00:00It's been more than three months since a Haitian immigrant was found dead at a Pittsburgh bus stop, and tonight
00:06it's being called a homicide.
00:07Good evening and thanks for joining us at 10. I'm Jess Cogway.
00:11KDKA's Ricky Sayer sat down with the lawyer for the woman's family and joins us live. Ricky?
00:16The medical examiner provided an update today on the death of Daffy Michelle.
00:21She's from Haiti and lived in Charleroi.
00:24A lawyer for her family told us she came into the country legally, but then effectively said she overstayed her
00:30authorized period as she waited for her asylum case to be decided.
00:36It's a case immigration attorney Joseph Patrick Murphy hasn't shaken from his mind.
00:42From my office, you can see the bus shelter she died in.
00:45It's right across the river there at the intersection of Smithfield and Carson.
00:49Port Authority police found 31-year-old Daffy Michelle at this bus shelter on March 2nd, three days after Rice
00:56released her.
00:57She was taken to a hospital where she died.
01:00The medical examiner has now ruled the cause of death hypothermia and the manner of death homicide.
01:06The ruling by the medical examiner that this is a homicide means that the death was caused by the action
01:13or omission of someone.
01:15That means there's some sort of culpability.
01:17The medical examiner released a statement through county police which said, quote,
01:21The opinion of the forensic pathologist in this case is that Miss Michelle was a vulnerable adult suffering from untreated
01:28severe mental health issues and a significant language barrier when she was released from federal custody.
01:35Murphy now represents her family.
01:37He blames ICE.
01:39This woman, Daffy Michelle, she had mental challenges.
01:43She was arrested for, at one point, screaming at imaginary people, and they knew this.
01:48They just dumped her in a bus shelter, language barrier, educational barrier, and psychiatric barrier, and left her to fend
01:55for herself.
01:56The bus shelter, she never figured out how to leave.
01:58She sat there for days and ultimately froze to death.
02:01Murphy says Michelle was arrested in Charleroi, Washington County.
02:06She was booked in jail on September 3rd.
02:08Michelle was in jail for six months before her case was dismissed.
02:12That's when DHS says ICE took custody of her because she was in the country illegally.
02:18Murphy says she was taken to this ICE facility on Pittsburgh's south side so she could be given an ankle
02:23monitor.
02:24In a statement to KDK, DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Biss said, quote,
02:29ICE had nothing to do with this woman's death.
02:32She passed away three days after ICE encountered her.
02:35She was released with all of her belongings, including a fully charged phone,
02:39in sunny weather in the middle of Pittsburgh, where public transport is readily available.
02:44On the day she was released, records show Pittsburgh's official high was 55, with a low of 25.
02:49On the day she died, the high was 36, with a low of 19.
02:54They could have put her in an ICE car and driven right back down to Washington County and dropped her
02:59off.
02:59He says they don't need to do that with every detainee, but she was an exception due to the challenges
03:04she faced.
03:05This is reckless.
03:07Now, he's just left with that view.
03:10It makes it more painful for me, because it's a reminder right there of what happened to my friend.
03:16Murphy says the woman's brother plans to hire him to file a lawsuit.
03:20Both County Executive Sarah and Murado and Representative Summer Lee put out statements tonight saying Michelle's death was avoidable.
03:28They called for accountability, with Lee saying ICE must answer for Michelle's death.
03:34Jess, back to you.
03:36Ricky, thank you.
03:37Thank you.
