NewsChannel5.com | Nashville News, Weather & SportsAdvocate Tries To Find Answers In Prisoner's Death

Advocate Tries To Find Answers In Prisoner's Death

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A victim's advocate claims someone got away with murder at a Nashville detention facility.

On July 5, 2004, Estelle Richardson died while in solitary confinement at the Davidson County Detention Facility operated by Corrections Corporations of America.

An autopsy showed she died from blunt-force trauma to the head. She also had several broken ribs. Her file at the facility indicated that she died of "homicide ... unsolved murder."

"She died a brutal, painful, vicious death," said Denver Schimming, a victim's advocate.

Schimming, a reformed felon who served time for bank robbery, has turned his life around. He is determined to solve the Richardson case.

 "She did get the death sentence. Yeah, CCA was the judge, jury, and executioner in this case," he said about the mother of two.

Schimming was among a small gathering of people standing outside the medium security prison Tuesday night to commemorate Richardson and keep the investigation open.

"We're saying that justice has not been served. That we need to dig harder, work harder, and find out who it is," he said. "The question is not did it happen? It did happen. The question is who it is. Let's find out who murdered Estelle Richardson."

Richardson was found unresponsive in solitary confinement 24 hours after cell extraction, which is described by some as a violent procedure to forcibly remove an inmate.

Charges were dismissed against four former CCA guards indicted for her death because the district attorney general had "no definitive proof that (Richardson) died as a result of the actions of these defendants."

The medical examiner, according to the district attorney, ruled "the blunt trauma that eventually killed Ms. Richardson likely took place several days before she was extracted from her cell."

A key piece of evidence in the case is a videotape of Richardson's cell extraction. It no longer exists. Schimming said it's protocol to record such maneuvers, but CCA claims the camera malfunctioned.

The district attorney general's office said the case isn't solved, but it's not being actively investigated either.