DORI MONSON

Actress’ father says police were lazy in investigation of her disappearance

Dec 5, 2014, 7:34 AM | Updated: 7:34 am

The father of actress Misty Upham remains frustrated with how the case of his daughter’s disappearance was handled after learning her death appears to be accidental.

“They [police] were lazy,” Misty’s father Charles Upham tells KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson. “(The police) just didn’t want to get involved, just figured that everything was going to be fine. But they didn’t know Misty. We knew her.”

Shortly after Misty first went missing back on Oct. 5, Charles Upham told Monson that Misty had stopped taking medication for anxiety and bi-polar disorder, and “was not in her right mind.”

He was pleading for help in locating his daughter, but said he thought authorities making decisions regarding the investigation were not well-versed in mental health issues.

“I think that the person who was involved in making the executive decision not to implement the Washington State Endangered Missing Persons Plan did not have a mental health background and they did not consult with mental health professionals regarding the issue, so they made an uninformed decision.”

Charles said Misty had left California and returned home to help care for him after he suffered a stroke earlier this year, and she had a difficult time getting proper psychiatric care here.

He said she had a doctor and a counselor in Washington, but was waiting for an appointment with a prescribing psychiatrist.

“They had her scheduled for her appointment on Nov. 24. That was just a few days ago. She had to wait – it was June 6 when we got here, all the way up until now, to get the medicines that she needed to help keep her condition stabilized.”

The body of the 32-year-old actress known for her roles in “August: Osage County,” “Frozen River” and “Django Unchained,” was eventually located by a family friend nearly two weeks after she was last seen Oct. 5.

“The family has had kind of a search party out looking for her and this person found a body,” Police Cmdr. Steve Stocker said on Oct. 16, the day the body was found.

The King County Medical Examiner announced this week that the actress’ cause of death was blunt force trauma.

Following the announcement, Stocker said there was no evidence of foul play and it appeared the death was accidental, but added we may never know what really happened.

Her father, who told Monson when she was still missing that he didn’t believe she would take her own life, said Thursday that he does feel somewhat better knowing it was an accident.

“It does make me feel that I know my daughter. I know what she said to me and this would vindicate that. But it doesn’t take away the pain of missing her.”

It also doesn’t take away his frustration with how he says the authorities handled the case.

“What frustrates me about the police department, in general, is the fact that we had no communication with them, during what they call, this investigation,” Upham said. “I don’t believe they did anything on an investigative level. I think they’re just saying that for the paperwork.”

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