Bazan

I.

INTRODUCTION

Appellant Maria Bazan called 911 because she was concerned for her daughter,

Natalie Bazan, who did not come home the night before. She told the responding 1 Riverside County Sheriff’s Deputies that she thought Natalie was in danger inside her

ex-boyfriend’s apartment. The deputies repeatedly knocked on the apartment’s door and

windows, but did not see or hear any response. Maria asked the deputies to break into the

apartment, but they declined to do so because they did not believe they could enter the

apartment lawfully. Instead, the deputies continued investigating, sought advice on how

to proceed from their supervisor, repeatedly banged on the door, talked to neighbors and

the property manager, and went into adjacent apartments to listen for sounds from the

boyfriend’s apartment.

The deputies eventually knocked on the apartment’s door nonstop for about five to

10 minutes. The ex-boyfriend answered the door and appeared to have just woken up and

had multiple deep lacerations on his arms. This prompted the deputies to enter the

apartment, where they found Natalie dead. It was later determined that Natalie died of

asphyxiation caused by her…