Mary Ann Hayes was found dead in her suburban Northfield home in 1996.
Authorities ruled her death a suicide. But now, more than two decades later, a team of criminal justice experts is pushing to reopen the case.
They believe someone killed Hayes and staged it to look a suicide.
“There was just nothing in this case at any point as we went along where we said, ‘Yeah, that does raise questions. Maybe, it is a suicide,’” said Casey Gwinn, former San Diego city attorney and president of Alliance for Hope International.
Alliance, a nonprofit advocacy group, trains law enforcement and other professionals throughout the U.S. to identify and investigate strangulation deaths and staged crime scenes.
“We don’t believe it was ever treated as a crime,” Gwinn said. “They failed to look at any of it.”
Hayes’ oldest daughter, Robin Altman, didn’t immediately question the suicide ruling. But she said that changed as time passed and the shock wore off.
Altman recalled arriving at the Northfield house the night of her mother’s death.
“Nothing looked right,” she said.
Hayes was found dead on the floor of her bedroom.
Police determined she used an extension cord to strangle herself. But Alliance believes evidence shows Hayes couldn’t have died that way.
“You may have facilitated someone just getting away with murder,” said Dr. Bill Smock, a forensic physician who works with Alliance.
Coming up Wednesday, in part two of our three-part series, Hidden Homicide: More questions surround Hayes’ death and why Alliance doesn’t believe hers is the only suspicious suicide in the family.
