LAPD 'closed Shelly Miscavige's missing person case after woman claimed she was the Scientology leader's wife - despite the fact they had mismatched fingerprints and footage of their rendezvous was mysteriously scrambled'

The LAPD closed the missing person case for Shelly Miscavige in 2013 after meeting with a woman who claimed to be the Scientology leader's missing wife without properly verifying her identity, according to a new report.

Shelly has not been seen since her father's funeral in 2007. In 2013, she was reported missing by Leah Remini, an actress who spent 35 years in the church before quitting.

According to reporter Yashar Ali, the LAPD met with a woman who claimed she was Shelly at a coffee shop after Leah filed her report. The woman was accompanied by Jeffrey Riffer, a long-serving Scientology lawyer.

Ali, citing 11 unnamed sources who are too afraid to speak out, reports that detectives took the woman's fingerprints but they were too faint to make a positive match.

When cops requested surveillance footage of the rendezvous from the coffee shop where it took place, the tape had been scrambled to make all investigation impossible, he adds.

Despite those two things, the LAPD closed the case, he reports.

Shelly remains missing, 16 years after she was last seen.

Her husband, David, is also now missing. He is the subject of multiple lawsuits from former Scientologists, but he has never been physically reached to be served with any paperwork.

According to Ali's report, the LAPD detectives met with the woman claiming to be Shelly on August 8, 2013, just after 5pm.

Remini, who met Shelly as a child on board one of the church's Sea Org boats, had become increasingly worried about her whereabouts and reported her missing three days earlier on August 5.

The meet-up at the highway-side coffee shop was brief, according to Ali's report.

The detectives took the woman's ID and fingerprints, which were sent to a lab for processing.

Days later, technicians ruled that the prints were not a match, because the sample given by the woman was not thorough enough.

Ali cites a police source who questioned whether the woman might have been trained to give an incomplete fingerprint.

Instead of seeking a second set of prints, the case was closed and the cops put out a press release calling Remini's report, that Shelly was missing, 'unfounded'.

Days later, the same detectives contacted the coffee shop asking for surveillance footage of the rendezvous.

When the tape was turned over, the footage was mysteriously scrambled. Ali writes that he viewed the tape himself.

Now, it's unclear whether anyone other than Remini is actively looking for Shelly.

The LAPD declined to comment when contacted by DailyMail.com.

Representatives for the Church of Scientology did not respond to inquiries, nor did Riffer, the attorney who allegedly accompanied the woman to the 2013 police rendezvous.

In a tweet yesterday after Ali's piece was published, Remini tweeted: 'For 10 years, the LAPD and Scientology have tried to paint me as some paranoid conspiracy theorist with a vendetta.

'This news is a relief but it also angers me. I am furious with the coverup and that Scientology has gotten away with this.

'This information only makes me want to fight for my friend even more.

'Thank you Yashar for caring about Shelly. WHERE IS SHELLY???'

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