Post by Joanna on Jun 15, 2014 23:40:19 GMT -5
Family sues police over Grosse Pointe Farms mother's unsolved death
DETROIT – The family of a Michigan woman whose death remains unsolved has filed a $100 million lawsuit against two police departments claiming the defendants conspired to cover up the murder of JoAnn Matouk Romain, a Grosse Pointe Farms resident, who was last seen January 12, 2010, at a prayer service at St. Paul on the Lake Catholic Church. Her car, with her purse, wallet and cash inside were found in the church parking lot.
Investigators said they tracked footprints in the snow from the lot to Lake St. Clair and searched the waters, but no traces of Romain were found. Then, in March, her body was discovered by fishermen in a channel of the Detroit River near Amherstburg, Ontario.
Her death was ruled a suicide by drowning. But her family disagrees.
"After a lacking 48-hour investigation, the Grosse Pointe Farms Police Department turned the case over to Grosse Pointe Woods Police Department, despite the disappearance occurring in Grosse Pointe Farms. Both departments treated the investigation as a suicide by drowning from the moment JoAnn went missing. JoAnn did not commit suicide; none of the facts or evidence support the absurd conclusion that she committed suicide; and the named police departments ignored witness statements, falsified their police reports and their investigation to make her murder appear to be a suicide," the lawsuit states.
Attorney Solomon Radner told reporters Wednesday the evidence shows Romain was abducted, struggled, was killed and then her body dumped.
“The body moved 30 miles, with zero current, doesn’t make any sense at all," Radner said. “There are police officers out there who know what happened to JoAnn. We’re asking you now to please do the right thing and call us."
Investigators in Grosse Pointe Farms suggested she walked from her car and climbed over rocks to Lake St Clair, where she drowned. The investigation was then handed over to police officers in Grosse Pointe Woods, where Romain lived.
But Michelle Romain refused to believe her mother would have ever killed herself and has since spent close to $200,000 hiring lawyers and investigators to find out the truth. She says she believes her mother was killed because someone had a vendetta against one of her uncles, to whom her mother was close, the Detroit Free Press reported.
Three pathologists ruled the cause of death as drowning but the manner of death as undetermined.
Attorneys filed lawsuits to obtain records of the case and a retired FBI investigator gathered witness statements.
The family cites the fact JoAnn filled up her car with gas before attending the church service – which she would have been unlikely to do if she knew she were going to kill herself. The woman’s boots were also immaculate – apart from dirt – suggesting she did not climb over the rocks to reach the water, and suggesting her body was carried and dumped. Additionally, her purse was torn and there was bruising on the shoulder on which she carried it. A recovery diver who searched for her body told the team there was no current at the time she is believed to have gone into the water, making it impossible for her body to have drifted so far.
Michelle Romain says police officers told her footprints led from the vehicle to the water – but later recanted after realizing the ground was dry. She saus they also failed to pursue claims by witnesses that they saw a man wearing black clothing and a black scarf near the edge of the water that night.
At a press conference last Wednesday, Scott Lewis said that after reviewing evidence, he also believes JoAnn Romain was murdered. “I am convinced that JoAnn Romain did not commit suicide,” he said. “I think this was a murder.”
However, police have refused to reopen the investigation. Grosse Pointe Farms Public Safety Lt. Rich Rosati told the Detroit Free Press that none of the information presented by Romain and her investigator is enough to reopen the case. “From the police perspective, it does seem to us, by all the evidence we have seen and what our experience has taught us, it’s a suicide,” he said.
Sources: ClickOnDetroit and The Daily Mail.
