Woman Doggedly Pursues the Cause of Son’s Jail Death

For the past 7 months, Esther Orozco has been trying to find a reason for her son’s death.

She has gone to the ACLU, Orange County Jail officials, the district attorney, lawyers and victim centers, all to no avail. But she refuses to give up her quest for answers as to why her 28-year-old son, Robert, was found dead in his bunk in the County Jail last August.

“They never gave me a real reason,” the 67-year-old woman said last week. “The death certificate said the cause of death was undetermined. What’s undetermined?”

The mother said she believes that coroner’s officials must have found more information when they performed an autopsy on her son. But autopsy reports revealed no foul play and only traces of cocaine in his system. Coroner’s officials said they believe that the inmate died of drug withdrawal.

Buena Park police arrested Esther Orozco’s son Aug. 7 on suspicion of strong-arm robbery. He allegedly attempted to walk out of an Albertson’s supermarket with a cartload of groceries. He was scheduled to be arraigned on Aug. 9--the morning he died.

Inmates in the dormitory-style prison room said Orozco had complained the night before his death that he was ill. One inmate said Orozco had “begged” for medication but was not helped. Jail nurses and paramedics were called to Orozco’s bunk when it appeared that he was not breathing, Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Lt. Richard J. Olson said.

An Orange County Grand Jury subsequently found that the autopsy was satisfactory and declared that there was no need for further investigation.

Orozco’s mother, who lived with her son in La Puente, said he had a history of cocaine and heroin abuse and was glad to be in jail. He had made previous attempts to quit--turning to religion, methadone detoxification programs and going cold turkey--but nothing seemed to work.

“He couldn’t go to special clinics because they charged too much money,” the mother said. Her son was unemployed at the time of his death.

“When he was arrested, he told me not to worry, that he was safe in jail and this was the only place where he knew he could get better,” she said. “And then the next day, he’s dead.”

She sought legal assistance from the American Civil Liberties Union, but was referred to the Police Misconduct Referral Panel. Then she was referred to Victims of Crime in Los Angeles, but she still was not satisfied.

“She wanted an attorney to represent her and the ACLU does not do personal lawsuits of that nature,” said Rebecca Jurado, an attorney with that agency.

Orozco was also referred to a pair of Los Angeles attorneys who initially requested information on her son’s background and specifics of the case. But months later, she said, they unexpectedly dropped the inquiry.

“They gave us so much hope about this, and told us we had a real good case, then all of a sudden he says he can’t help us anymore,” Orozco said. “We didn’t do nothing or talk to nobody for 4 months because we thought they would help us, but nothing,” she said.

She tried the Legal Aid Society in Santa Ana, which referred her to the senior citizens division. There, she was told that she received too much in Social Security income to qualify for assistance. So, officials referred her to yet another office.

“They gave me the number, but I haven’t called them, because everybody tells me to go to somebody else and nobody can help,” she said in a defeated tone. “And I don’t have the money for what they want.”

Orozco said she is not interested in receiving money for her son’s death--just a satisfactory explanation of how he died.

“If he had died of an overdose or withdrawal, then that’s OK, we could accept that,” said Robert Orozco’s sister, Kathy Lopez. “But not to say it was undetermined. . . . He just died and was forgotten like a nobody. He wasn’t a nobody. He was somebody to us and we deserve a better answer than what we got.”