One of Their Own

When a police officer is found dead in her home with a bullet between her eyes, who investigates?Both Ciara Estrada and her boyfriend were San Diego police officers. They went with friends to a New Year’s Eve party. Pictures from that night show the smiling couple. The next day, Ciara was dead … discovered on her bathroom floor with her gun in her lap.Her own department investigated the death and quickly ruled it a suicide. Investigators, who were her colleagues, made no arrests. Identified no suspects.But her family says there’s more to her story – tragic circumstances that should have prompted a more thorough investigation. They don’t think the police dug deep enough into the death of one of their own. EDITORS' NOTE: A previous version of this episode incorrectly stated which of Ciara Estrada’s guns was in her lap when police found her dead.

A San Diego Police officer went viral in 2016 for being “Finally, a NICE cop.” A video of her talking respectfully to a panhandler received more attention than her sudden and complicated death less than two years later. But who was Ciara Estrada?EDITORS' NOTE: A previous version of this episode incorrectly stated which of Ciara Estrada’s guns was in her lap when police found her dead.

Ciara’s family blames her death on her relationship with her boyfriend, who was also a San Diego Police officer. What is the line between an unhealthy relationship and an abusive one? Do police departments have a responsibility to address toxic relationships within their ranks, even when they leave no marks?

On her last night alive, Ciara went to a New Year’s Eve party with Eric. Photos taken at 10 p.m. show a smiling couple. She died just hours later. What happened?

Even though both Ciara and her boyfriend were San Diego Police officers, the department didn’t call an outside agency to investigate her death. And its own investigators almost immediately called it a suicide. Her family thinks they didn’t dig deep enough.

Eight years into the family’s fight for transparency and accountability, a new law went into effect. It might have changed everything for Ciara’s case.

KPBS’s The Finest podcast explores the people, art, and movements that are redefining culture in San Diego. Check it out wherever you get your podcasts, or on kpbs.org/thefinest.This episode tells the story of three friends growing up in San Diego’s Paradise Hills neighborhood who found purpose in graffiti art. What began as a creative path away from gang life eventually drew attention from law enforcement and changed the course of their lives in unexpected ways.Isauro "Junior" Inocencio, Ron Recaido and Romali Licudan grew up as second-generation Filipino Americans in Southeast San Diego during the 1990s. As violence intensified in their community, they found inspiration in comics, hip-hop and murals. They formed a crew to create large-scale, permission-granted graffiti on a neighborhood wall. Their goal was to express themselves and offer something positive to those around them. But national policing efforts blurred the line between art and crime, and the group came under surveillance. Though only one of them was arrested, all three were affected by the fallout.Years later, they return to the same wall — not to rewrite the past, but to reconnect, repaint and reflect on the power of claiming space through art."In graffiti, the basis of it is putting your name up. But a lot of people don't realize that graffiti can also be used — or it should be used — as a message board, to inspire," Romali said. "And it's also like, we can show the younger generation what they could do with graffiti and what they can do with their art."We first learned about this story from our colleague KPBS reporter Kori Suzuki. Check out his original reporting here.