DETROIT – The mayor and police chief of Detroit conspired with other officials to obstruct the investigation of the murder of an exotic dancer who allegedly had performed at the mayor’s mansion before she was killed, the custodian of the woman’s young son claims in Federal Court.

Tamara Green, 27, professionally known as Strawberry, was shot to death as she sat in her car on April 3, 2003. The defendants have taken a series of unusual steps to obstruct the investigation, the plaintiff claims, including ordering the case put in the “cold case” file after 11 months, rather than the customary two years; refusing to do forensic tests on the .40-caliber bullet casings found at the murder scene “to determine if the weapon belonged to an officers or was registered;” transferring the case investigator away; firing the head of the police Internal Affairs Bureau who was investigating the party at the mayor’s Manoogian Mansion, at which Green allegedly danced; taking these actions to discourage other police officers from investigating the murder, lest they be fired or effectively demoted too; refusing to interview “key individuals who could have offered valuable information;” and other suspicious actions. Named as defendants on civil rights charges are the City of Detroit, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, the mayor’s former Chief of Staff Christine Betty, former Detroit Police Chief Jerry Oliver, Police Chief Ella Bully Cummings, Deputy Police Chief Cara Best, and John Doe police officers.

Plaintiff, represented by Delicia Coleman of Oak Park, Mich., seeks monetary damages for Green’s minor son.