UPDATE: Teen Dies After Visit to Prof's Condo
E/C Annie
rescue personnel ....... e/c annie
Teen Dies After Visit to Prof's Condo
Investigation Into Sudden Death Continues as Student's Family Seeks
Answers
By DAVID SCHOETZ
April 29, 2008—
While police continue to investigate the case of a young woman who
died after being found unconscious in her professor's Phoenix
condominium, the women's family has hired a private detective to look
into the man they've called a "predator."
Andria Ziegler, who was 19-years-old, is being laid to rest today by
her parents and seven brothers and sisters.
Paramedics responded to a medical call for help around 2:30 a.m.
Sunday, April 20, at the home of Michael Todd, a 51-year-old
psychology professor at Paradise Valley Community College. Paramedics
found Andria Ziegler -- Todd's student for two semesters --
unresponsive. She was transported to a local hospital where she was
pronounced dead.
Initial autopsy results did not show a cause for Ziegler's death,
according to a spokeswoman at the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's
Office. Toxicology tests, which authorities said will likely answer
that outstanding question, could take several weeks.
Todd is not currently a suspect, as police cannot yet say for sure
that a crime was committed. But his condominium has been combed
through as if it were a crime scene, the city's homicide unit is
investigating and Todd has retained a lawyer, Mike Roth, who did not
return multiple phone calls from ABC News.
The college has also put Todd on paid leave while school officials
look into possible administrative violations surrounding his
relationship with the student.
"We've had some correspondence with his attorney," Sgt. Joel Tranter
at the Phoenix Police Department told ABC News. "He's not been named a
suspect."
One troubling detail of the events that morning that has devastated
Ziegler's large, tight-knit family and raised eyebrows for
investigators is that when paramedics arrived at the house, Todd
declined to identify Ziegler. This, even though Todd was her professor
and according to family members, had been courting her romantically
for two months.
"He knew who she was," Tranter said. "I don't think anyone's going to
argue that. He didn't reach out to her parents or anything like that."
Police and Ziegler's family members also said Todd did not accompany
Zeigler to the hospital. After she died, she arrived at the morgue as
a "Jane Doe," or unidentified female.
By then, her family had already begun to search for Ziegler, who lives
at her parents' Phoenix home. "She did not call," Doug McManus,
Ziegler's stepfather, said in an interview with ABC News. "That left
us to think that something was definitely wrong."
It was around noon Monday that Ziegler's family went to the Phoenix
police station to file a missing person's report -- roughly 36 hours
after their daughter had died -- and authorities matched the 19-year-
old's description with the "Jane Doe" who arrived at the morgue the
previous day.
Andria Ziegler was with her sisters until about 8 p.m. the Saturday
night before her death, McManus said. She was supposed to meet some
friends around 11 p.m. but never showed up.
Ziegler's family knew vaguely about Todd, who McManus said had been
trying to date his stepdaughter before her death. "About three or four
weeks ago, she asked if she could date a 35-year-old," he said. "She
was enamored by this professor. He just put on the polish."
After she died, McManus said he tried reaching out to Todd, e-mailing
him and calling all the listings for Michael Todd in the area. The
family members went to the university to talk to administrators about
the professor. When they learned his address, they went to the
condominium and discovered their daughter's car parked at the condo.
Todd was no longer at the apartment.
While Tranter said he did not understand why the professor may have
kept his student's identity secret, he also said that criminal
culpability could be tricky in this case. If Ziegler died of a drug
overdose, for example, there could be an investigation into where she
acquired the drugs that may involve Todd.
There are details of the case, including evidence recovered at the
scene, that Tranter declined to discuss, given the ongoing nature of
the investigation. But Tranter also stressed that Ziegler is 19 years
old and therefore an adult who can make her own decisions.
John Hughes, a private detective for the Blackstone Investigation
Agency and a neighbor and friend of Ziegler's family, is digging into
Todd's background in addition to the police investigation, which he
described as "sensitive."
Hughes said that in the past few days, he already has interviewed on
tape "several young ladies" who claim to have been taken advantage of
in some way or another by Michael Todd. One of the women he
interviewed, he said, was Todd's ex-wife, who described her former
husband as a "manipulative talker."
Andria Ziegler's family described her as a "beautiful girl who took
her sisters everywhere." She wanted to become a psychologist and was
particularly concerned with elder care abuse, Doug McManus said.
"We as a family want something done instantly, but investigators must
do things methodically," McManus said. "This guy is a predator. My
daughter is in heaven now. Something good will come out of this."
Betsy
"E/C Annie" <blake_s...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:632fc4ce-05c9-4d6a...@l64g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
April 29, 2008—
http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4746104&page=1
Thanks for the follow up.
Betsy
E/C Annie
> "E/C Annie" <blake_swann1...@comcast.net> wrote in message
You are most welcome. I, too, find it difficult to believe that the
Prof did not have something to do with this girl's death. If I'm
wrong, it won't be the first time. I've been checking back daily to
see if anything new comes up.
I wish these young girls/women were half as street-smart as they think
they are. My oldest grandgirl is 19 and is definitely more interested
in older teachers, coaches (they seem to be her favorite) than she
should be. One day I fear she'll flirt with the wrong one. Both
grandgirls were abandoned by their "real" dad and pretty much their
"real" mom so I know they are both looking for something they'll not
find in their peer group. Having said that, Andria appeared to have a
loving family that she enjoyed being with; a pretty girl with an
outgoing personality. I don't understand why she was drawn to this
man. Maybe it had something to do with her parents' divorce.
e/c annie