She Was Found Dead In The Bathroom Of Her Rhode Island Apartment In 1993, And Her Daughter Petitioned To Have Her Case Reopened
In 1993, a young mother was shockingly found dead in her apartment. Although her death was first labeled as being caused by natural causes, her case is being reinvestigated as her daughter believes she was murdered.
At the time of her death, Lori Malloy was 30-years-old and the mother to her young daughter, Lauren. She lived in an apartment in East Providence, Rhode Island, and was given the nickname “Sled Dog” after gaining an interest in dog-sledding on a trip to Alaska.
On Sunday, March 7th, 1993, Lori was shockingly found dead on the bathroom floor of her apartment. Her alleged boyfriend at the time, Harry Costa, had gone to the police earlier that day to ask them to carry out a welfare check on Lori.
When police arrived at her apartment, Lori was unclothed on the bathroom floor, and there were chunks of hair missing from her head. She had fresh bruises on her arms and upper thighs, and her hair had been scattered around the apartment.
The front door to Lori’s apartment was already open when police officers arrived, and the bathroom sink was running. Oddly, her refrigerator was full but had been unplugged, and two drinking glasses and a container of food were left on her kitchen table.
After Lori’s body was discovered, detectives began investigating pieces of evidence around her apartment, like hair that appeared to be from someone else’s head and sheets from her bed. There was hope that the autopsy performed on Lori would give her loved ones more answers, but that wasn’t the case.
The medical examiner who performed Lori’s autopsy wrongly stated that she had died of natural causes due to a heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. He did not make any notes about the condition of her head and ignored her clean toxicology report.
The medical examiner eventually had his license revoked, as he had a reputation for misdiagnosing cases. However, following the autopsy performed on Lori, the homicide investigation on her case was closed.
For years, Lauren, Lori’s daughter, believed that her mother had died from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy until she received a phone call from someone who told her that information was wrong and that her mom had been murdered.
michal812 – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only
Lauren struggled to get investigators to look back into her mother’s case for three years until 2022.
A forensic pathologist from New York looked into Lori’s case and informed her family that her death was unlikely caused by anything natural and that she likely did not die from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. So, in 2022, Lauren petitioned the state to have Lori’s body exhumed and her case reopened.
“In November 2022, the Court approved AG Neronha’s motion to reopen my mom’s cold case,” Lauren wrote in an update.
“Her body was exhumed on February 1, 2023. As of this update, forensic testing is still in process. Thank you, thank you, thank you, to every single person who supported this effort.”
Now, Lori’s loved ones are anxiously awaiting updates on her case and hope that there will be justice and closure coming their way soon.
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