Wife Claims False Arrest in Spouse’s Death : Litigation: Mary Kellel-Sophiea says two officers bungled the investigation of her husband’s killing and set her up as the prime suspect.

A Sun Valley woman filed suit Friday accusing two Los Angeles police officers of falsely arresting her and fabricating evidence linking her to her husband’s murder in order to cover up their bungled investigation.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles charges that detectives Woodrow Parks and Gary Milligan violated Mary Kellel-Sophiea’s civil rights when they arrested her, even though there was no evidence that she was responsible for the killing.

The suit charges that Parks and Milligan attempted to conceal their mistake by coercing a man later arrested for the murder to implicate her.

Kellel-Sophiea lost custody of her daughter for three months until the criminal charges against her were dropped by the district attorney’s office. The detectives also have harassed her, the suit charges, by refusing to return jewelry seized from her, including a cross that her mother gave her.

Parks denied the allegations of improprieties. “The Police Department still considers her the prime suspect in the killing of her husband,” he said. “The investigation is continuing. The civil suit is probably just a ploy on her part to save face with her family and friends.”

Kellel-Sophiea was arrested on suspicion of murder on Jan. 31, shortly after she called 911 to report that her husband, Gregory Sophiea, had been stabbed to death in his bed as he slept.

Although there was evidence of a break-in, Parks and Milligan claimed that Kellel-Sophiea was responsible and tried to hide her involvement by faking a burglary.

In February, police arrested Anthony Thomas Moore, an 18-year old “street kid” whose fingerprints were found inside the house.

The detectives said Moore told them Kellel-Sophiea recruited him to help her kill her husband.

Kellel-Sophiea’s attorney, Leslie H. Abramson, denied that her client had ever met Moore, and the district attorney’s office dropped all criminal charges against her on April 5 because they had insufficient evidence to prosecute.

The lawsuit charges that the detectives “conspired between themselves to coerce and/or intimidate and/or persuade” him to implicate Kellel-Sophiea “for the purpose of concealing the errors made in their homicide investigation.”

Moore is scheduled to go on trial for murder in San Fernando Superior Court.

The lawsuit seeks the return of Kellel-Sophiea’s jewelry; compensatory damages for the legal fees she incurred to defend herself against the criminal case and the fight for custody of her daughter; and for the mental and emotional suffering endured by both the mother and daughter.

The suit also seeks unspecified punitive damages.