Today I'm digging into one of those cases that
honestly has stuck with me all week. The unsolved
death of Lori Malloy. We're in East Providence,
Rhode Island, back in March of 1993, where 30
-year -old Lori Lee Malloy, known by friends
as Sled Dog, was found naked and dead on her
bathroom floor. Right out the gate, everything
about that scene was just off. The police walked
into Lori's apartment on a welfare check. And
they found the front door open, bathroom faucet
running, two drinking glasses and some leftover
salad sitting on the kitchen table. The fridge
fully stocked but unplugged. Odd, right? Welcome
to Beyond the Silence. Whispers across America.
I'm Sammy, your host, driven to shine light on
the dark. corners of forgotten cases, demand
justice, and keep alive the voices the world
has tried to silence. Let's get into the ominous
case and death of Lori Malloy. Let me paint this
for you. Lori was found lying face down, completely
naked, bruises clear as day on her thighs and
arm. But it's the hair that will never leave
me. Her dark brown hair, torn out in clumps,
literally all over the apartment. wrapped around
her fingers, around one foot, even a strange
little bracelet on her wrist. There was a clump
of someone else's light brown hair stuffed in
a shoe on a table by the door, like it had been
yanked clean out of a scalp. It's no wonder detectives
took one look at this and said, we've got a homicide
here. They processed 14 pieces of evidence that
night. Towels with mucus, kids' clothes, sheets,
that hair, those glasses. They even did a sexual
assault kit, which should tell you just how suspicious
they really were. See, it was more than just
the physical evidence, too. Lori had a complicated,
often violent, relationship history. I mean,
her marriage to scary, hairy Mariano had just
ended weeks before. And there were police reports
of domestic violence, restraining orders, threats.
Her life wasn't as exactly calm leading up to
that night. All of this, the open doors, the
appliances unplugged, hair everywhere. What's
that saying? The house was almost staged, like
something you'd see in those cases where little
details tell a much bigger story. Actually, I
read another one a few years back. A woman gone
missing, but every light in her house was left
on and the sheets were stripped. When you see
a scene that strange, you know, your gut tells
you the truth isn't what's on the surface. Where
was I going with this? Oh, right, the point is,
police knew from the very first night. This was
anything but natural. Now, here's where things
take a turn. Dr. F. John Krolikovsky. You've
probably heard that name if you follow cold cases
in New England. He was the medical examiner called
in the next day. And well, he ended up being
stripped of his credentials in not one, but two
states for exactly this sort of thing. But I'm
jumping ahead. Dr. Krolikovsky officially decided
Lori died of natural causes, specifically hypertrophic
cardiomyopathy, a rare heart condition. But when
you look at his own notes, there's basically
no major damage to Lori's heart. And he skips
over the hair, doesn't even mention the state
of her scalp. Toxicology comes back clean, even
though the file labels her as a known cocaine
user. I might be wrong, but how do you miss physical
signs of violence and call it a natural death?
So just like that, the homicide investigation
was wrapped up and closed. The cops had to take
the ME's ruling as gospel. I think most people
don't realize. One report like that, and the
whole system just grinds to a halt. If the doctor
says, natural causes, suddenly detectives are
told to stand down, evidence is boxed up, families
get told there's nothing more to do. Dr. Thomas
Andrew, a forensic pathologist up in New Hampshire,
even said that if the cardiac findings weren't
all there, the entire death certificate is built
on sand. He laid it out, plain as day. Without
a thorough workup, without tissue samples, and
the right kind of examination, the case should
have stayed open. But it didn't. So here's where
everything changes. Lauren Malloy, Lori's daughter.
She was just a toddler when her mom died, and
for most of her life she accepted what everyone
told her. Her mother's heart just stopped. Except
in 2020, Lauren gets this message out of the
blue from one of her mom's old friends. The friend
says, hey, what you've heard all these years,
it isn't true. Lori was murdered and you need
to look at the case again. That was it for Lauren.
She pulled all the old files. She went searching
for answers and refused to drop it, even after
decades of doors being slammed in her face. She
brought the case to the Rhode Island Medical
Examiner's office and you know what happened?
The acting chief said he flat out refuted the
old autopsy. said hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
wasn't the cause, said there wasn't any clear
reason for Lori's death at all, which is a strange
thing for a state doctor to admit when reexamining
a 30 -year -old file. Lauren kept pushing, petitioned
for Lori's body to be exhumed, tracked down new
forensic experts, and went to the press. Her
mother's case became public for the first time
in decades. then made its way to national coverage.
Meanwhile, old pieces of evidence from 1993,
like the assault kit, miraculously hadn't been
tossed out. Everything was on the table for fresh
analysis. I've talked with families who've walked
this same path, and look, long -term advocacy
feels like living life in waiting rooms and inboxes.
Lauren once described the wait for forensic results
as like, holding your breath not knowing when
you'll get to breathe again. Day 50, day 100.
She even posted little countdowns to social media,
just so people could see how the not knowing
eats you alive. Even now, more than three decades
after Lori's death, Lauren's still waiting for
answers. Her mom's body exhumed, new tissue tests
pending, attorneys and detectives passing the
case back and forth. But that hope? It never
went out. And you know, for every case like this,
where a daughter stands up and refuses to be
ignored, there's a whole set of families quietly
doing that work in the background. Every voice
matters, even if change takes years. Alright,
I could talk about this for hours, but that's
where we'll leave Lori Malloy's story today.
On the edge of hope, with justice not forgotten,
just waiting to be claimed. That's it for today's
episode. The questions remain and the search
continues because every lost soul deserves answers
and every story deserves to be heard. What are
your thoughts? What do you believe happened?
Share your voice because sometimes the smallest
detail can spark the biggest breakthrough. I'm
Sammy and this is Beyond the Silence, Whispers
Across America. Thank you for listening. Stay
safe and I'll see you next time.