A Valley mother claimed in a lawsuit Tuesday that members of the Phoenix Police Department put her daughter to work as a confidential informant and that arrangement led to her death.
Nicole Glass and Melissa Mason, both 27, were strangled in an east Phoenix home in December 2010; their homicide cases remain unsolved. Mason was pregnant.
Rachel Glass, Nicole’s mother, said in her lawsuit that Phoenix police officers recruited Nicole to be a confidential informant, but failed to adequately train, watch, or protect her.
“Oh, hell, no,” was Rachel’s first reaction to recently learning that her daughter was a confidential source of information, she said. Glass would only say Tuesday that a “reliable source” passed her the information.
Nicole was charged in 2009 and 2010 with drug-related charges. A majority of those were dropped before her death; her mother said she did not know if her daughter's legal trouble was how police convinced her to be their snitch.
“You think you might know all the pieces” of the case, Glass said.
“And then this huge bomb [of information drops], it just kind of blows you away.”
Glass has pleaded for years in television interviews for a tip that might lead to an arrest. She now asserts that it was the police who withheld this vital clue.
Phoenix police released a statement Tuesday afternoon which denied Glass’ claim:
"The Phoenix Police Department has been aggressively investigating this homicide since it occurred in 2010. Although the case remains open, to date, investigators have not found any evidence to support this recent claim. The Phoenix Police Department will remain focused on the facts surrounding the case and we are committed to solving this crime".
Glass said that her lawsuit is not about winning money, but about learning the whole truth about the circumstances surrounding her daughter’s death.
