Summary
Overview
This Crime Junkie episode investigates systemic abuse within Police Explorer programs, focusing on the death of 18-year-old Heidi Gatliff in 2015 and revealing a disturbing pattern of law enforcement officers grooming and exploiting teenagers across the country. Ashley Flowers traces how multiple IMPD officers had inappropriate relationships with Heidi, examines similar cases nationwide, and exposes the structural failures that enable predatory behavior in youth law enforcement programs.
The Death of Heidi Gatliff
On November 2, 2015, Mike Gatliff found his 18-year-old daughter Heidi dead in her bedroom after IMPD officer Francisco Olmos showed up at their house claiming to need to speak with her about a case. Heidi had been a dedicated member of the Police Explorer program for nearly two years and seemed to have a bright future in law enforcement. Her family was devastated and confused - she had just been promoted to post commander and showed no obvious warning signs of crisis, though she left a vague suicide note apologizing for hurting people's careers.
- Mike Gatliff found his daughter Heidi dead in her bedroom on November 2, 2015 at 4:41 PM after Francisco Olmos came to their house
- Heidi was 18 years old and had been in the IMPD Explorer program for nearly two years, working toward becoming a police officer
- Francisco claimed he came to talk to Heidi about a case, but he wasn't in uniform and had never visited before unannounced
- Francisco stayed at the entrance while Mike went inside to find Heidi, then fell apart when Mike called for help
- Heidi left a vague suicide note apologizing to her parents and saying she felt like she was hurting people's careers
" For Mike Gatliff, time stopped on Monday, November 2nd, 2015, right around 4.41 p.m. And now his life is split into before and after. "
" Along with working for IMPD, he's also a fire department chaplain. So like their whole family trusts first responders. And IMPD was Heidi's life, basically. "
Francisco Olmos and the Locked Phone
Investigators quickly became suspicious of Officer Francisco Olmos's behavior. He had asked to use Heidi's phone to call her Explorer advisor, but when detectives tried to access it, they discovered it was locked with a passcode - despite the family's rule against passcodes. All messages between Francisco and Heidi had been deleted, and the phone was locked right after Francisco used it. When questioned, Francisco admitted to lying about needing to talk to Heidi about a case and revealed they had been in close contact with over 300 calls in six weeks before her death.
- Francisco asked to use Heidi's phone to call the Explorer advisor, but the phone was later found locked despite family rules against passcodes
- All messages between Francisco and Heidi were deleted around the time he used her phone, then it was locked
- Francisco admitted he lied to Mike about coming to talk about a case - Heidi had actually called him saying she couldn't talk to him anymore
- They exchanged over 300 calls in the month and a half before her death and 177 texts in the final three days
- Francisco recorded calls with Heidi's friends, fishing to find out what they knew about his relationship with her
" There is only one reason that you would need to do that. And that is if you don't want anyone to see what's on it. "
" This dude's been a cop for 10 years. He knows not to touch evidence in an active death investigation. "
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