A Woman’s Neighbors Called Police 10 Times to Report a Stalker Outside Her Home. Then He Murdered Her.

According to an investigation, officers didn't arrive at the victim’s home until two hours after neighbors first called and begged for help.

By Audra Heinrichs | July 19, 2022 | 6:05pm

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A Woman’s Neighbors Called Police 10 Times to Report a Stalker Outside Her Home. Then He Murdered Her.

Connie Dadkhah was already dead when San Diego police officers forced their way into the condo where she lived alone on the morning of June 15, 2022. A full 12 hours earlier, Parrish Chambers Jr. had climbed onto the home’s balcony, broken through a second-story glass door, and after a physical altercation, murdered Dadkhah, according to a new investigation conducted by an area NBC affiliate. Multiple neighbors called the police—12 times by the time Dadkhah’s body was discovered—and reported witnessing an active robbery and suspicion of violence within the condo, but law enforcement didn’t respond to the scene until two hours after the first call and didn’t even attempt to enter the home until the following morning.

Chambers Jr. now awaits his arraignment in jail without bond and has pleaded not guilty to murder charges. Dadkhah’s neighbors, however, are emphatic that had police heeded their urgent pleas, she would still be alive today.

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“I have zero confidence in the police,” Sally (a fictitious name) told NBC 7. “This has taught me I need to take my safety into my own hands. Truly I feel like the police are not here for me, are not here to help.”

According to 911 call timestamps, it was Sally who made the first call at 6:59pm and reported a man banging on Connie’s door and yelling. Five minutes later, a second call was placed by an unnamed person who described the same man screaming at a passerby. By 7:16pm, Sally’s mother dialed 911 and told dispatchers she was afraid for her daughter, who was home alone and frightened by what was transpiring outside. In the next 16 minutes, neighbors called police twice more to describe seeing the man carrying a bottle and pulling at Dadkhah’s electrical box. By 8pm, Sally called 911 for a fourth time and reported witnessing the man breaking into Dadkhah’s condo and hearing a physical altercation unfold. Michelle, another neighbor, dialed 911 two minutes later and, like Sally, told the dispatcher she saw the man break Dadkhah’s glass door. Six minutes later, a third neighbor called and gave the same account to a dispatcher.

It was not until 8:47pm that the calls were given an updated priority status, and police arrived at the condo. It cannot be overstated that priority 1 crimes, as treated by San Diego police, have a standard response time of 33.4 minutes, despite a goal of 14 minutes. Upon arrival, law enforcement knocked on Dadkhah’s front door, called her phone, and looked for her vehicle. At 9:19pm, they left the scene, telling dispatch they were “unable to make contact.” A half an hour later, Michelle, outraged that law enforcement didn’t try to enter the house despite the visibly broken door, called 911 and demanded to speak to the officers who responded to the scene. Nearly an hour passed before she received an explanation: Apparently, the description of the man given by neighbors matched the description of the man who police thought lived at the home. The next morning at 8:26am, according to police, the man left the home and told a neighbor to call 911 because Dadkhah, his “girlfriend,” was dead inside the home.

“They were making the best decision they had based on the information at the time,” San Diego Police Homicide Lieutenant Steven Shebloski told NBC 7. “And, at the end of the day and the following day, did a tragedy happen? Absolutely, but I don’t think that’s because of the officers’ response.”

However, the information officers were given prior to the incident lacked crucial details. In a confidential Prior Activity Code (PAC) file obtained by NBC 7, another incident involving Chambers at Dadkhah’s residence on April 22, 2022 was noted, but officers who responded to the June 14, 2022 calls were given a redacted file that omitted the following: In April, Dadkhah had visible injuries on her body, there was no prior domestic relationship to Chambers, and she didn’t pursue charges against him. Following that incident, officers advised Dadkhah to keep her doors locked and call police if Chambers returned. That same report concludes with officers explicitly telling dispatchers that Chambers does not live at her address. Though that information was not included, police told NBC 7 that officers had the ability to complete a criminal background check on Chambers and could’ve found his court order to stay away from Dadkhah. It’s unclear whether officers ever conducted those checks.

In the immediate wake of Dadkhah’s murder, Shebloski told the San Diego Union-Tribune that Chambers was a “frequent visitor” of the condo, though he never specified Chambers’ relationship to Dadkhah. The man is not currently being categorized as a stalker by police, but given personal accounts from those who knew Dadkhah best, it’s safe to assume as much.

Shannon Jones, a former boyfriend and longtime friend of Dadkhah’s, told the paper that she met Chambers about two years earlier while volunteering at an organization, and the man would show up at her home from time to time despite the fact that they were not in a relationship.

“He latched onto her,” Jones recalled to the Los Angeles Times. “He was never a guest at her house.”

“If he was there it was because she was scared and couldn’t get him to leave.”

One of Dadkhah’s neighbors also told the Union-Tribune she called the police months earlier after witnessing Chambers wrap his hands around Dadkhah’s neck outside of her condo.

“I was terrified,” the neighbor told the newspaper, “because I always said, ‘This guy’s going to kill her.’”