By Jessica De Leon
The Bradenton Hearld
BRADENTON, Fla. — Police were delayed in being notified of the murder of an 82-year-old Bradenton woman when a dispatcher, fresh out of training, failed to realize he was no longer dealing with a medical call but a homicide.
It was about 10:10 a.m. Tuesday when Zelma Huddleston’s daughter called 911 after finding her mother dead inside her home in the 2300 block of 3rd Avenue West.
Immediately after identifying herself, Huddleston’s daughter tells a dispatcher, “She’s dead on the floor.” After providing her mother’s address, the victim’s daughter says, “I think she’s been killed,” within the first 30 seconds of the call.
Paramedics were immediately dispatched to the scene, but it took five minutes before the dispatcher transferred the call to the Bradenton Police Department.
“Unfortunately, it’s a new employee that has just got out of training and he dropped the ball,” Manatee County Emergency Communications Center Chief Jacob A. Saur said Thursday.
The dispatcher, who was apparently overwhelmed, according to Saur, has realized his mistakes and regrets them.
“We are working with that new employee and getting him some more training,” Saur said.
Bradenton Police Chief Melanie Bevan reached out to Saur when concerns about the call were raised, and one of the ECC’s quality assurance officers notified him as well. Saur went to the police department where he and Bevan listened to the call together.
“We have a great inter-agency relationship,” Bevan said. “We both agreed there was some opportunity for improvement.”
While the delay did not affect the outcome, they both agree that in a different scenario it could have. Huddleston had already been dead for at least 13 hours when her daughter found her, based on the medical examiner’s estimate for time of death.
Huddleston’s neighbor, Misty Whiteley, 55, was arrested within hours of police arriving and the Manatee Homicide Investigative Unit taking over the case. Whiteley made incriminating statements at the scene and her keys were found in the same puddle of blood as the victim, according to detectives.
Whiteley is charged with second-degree murder, obstruction and battery on a law enforcement officer. She is being held at the Manatee County jail on bonds totaling $760,500.
The dispatcher who took the 911 call from Huddleston’s daughter was going down a list of standard questions for an obvious death under medical call protocols, Saur explained. Under “normal circumstances,” Saur explained, as soon as a 911 dispatcher realizes that a caller is reporting what is obviously a potential homicide and isn’t a medical call, the call would be transferred to the law enforcement agency that has jurisdiction.
In a potential homicide, protocol requires law enforcement to secure the crime scene, helping to ensure the safety of paramedics before they come to the victim’s aide or declare that the victim is dead.
More than two minutes into the call on Tuesday, the dispatcher can be heard consulting with his supervisor about those very obvious death protocols.
“Ma’am, tell me please, why does it look like she’s dead,” the dispatcher then asks nearly three minutes into the call.
Huddleston’s daughter responds, “There’s blood everywhere. There’s a knife on the floor. The neighbor across the street, Misty, was supposed to be taking care of her until I got back.”
The victim’s daughter sounds emotional and frantic, as he questions her about where the blood is coming from.
“I’m inside the house ... there’s blood on everything. It looks like she was stabbed or something,” she tells the dispatcher. He responds, “Is there a defibrillator available. Send someone now to get it now and tell me when you have it.”
Huddleston’s daughter goes outside looking for her mother’s dog, she tells the dispatcher, as he is trying to ask if he thinks her mother is beyond help. Huddleston’s daughter asks if she should go speak with Whiteley, but the dispatcher tells her not to leave the home.
The dispatcher can then be heard saying to his supervisor, “She says there’s blood everywhere and it looks like someone murdered her ... should I transfer her?”
It is then, about five minutes into the call, that the dispatcher tells Huddleston’s daughter, “Ma’am, I already have the paramedics on the way, but I am going to transfer you over to the Bradenton Police Department.”
Copyright 2017 The Bradenton Hearld