A Daughter’s Battle For Truth: The Strange Death Of Lori Lee Malloy, RI, USA
Lori Malloy in happy times. This lady had the nickname of 'Sled Dog' because in the 1980s she had learned to control a team of dogs and a sled in Alaska.
As I write the fight to get this lady’s death reopened for investigation is ongoing. I read what was said about the unsolved case on a Change.org petition. There was plenty of detail and much to merit a full cold case review. That is what I think on a first pass, what do you make of the below?
The date was Sunday 7th March 1993 and the place, East Providence, Rhode Island, USA. A young woman, aged just 30 years, is found naked and dead in her apartment. The ME decided that she had died from a cardiac event. There was a problem with this. The other parts of his report stated there was no real reason for any heart issues. Another red flag was that the ME had a bad record of getting things right. He lost his licence at one point and many of his cases were reviewed as a result. Unfortunately Ms Malloy’s death fell outside of a time limit for such action.
I scanned the original ME report and noted that what was said in the media was true. He highlighted no defects or other causes to support his findings. Of course you and I know that sometimes an exact cause of death cannot be determined. As much as we like to crow about our medical advances we still have a long way to go, but have a look at the curious circumstances in which Ms Malloy was found.
She was lying on the bathroom floor and there were signs that she had had a visitor. Two glasses and the remains of a meal were evident. The front door was ajar and there were clumps of hair in her hand and in other places in her home. The majority of the hair was believed to have been hers. In a shoe, on a table near the entrance, was hair of another colour. Bits of bread were strewn about her body, the full refrigerator was unplugged and a faucet was left running.
Her boyfriend had requested a welfare check on Ms Malloy when he had not heard from her in a week. The cops found Ms Malloy and a murder investigation was launched. At one point the boyfriend was a suspect, but later the police cleared him. Over a dozen pieces of evidence were removed from the scene at the time and a rape kit examination was preformed.
Much of the evidence is said to be available for retesting and her daughter, who was a baby back then, is trying to get a full homicide reinvestigation going. The crime scene, as reported, does merit that. Recent, bruises were noted on her upper arms and then there was the domestic abuse issue.
At the time of her death she was divorcing her husband and he was sitting in prison while that happened. The reason he was there? For abuse he had perpetrated against Ms Malloy in 1990.
After her husband was put away Ms Malloy began a relationship with another man who was the father of her daughter. The pair had split in July 1992. Notes were found in a planner that alleged this guy had made some threats too. Ms Malloy wrote that she hoped his ‘threats over Lauren would settle down soon.’ So there was a lot going on, then we have that rather bizarre homicide scene.
I quote from the end of the Change.org description of the case ( links below)
‘On March 13, 2022, an independent forensic pathology specialist in New York, NY was referred to Lori’s family and asked to review the case. Upon review, he shared the following:
1. The cause and manner of death are unknown and/or unclear after almost 30 years;
2. The listed cause of death “hypertrophic cardiomyopathy,” was not supported by description in the autopsy reports;
3. The underlying reason of Lori’s congested lungs (1,519 grams) [at time of death] did not have a reasonable explanation as of now;
4. If possible, the availability of any residual tissues/slides should be reviewed to establish a cause of death from a perspective of forensic pathology;
5. The circumstance of Lori’s death should be investigated and/or re-investigated by police.’
As I understand it a $1000 dollar reward is offered for the right information regarding the death of Lori Malloy. Currently the state police are awaiting formal access to the file so they can undergo this review.
In an interview with Golocal in March 2022 Lauren Malloy, daughter of the victim, said:
‘I don’t want money; I don’t want to go after the original medical examiner, I just want the case closed the right way.’
What do you think? Bizarre fatal incident or under investigated murder?
If you have any information about this poor woman’s death please contact: UnsolvedRI or call East Providence Police at 401-435-7600 or ( as many of you have) email me and I will get the information to who needs it.
If you feel, as I do, that this needs more investigation please sign the petition. The link is also below.
Cheers
Tim/ John T
Another case in which a family is trying to get more of a focus on what was seen as a ‘natural’ death is the one we wrote about last month. Rebekah Barsotti in Montana. Like Ms Malloy, there was a lot of strange circumstances around her death. It also had a similar background of domestic abuse.
tim@reasonedcrimechronicle.com
ABC6 have published a good video report on the case. Please search on ABC 6 for this as their page won’t link at this time: https://www.abc6.com/
