Kellie Wright
Kellie Wright was a mother who ran an accounting business and loved the casino with her daughter and volunteering at Tulsa's arts, chili and bluegrass festivals, according to her wife, Shelly Cailler. After a mental health emergency at a Shawnee hotel in July 2021, she was taken to the Pottawatomie County Public Safety Center, and she was found unresponsive in her cell the next day and taken to a hospital, where doctors found her brain dead. The medical examiner attributed her death to a brain injury caused by cardiac arrest, citing hypertension and alcohol use as contributing factors. Cailler's federal lawsuit says jail staff ignored signs of her crisis and that she had bruises and broken ribs from force by jailers or another detainee, and the family says the jail has not released the records they requested.
Cause of death, as reported: Killed by another person in custody (disputed; neglect alleged). The medical examiner's report attributes her death to a brain injury from cardiac arrest, with hypertension and alcohol use as contributing factors, while her wife's federal lawsuit alleges bruises and broken ribs from force by jailers or another detainee and says jail staff ignored signs of her mental health crisis.
Reported by: medical examiner's report (medical examiner or coroner); Shelly Cailler, her wife, and her federal lawsuit (family or their lawyers).
Lawsuit: Her wife, Shelly Cailler, filed a federal lawsuit over Kellie Wright's death, alleging jail staff ignored her mental health crisis and that her injuries came from force by jailers or another detainee, and the case is pending.