Radio Reporter Held in Death of Mother, 77

A Los Angeles radio news and traffic reporter was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter in North Hollywood after her bedridden mother died of what investigators believe was neglect, police said Tuesday.

Cynthia Jeter Green, 38, was being held in lieu of $6,000 bail at the Van Nuys Jail after her arrest Monday night, police said.

Green, first heard on Los Angeles radio in the mid-1980s, was arrested after her 77-year-old mother, Virginia Jeter, died at Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Panorama City about 7:40 p.m. Monday, Detective Ted Ball said.

At 2:45 p.m., Green had called paramedics to her house that she shared with her mother in the 7800 block of Bellingham Avenue, Ball said. She reported that her mother possibly had suffered a stroke, Ball said.

The paramedics found Jeter unconscious and unresponsive, he said.

“They discovered the victim to be bedridden and suffering from obvious signs of neglect,” Ball said.

After Jeter was taken to the hospital, paramedics alerted police and an investigation was begun, Ball said. Investigators said they believe that Green’s failure to properly care for her mother caused her death, although Jeter had been bedridden for an unknown reason for several months.

“Her overall body condition showed she was neglected,” Ball said of the victim.

Ball said there was evidence of “malnutrition and other problems” but declined to elaborate on the victim’s condition.

It was unclear whether Jeter had suffered a stroke as her daughter said, the detective said. An autopsy is scheduled Thursday.

Green formerly worked as a news reporter for KMPC and as a traffic reporter for LA Network, which feeds information on freeway conditions to several Los Angeles stations. Earlier this year, she was employed as a temporary news writer and financial reporter for area radio stations, but has been unemployed in recent weeks.

Bob Sims, news director at KNX, said he occasionally employed Green this year. He said she had been looking for full-time work in the radio news business for about a year.