BRANFORD, Conn. — A lawsuit has been filed against the town of Branford, alleging the police department did not properly handle multiple reports from a woman about an abusive relationship before her death. The lawsuit also names St. Vincent's Medical Center for failing to evaluate and treat the woman's boyfriend for depression and homicidal thoughts before he killed her and then himself.
“Hopefully this claim brought against the parties will enlighten all of them to make sure that different protocols are put in place to protect any individual of the general public under similar circumstances, that may very well happen in the future," said Attorney Kerry Wisser with Weinstein & Wisser, P.C.
Wisser filed the lawsuit alongside Angela Ashworth, alleging Branford police knew of the history of her daughter's relationship and failed to take proper action to protect her.
“Angela obviously is a grieving mother. There’s no remedy that could ever be appropriate in this matter," said Wisser said.
This all after Wethersfield police responded to a condo parking lot on Mountain Laurel Drive in August 2022, where they found 21-year-old Caroline Anne Ashworth and 59-year-old Michael Mollow dead inside and near a truck.
Police investigated the deaths as a murder-suicide, finding the two were previously in a three-year relationship.
Branford police responded to two 911 calls made less than a week apart, according to the lawsuit.
On the first call made on Aug. 9, Ashworth called "fearing for her life" saying that that Mollow had physically hurt her, choked her, and threatened to shoot her in the past, the document said. When responding to the 911 call, Mollow allegedly told police he was concerned about Ashworth being with other men and that he had firearms that were lying on the floor and were not secured.
A second 911 call was reported five days later. According to the lawsuit, Mollow told police that he used a GPS to track Ashworth and was recently physically violent with her. The lawsuit says Ashworth told police during the second call that Mollow was showing “increasingly controlling behavior,” including disrupting her cell phone service, using the GPS, and prohibiting her from working. Ashworth also said Mollow convinced her to sell her car so they could get a truck, then restricted her access to drive the truck, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims Mollow was admitted to Midstate Medical Center on Aug. 23 after Ashworth had traveled out of state. The institution sent Branford police a "Duty to Warn" after Mollow allegedly mentioned his homicidal thoughts of Ashworth and the firearms he had at home.
Mollow was subsequently admitted to St. Vincent's Psychiatric Unit just days before the shooting, telling staff that he hoped he or someone else would harm Ashworth and that he was seeking medication to stop "intrusive thoughts" regarding Ashworth, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit accuses St. Vincent's of discharging Mollow prematurely since his PEC had not expired and that he had not been "adequately treated" after expressing his homicidal thoughts and effects of alcohol and drugs "bought off the street" to staff members.
Around 33 hours after being released from St. Vincent's, Mollow allegedly stalked Ashworth using the truck's GPS and confronted her in a condo parking lot in Wethersfield. That's when Mollow shot Ashworth and then himself, the lawsuit states.
An officer at the police department allegedly failed to include in the case report that Mollow said he had firearms and that he had homicidal thoughts. After being unable to contact Mollow and Ashworth by phone, the officer did not file a request to seize Mollow's weapons and put the case as "inactive," according to the lawsuit. Not including that information from the hospital and the 911 calls prevented the supervising sergeant who was reviewing the report from recognizing that a seizure of weapons request would be needed, the arrest warrant suggests.
"And he closed the report. As opposed to appropriately identifying that Mollow had guns, had a pistol permit, had indicated these specific homicidal ideations," Wisser said.
"As a result of the carelessness of negligence of the Town...Caroline was caused to die through the murderous acts of Mollow," the lawsuit states.
After the shooting, the police department conducted an internal investigation, which resulted in discipline imposed upon the two officers involved in the reports, the lawsuit states.
In a case report obtained by FOX61 on Saturday, it was noted that Branford police entered Mollow's home after the shooting with consent from Mollow's son and Mollow's ex-wife. Inside the home, police found and seized at least five crossbows, at least five shotguns, at least two pistols, and a rifle. Police also seized dozens of boxes of shotgun shells and firearm ammunition, according to the case report.
Out of the 20 or so firearms registered under Mollow, six of them were found at the house, and at least 13 of the firearms registered to Mollow were unaccounted for, police said in the case report. Police determined that one of the firearms was stolen and that some of the others may have been at Mollow's property in Vermont.
"Our investigation revealed issues that needed to be addressed and corrective actions were taken by our agency as a result of our investigation," Branford Police Chief, Jonathan Mulhern, said in a statement released Thursday and obtained by FOX61. "We assure our community that we will continue our daily efforts to combat domestic violence and provide mental health services to those affected within our community."
The chief's statement noted that the police department could not speak to "facts, circumstances, and complexity of this suit at this time" due to pending litigation.
FOX61 also reached out to St. Vincent's Medical Center for comment. A spokesperson responded by saying, "We are unable to provide comment on pending litigation.“
Wisser hopes this suit will create more change in the future when it comes to handling a case like Caroline's.
“The fact that the claim has been brought, the fact that it’s been publicized, the fact that the internal affairs investigation as a result of the lawsuit being filed has brought light to this matter. Hopefully, will mean for Angela, and for me and for many others that this type of irresponsible conduct will not occur in the future. And that others will be protected and taken seriously when they make prior reports about prior death threats, such that a responsible party could at least not have access to his guns during a period of time when he's in a psychotic state," Wisser said
Read the full lawsuit here.
Julia LeBlanc is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jleblanc@fox61.com Follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
---
Have a story idea or something on your mind you want to share? We want to hear from you! Email us at newstips@fox61.com
---
HERE ARE MORE WAYS TO GET FOX61 NEWS
Download the FOX61 News APP
iTunes: Click here to download
Google Play: Click here to download
Stream Live on ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching FOX61.
Steam Live on FIRE TV: Search ‘FOX61’ and click ‘Get’ to download.