Seattle Police Didn't Look For Murdered Child -- Detective Assigned Nine Days After Mother Reported Her Missing

BELLEVUE

Four-year-old Aubrey Kouchalakos had been dead more than a week before Seattle police began to follow up on a complaint made by her mother that she was missing.

But police officials say the report they received from Evelyn McLemore, Aubrey's mother, gave no indication that Aubrey was in immediate danger, so a detective was not assigned to the case until Monday, two days after her body was found in a downstairs bedroom of her father's Bellevue home.

The girl died of a gunshot wound to the head Aug. 28. Her father, David Kouchalakos, is believed to have shot her with a 9-mm pistol as she lay in bed, then killed himself. Police officers found their bodies, and the carcasses of two dogs, also shot, after breaking into the home Saturday night in search of Aubrey.

As Aubrey's family prepared to bury her this Saturday in West Memphis, Ark., her mother's hometown, friends and relatives questioned whether the girl with the infectious smile was failed by the system.

On Aug. 29, McLemore told Seattle police she was worried something might have happened to Aubrey.

According to the police report, McLemore told officers that the girl's father had failed to return Aubrey on the previous day, as he had agreed to do. She told authorities her former husband "had made previous attempts to take (Aubrey) to Mexico," according to the report.

Relatives said they were upset that police failed to follow up on McLemore's complaint.

"In the report, there didn't seem to be any indication that there were imminent threats against the child or anything that would be particularly alarming," said John Pirak, assistant chief of the Seattle Police Department's family and youth-protection department.

If there had been hints of violence, the officer who took the report would have contacted Bellevue authorities immediately, Pirak said. Bellevue police did not enter the case until Saturday, when McLemore called them.

Pirak said that he didn't want to make excuses for his department but that his staff is constantly taking similar complaints, most of which turn out to be settled between the parents.

"It's rare that we have an incident where there was actual harm done to a child," Pirak said. "Tragically, this one turned out that particular way."

Relatives were also upset that Kouchalakos was allowed visitation rights after a courtroom fracas during an Aug. 21 custody hearing. Kouchalakos became angry after King County Court Commissioner Kimberley Prochnau ordered him to pay $2,000 in back child support. He cursed the commissioner and McLemore, and was hauled out of court by police and taken to King County Jail, where he spent the night. Family members said Prochnau nevertheless gave Kouchalakos visitation rights.

Prochnau said she was unable to comment about the case because it remained under investigation.

Although Kouchalakos was granted only a few hours a week to see his daughter, McLemore allowed Aubrey to stay with her him three days a week.

"She always kind of had faith in him and his love for Aubrey," said Donna Brown, a friend of McLemore's.

McLemore was in the process of getting a change in the custody order so she and Aubrey could go back to live in Arkansas, according to Brown. Brown said that may be part of what spurred Kouchalakos to kill his daughter and himself.

McLemore, meanwhile, has returned to West Memphis to be with her family. Her brother Barney said she has no plans to return to Seattle.

Putsata Reang's phone message number is 206-515-5629. Her e-mail address is: prea-new@seatimes.com