Mother Faced With Daughter's Decaying Remains After Death in LA County Jail

When police officers arrived at Melinda Bettencourt’s door one morning last fall, she instantly feared the worst before they even spoke. Her youngest daughter, Amanda Bews, had battled addiction and homelessness for years after developing a painful nerve condition. With Amanda estranged and struggling on the streets, news from law enforcement felt ominous from the start.

Bettencourt’s dread proved tragically founded: Bews had been arrested in Los Angeles County days earlier and died in custody at age 29. But neither the officers nor officials in the ensuing weeks offered Bettencourt answers about what happened. And what she eventually saw for herself at the funeral home only raised more harrowing questions.

Bews was still in custody when she died at a Los Angeles county jail on low-level charges of shoplifting and drug use. But over a year since the September 2022 death, a federal lawsuit filed against county officials reveals critical gaps around how the 29-year-old ended up deceased behind bars.

Attorneys for Bettencourt allege the county neglected Bews’ serious medical needs, failing to adequately treat withdrawal she openly disclosed from alcohol and opioids during intake. They further claim officials left her unmonitored for over four hours against policy. But the autopsy cited drug effects without clearly classifying an overdose, and the sheriff's office avoids detailed discussion despite signs of policy violations.

For Bettencourt, the mysterious in-custody death was just the start of ongoing torment. She describes struggling with trauma and guilt ever since viewing her daughter’s shockingly decayed remains post-autopsy. Now, alongside seeking accountability through legal action, Bews' grieving mother hopes to finally get full answers on what happened.

Amanda Bews’ struggles with substance use disorder began in early adulthood, puzzling her family given her seemingly thriving young life as a married mother of two. But around that time, Bews developed Guillain-Barré syndrome - a rare nerve condition causing tingling, weakness and intense pain. During treatment she grew dependent on prescribed opioids, her mother said, later turning to heroin and heavy drinking on top of agonizing neurological symptoms.

Bews withdrew from family and friends over time as her addiction and homelessness intensified, not even contacting her mother for nearly three years leading up to the September 2022 arrest. But Melinda Bettencourt had still held out hope her daughter would get help or stabilization through the criminal justice system. That made the news of Bews’ death behind bars two days after intake all the more horrifying.

Deputies brought Bews in on minor charges after finding her intoxicated, but she was lucid enough to report drinking up to 1.75 liters of alcohol daily for six years straight at that point. Hospital intake records, later shared with Bews’ family and legal team, show medical staff knew she needed close monitoring and treatment for withdrawal during custody.

Bews also admitted to current opioid use and past heroin addiction during intake. But barely sixteen hours after arriving to LA’s Century Regional Detention Center, the 29-year-old was found unresponsive in her cell and could not be revived. Medical staff had earlier cleared Bews “for detox,” halting the medications, treatment and consistent observation both doctors and state policy mandated.

Toxicology did detect drugs in Bews’ system after she died, though her layers argue the negligible levels are more indicative of unfinished withdrawal. And the autopsy report further showed signs of dehydration and vomit in her airways. But the ultimate ruling emphasized “effects” of substance use without outright classifying a precise overdose.

Attorneys for Bettencourt allege jail health staff failed to properly treat Bews’ disclosed opioid withdrawal and dangerously underestimated the severity of her alcohol dependency. They further claim the woman was left largely unmonitored by both medical personnel and jailers for over four hours before being discovered unresponsive.

California standards require inmate welfare checks at minimum once per hour. And while autopsy records confirm medical staff did not attend to Bews for over four hours, the sheriff's office failed to clarify whether standard guard patrols even passed through her intake unit during that period. The vague response instead cited “appropriate” undisclosed discipline against multiple personnel following internal review.

But for grieving mother Melinda Bettencourt, the cold administrative actions provided neither emotional closure nor key details she continues seeking. Instead, the Fresno woman faced only growing horror in the weeks after her daughter died behind bars. After the cryptic oral report from officers that Saturday, officials gave Bettencourt little further explanation about what happened to Amanda Bews in their custody.

It was not until days before Bews’ October funeral that Bettencourt witnessed the full gruesome aftermath herself at the funeral home. She describes entering the viewing room to find her daughter’s body horrifically decayed and even infested – having arrived from the LA coroner already red-flagged by the embalmer for advanced decomposition seemingly accelerated while in custody.

According to prepare records, the same funeral home embalmer warned the Los Angeles medical examiner’s office about Bews’ constrained remains weeks earlier. But Bettencourt herself received no such caution before the mortuary viewing triggered lasting trauma and physical panic attacks.

Now, over thirteen months since Amanda Bews’ death in LA County jail custody, grieving mother Melinda Bettencourt continues struggling with regret and severe emotional anguish. She has filed suit along with advocacy lawyers seeking accountability, if not the peace of definitive answers. But for Bews’ mother, the haunting sight at her youngest daughter’s viewing may already provide some nightmarish clarity around how Amanda Elizabeth Bews ended up dead in state custody at just 29 years old.