Dispatch Error Played No Role in Killing, Officials Say

A computer glitch in the Orange County sheriff’s 911 dispatch system caused deputies to be sent to the wrong city after a call from Coto de Caza in April, prompting a wide-scale review of the system.

The caller, Katherine Dalton Phillips, was strangled two days later, apparently by her boyfriend, but a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said the computer mishap did not contribute to the killing.

“She did not die as a result of the officer not going to the right address. She was alive and well the next evening purchasing Easter baskets, alcohol and groceries with her alleged killer,” said Sheriff’s Department spokesman Jim Amormino.

Phillips, 46, called 911 at 5:11 p.m. on April 13, asking police to come to her home, but hung up before mentioning the city. Police have not disclosed whether she gave a reason for the call.

The 911 dispatch system identified Phillips’ address as being in Trabuco Canyon, about five miles north. When the dispatcher attempted to confirm the address on a dual computer system, the address was listed as being in Aliso Viejo, several miles west, where deputies eventually responded. Both of those locations were wrong.

“We’re searching street by street to see if there’s any other computer glitches and to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Amormino said Wednesday. “There’s no system that is completely foolproof.”

Amormino said the computer mishap was the first of its kind.

Deputies never responded to Phillips’ Coto de Caza home the day of the 911 call.

Four days later, a family friend found her body in the house, where boyfriend Sanford Floyd Cantrell apparently strangled her before he hanged himself from a staircase.

“We encourage 911 callers to stay on the line so we can get a complete address,” Amormino said. “Every dispatcher and officer in this case did everything reasonable.”

The system was installed in October 1999, and the database is updated quarterly for accuracy, Amormino said. He said some officers are familiar with areas they patrol, but Coto de Caza’s “call for service is not as frequent as other places.”

Many emergency systems are handled and updated by individual police departments.

In Irvine, the dispatch system is updated weekly as the city deals with growth and expansion, said Deborah Gunderson, supervising public safety dispatcher.