Mother calls for new investigation of woman’s 2017 death in Independence motel room
Three years after an Independence woman’s death in a motel room, her mother is calling for a new investigation because she believes her daughter was murdered and did not die of suicide as police concluded.
In a Friday news conference, Cindy Caswell was joined by leaders of Alliance for HOPE International, which helps survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, elder abuse, and human trafficking, in calling on the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office reopen the investigation into the death Elizabeth “Libby” Caswell.
The group, backed by a pair of law enforcement experts, asked for a new, independent team of investigators.
“We believe Libby Casewell was murdered on Dec. 11, 2017,” said Casey Gwinn, president of the Alliance for HOPE.
The investigation into her death was not thorough, Gwinn said. Many important leads were not investigated, he said, and law enforcement rushed to conclude the death was a suicide.
“Most importantly, based on our forensic review, the story of the suspects and the conclusion of law enforcement officers are not scientifically, physically, mechanically or forensically possible. ”
The Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office has reviewed the case but more evidence is needed, said spokesman Michael Mansur. He added that there’s no statute of limitations on murder.
“We support the Independence police and will encourage them to look at any new information,” he said.
A message to Independence police seeking comment was not immediately returned Friday.
Libby Caswell, a mother of a four-year-old boy at the time of her death, was in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend, Gwinn and Cindy Caswell said.
A week before her death, Libby Caswell’s boyfriend had choked her, which was witnessed by another person, Gwinn said. The Libby Caswell died, her boyfriend was in the motel room along with another person, whom Gwinn said “must be considered a suspect in any independent investigation.”
Cindy Caswell said her daughter had a huge heart and attended church. She was not suicidal and she loved her son Xavier.
“She would have never, ever left him this way,” Caswell said. “She was a really a good mother and was fighting to get control of her life and she was testing clean and not doing drugs and alcohol and she was just doing all the right things.”
After Libby Caswell’s death, some of her friends came forward and said she had feared for her life. Her sister had asked her to come home that week, but Libby Caswell replied that she couldn’t because she would bring danger to wherever she was.
Dr. Bill Smock, an expert on strangulation and police surgeon for the Louisville Metro Police Department, said he reviewed materials from the investigation into Libby Caswell’s death and concluded that the evidence and photographs of the scene were not consistent with a suicide.
“Everything pointed to a murder and a staged scene,” Smock said.
He met with Independence police, the Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office and the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office, but Independence police closed the case.
“What we are hoping for is that the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office will reopen the case with a fresh set of eyes, so that we can review that evidence with a new investigative team and explain to them why this was in fact a homicide,” Smock said.
Rachel Frost, a retired master investigator with the Riverside County, California, Sheriff’s Department and trainer with the Alliance for HOPE’s Training Institute on Strangulation Prevention, said she too reviewed the case and determined that there are questions that remain unanswered and that there are avenues to pursue, even three years later.
“There is more to do with this case,” she said.
