Family of Black Woman Found Burnt In Dumpster ‘Ready To Fight’ After Charges Dropped Against Racist Police

The family of Mykaella Sharlman is “ready to fight” after Northern California prosecutors dropped charges against the two police officers accused of her death, NBC News reports.

Ashton Montalvo and Deangelo Boone were charged with arson and mutilation of human remains after allegedly moving Sharlman’s body to a dumpster and setting it on fire in 2022. While both officers pleaded not guilty, Sharlman’s sister, Nicole Eason, said dropping the charges is “unacceptable,” and prosecutors should “recant and scrutinize” evidence, including security video and eyewitness testimony, that she feels is too much to move past. “We’re getting ready to lawyer up,” Eason said. “We’re getting ready to fight.”

Medical examiners claim the victim died earlier in the day on Oct. 17 from a fentanyl overdose, Newsone reports. Police say Boone and Montalvo found Sharlman’s body in an abandoned apartment, moved it to a dumpster blocks away, and lit it on fight with lighter fluid instead of reporting it. Since then, the Antioch Police Department has been under investigation after several racist text messages using racial slurs, making racist jokes, and sharing racist memes surfaced.

The Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office dismissed the case citing its connection to the investigation. “A dismissal at this juncture affords the District Attorney’s Office the ability to refile criminal charges against Montalvo and Boone and reinitiate legal action if new evidence is developed,” the office wrote in a statement. “The Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office no longer has confidence in the integrity of this prosecution. Our office extends our deepest sympathies to the family of Mykaella Sharlman and we aspire to renew this prosecution if presented with the opportunity to do so.”

While Sharlman’s family learned one of the detectives who assisted in the case was part of the racist investigation, they don’t think it should have anything to do with her case. “This scandal came out after my sister’s death,” Eason said. “It shouldn’t have had any bearing on the evidence.”