Russell is charged with multiple sex crimes against Price and providing the underaged teen with drugs. He also faces similar charges against someone else who was underaged at the time of the alleged crimes; those charges include human trafficking. A Santa Cruz County coroner detective said Price died from a concoction of drugs in her system, including fentanyl. But new court testimony Monday reveals two Santa Cruz County Sheriff's deputies who first responded to the scene said, other than conducting witness interviews, they did not collect evidence.
Price's phone had butterfly stickers on it. The prosecutor on the case said Price's phone was located on the defendant's bed right next to the defendant's phone. The prosecutor showed a picture of the two phones on the scene to the defense attorney and a deputy testifying.
One deputy said she was told by a witness both phones belonged to Russell, which is why she did not collect the phone. It is unclear if any further attempt was made to identify the phone with butterfly stickers, determine if it belonged to Price and obtain it for possible evidence.
At that point, one of the detectives said attempts were made by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office to try and locate Price's phone, which at that point, Russell has allegedly destroyed, according to the charges against him. Russell has pleaded not guilty to all charges. This is an investigation that was not treated seriously from the inception," said retired San Jose police detective Michael Leininger. Leininger has nearly three decades of experience in child sex crime cases.
He is not connected to the Price-Russell case in any way. The incident report, obtained by the Investigative Unit, reveals the call came in as a possible fentanyl overdose and the caller said Price was 20 years old when she was actually Just six weeks prior to Price's death, the Watsonville Police Department, which is also located in Santa Cruz County, received a call from another underage teen reporting Russell was harassing her and sold fentanyl-laced Percocets to another girl who died.
