach anyone—it’s not clear if there was no answer or the dispatcher reached voicemail. Police were dispatched to the GPS-reported location of the wireless 911 call. But it was about one block south of the actual location of Hendricks’ apartment, and patrol officers found nothing. The dispatcher contacted Sprint to determine the phone’s subscriber and obtained a billing address. However, police said that address led to Hendricks’ former home in another part of Columbus. Police officials said no officers were dispatched to the former address and no one contacted Hendricks’ family who still live there. Read more about the incident here. Update: Lt. Brent Mull, commander of the center, defended the dispatcher and said she did “a considerable number of things” to locate the caller. Mull said it was a family member at the older address, and others, who reported Hendricks’ missing the next day, leading to police find the family dead. Read the follow-up article here.