Parents File Lawsuit After Daughter's Drowning At A Pastor's Home
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The parents of an 18-year-old woman who died last year after being found unresponsive at the home of the pastors of a Munster, Indiana mega-church have filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
Dominique "Nikki" Smith was found face-down in a pool at the home of Pastors Steve and Melodye Munsey, of the Family Christian Center while she was baby-sitting and was on life-support for several days before she died. WBBM's Mike Krauser reports.
Smith's mother, Vicki Walker, describes an odd chain-of-events and said Melodye Munsey's behavior doesn't add up.
"She explained to me that she looked out at the pool through the window and saw that her soul had already left her body so there was no sense of urgency," Walker said.
She saw surveillance video from the home at the Schererville Police Department showing her daughter swimming and then being pulled out of the pool with a 15-minute gap in the middle.
A video technician working for the Munsey's, she said, saw the tape and disappeared.
"When I contacted him to ask him what he saw on the tape, he texted me back and said that's between you and the Munsey's and your attorney," Walker said. "Keep me out of that. So he saw something on the tape that disturbed him enough that he disappeared for a week and a half and he won't say what it is."
Smith's death was ruled an accidental drowning. There was no autopsy.
Her mother said there was no water in her lungs, which were donated.
WBBM has been unable to reach the Munseys for comment.
