Family of Indigenous Minneapolis woman seeks answers after ‘suspicious’ death
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The cause of death in the case of a 47-year-old Indigenous woman found in her Minneapolis apartment is still raising questions for her family. Allison Lussier’s body was recovered by police on Feb. 22.
Lussier died of a subdural hematoma, a blood buildup in between the brain and the skull, according to a document released by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner upon request early this week.
The medical examiner’s office had been waiting for the results of toxicology testing for several weeks. While a final medical examiner's report has yet to be filed, the document released this week also lists “recent fentanyl and methamphetamine use” as a significant condition related to Lussier’s death. The manner of death is listed as “undetermined.”
Lussier’s aunt and spokesperson for the family, Jana Williams, says she understood her niece struggled with addiction. Williams worries her niece’s struggle with substance abuse disorder might give police investigators and others a reason to dismiss the domestic violence Lussier experienced.
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“How many times did my niece have to call police before they did something?” Williams said.
Family members, advocates demand answers
Williams told MPR News in March that her niece was “... very loyal. She had such a good heart.” Williams said, “Ever since she was little, she's just had the biggest smile.”
“She was proud of who she was, she was everything that you would have wanted your friends, your relatives, your niece, your daughter to be, until she wasn't,” Williams said.
On March 2, family members and supporters marched from Lussier’s apartment downtown to the 1st Precinct demanding answers from police.
At the march, family members urged police to investigate the possibility Lussier’s death was the result of intimate partner violence.
Executive Director of the Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition Nicole Matthews joined Williams and her extended family at the demonstration.
“We need people to see us and to stop ignoring when we are calling for help,” Matthews said.
Police began investigating Lussier's death as "suspicious,” according to a press release dated March 1 from Minneapolis Police Spokesperson Aaron Rose.
A history of intimate partner violence
Williams said police took as many as seven reports from Lussier starting as far back as August 2022 detailing her domestic abuse.
Police reports show Lussier had experienced intimate partner violence as recently as mid-February, just days before she died.
A police report obtained from the Minneapolis Police Department shows officers responded to a call on Feb. 13. The report describes the injuries sustained by Lussier as “minor” and deemed the incident a misdemeanor.
That incident started a 72-hour clock, which expired after midnight on Feb. 17.
Minnesota state statute defines a 72-hour window in which a suspect may be arrested with probable cause and without a warrant after a nonfelony domestic abuse incident is reported.
Another police report shows Lussier called police to her apartment three days later, just after midnight on Feb. 17. The report from that visit shows police arrived overnight at 12:39 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 17, and that they did not make an arrest.
Williams says she believes a police arrest on Feb. 17 might have saved her niece’s life.
Police spokesperson Aaron Rose wrote to MPR News in early March: “The February 17 call fell outside of the 72-hour window defined by the law.”
In a brief statement to MPR News Wednesday, Rose responded to questions raised by the recent medical examiner’s release: “We will continue to investigate this as a suspicious death as the Medical Examiner’s Office did not determine this death to be a homicide.”
“We cannot comment on open investigations,” Rose said.
If you or someone you know needs to talk to an advocate, call Violence Free Minnesota’s confidential domestic violence hotline Minnesota DayOne at: 866-223-1111.