November 9, 2023 • 36 mins
Libby’s boyfriend is interviewed by police. The medical examiner isn’t sure exactly how Libby died — but the police close the case as a suicide anyway. Libby’s mom, Cindy, questions the official report.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Originals.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
This is an iHeart original. This story can be hard
to hear. There's detailed talk of suicide and violence, but
we think it's important not to gloss over the reality
of what happened to Libby Caswell. Please take care while listening.
(00:24):
I'm holding in my hands a green spiral notebook that
Libby used to document the last few months of her life.
I got it from her mom, Cindy, who found it
in the trunk of Libby's car after her death. Thumbing
through the notebook, a lot of the pages are filled
with basic adulting stuff, detailed grocery lists, appointment reminders. Libby
(00:46):
was due for an oil change, and from what I
can make of her notes, she either was planning to
or had already gone to a clinic to get the
depot shot, a form of birth control. Cindy told me
Christmas was Libby's favorite holiday, and in the notebook it's
obvious her shopping list for Xavier, who was four, spread
out over a number of pages. On one page, a
(01:09):
toy car, air Jordan's, a swing set. On another, fidget toys, chocolate, Peeps,
Superman pajamas. Libby decorated these lists with sketches of Christmas
trees surrounded by presence and snowmen. It's unclear if she
ever bought any of these gifts. She died on December eleventh,
(01:30):
twenty seventeen. Paging through Libby's notebook, I stumbled on a
date written now incursive, March nineteenth. I realized I'd seen
it a few times before on Libby's Facebook page, shortened
to three nineteen. When I asked Cindy about this, she
(01:52):
told me it was the anniversary of Libby's first date
with her boyfriend Devin.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
They went with his family. They had a real nice
blue minivan. First they went to eat, and then they
went and seen a movie. And I don't remember the movie.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Well, I think we went to see Where the Wild
Things Are.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
That's Jamie Devins stepmom.
Speaker 5 (02:12):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
We were howling like the wild things do at the
movie in the theater, and I remember Devin being so embarrassed.
I remember him telling me and Charlie the Dacks who
he was going to marry at fourteen years old, and
we were like, you know, you're so young, and da, da, dad,
you have so much to go through, and you know,
then it all started.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
That first date Libby and Devon were only freshmen in
high school. For the next six years, the number three
nineteen took on an almost sacred significance to Libby, who
scrawled it everywhere like an incantation.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
She would do doodles you know of three nineteen eleven
Devin and Libby.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Devin loves Sleepy and Laby loves Devon. There's a fun
through win.
Speaker 5 (03:08):
So what.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
She was totally infatuated, however you want to say it,
totally wrapped up in it.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
The number three nineteen has an entirely different connotation to
Cindy now, one very far removed from those early idyllic
feelings of obsession and puppy love, because now that number
is inextricably linked with the room where police found Libby's body,
the room at the sports stadium in.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
I didn't know anything about the room until we received
our first reports, and then when I saw that, that's
when I was like, oh my god, it was it
was room three nineteen. Maybe Devon rented that room. They
specifically asked for that room because of something. Maybe it
was random. They just got that room. You know, I
(04:01):
wanted to know.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Watch what.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
From iHeart Podcasts. I'm Melissa Jelson, and this is what
happened to Libby Caswell.
Speaker 6 (04:22):
His first inclination was it was homicide.
Speaker 7 (04:25):
He was crying and I said, and I was like, man,
what happened?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
They asked me my name and it was I Cindy
Caswell and tuck.
Speaker 8 (04:36):
Him a minute to get it out of it, and
he said, my wife hung herself.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
And my heart just kind of froze.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Watch God see chapter two undetermined.
Speaker 7 (05:06):
They have an undertector.
Speaker 9 (05:06):
Shirley's department gets your cell phone on you Yeah, okay,
once you want to detect his head in Okay to
his apartment.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
On the evening of December eleventh, twenty seventeen, three hours
after calling nine one one to report Libby's death and
then leaving the scene, Devon Martin arrives at the Independence
Police Department in Libby's car. When he enters the station,
he's taken into a small, drab room to make a
formal statement. Although he comes involuntarily, he's immediately arrested on
(05:40):
a handful of outstanding traffic tickets and read his rights.
Speaker 9 (05:44):
You have right ring silent. Anything you say cannot be
used Mansion court wall. You ever red to talk to
him thirty fourth question and have him present.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
I obtained a video of Devin's interview with IPD through
a Freedom of Information Act request. The original tape is
around fifty five minutes long, but for length and clarity purposes,
I'm using just parts of it and playing some of
it out of order. In the grainy footage, Devin looks upset.
He's sweating, jittery, and doesn't seem to know what to
(06:15):
do with his hands. He thrust them into the front
pocket of his hoodie. He rubs his face.
Speaker 9 (06:20):
Let's let's start from the beginning, Okay. Like I said,
I want you to be detailed. Wants to be honest. Okay,
because ran this is a death misty, So take death
investigations with her seriously, okay, And what I need how
to use me honestly.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Detective Steve Schmidley had been at the motel earlier in
the night investigating the scene when Devin called nine one
one for the second time to say he'd talked to police,
so Schmidley headed back to the station to interview him.
And here he refers to Libby by her full name,
Elizabeth Caswell.
Speaker 9 (06:55):
He's Elizabeth cas Wealthy.
Speaker 10 (06:57):
I'm doing some matter.
Speaker 9 (07:03):
Bring to get Mary in March.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Devin's voice is soft, like he's on the verge of tears.
It's a little hard to understand what he's saying, but
he tells the detective he and Libby have a child
together and they were going to get married in three
months time.
Speaker 9 (07:20):
Would you guys get when you check into this mote?
Speaker 6 (07:24):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
So Devin tells Detective Schmidley that he arrived at the
sports stadium in early that morning. He was with Libby
and another friend of theirs, Nick, and they were driving
in Libby's car, a black Ford fusion. Some of this,
like what time they checked in, police already know from
accessing motel records, but establishing a timeline of events that
(07:48):
day is critical, as police aren't sure exactly when Libby died.
There is an almost fourteen hour period of time between
when the three friends arrived at the moto that morning
and when Devin called nine one one that evening that
is unknown to police.
Speaker 9 (08:10):
You get there this morning, what do you guys do
most of day?
Speaker 10 (08:14):
Okay?
Speaker 7 (08:14):
So my friend Nick hung out with us until about.
Speaker 11 (08:18):
Maybe maybe eighty nine o'clock in the morning, eight thirty
when we left and I took a shower and I
get out of the shower and she said she was
going to take a shower. And I remember because we
had been up all night the night before, and I
remember laying on the bed and passing out.
Speaker 7 (08:38):
The fell asleep and I probably woke out. It's probably
around eight thirty, I think, roughly.
Speaker 9 (08:46):
What time do you think you fell asleep on the beat?
Speaker 12 (08:49):
I would say between ten and eleven o'clock ten am
and eleven am this morning, and then at that point
you were maimed asleep the entire times that you woke
up this evening.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Sir Devin says he was asleep for more than eight
hours and when he woke up, he noticed Libby wasn't around.
Speaker 6 (09:11):
And I remember looking.
Speaker 10 (09:12):
Lit in the room.
Speaker 7 (09:13):
So I went to check the bathroom and my belt
was the top of it. I see my belt sitting
out the top of the door, and when I opened
the door, she fell forward and her skin was so
pale and her lips were blue. I'm sorry, man, that's okay, Ryan,
(09:35):
I can't believe it.
Speaker 13 (09:37):
This is real.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Devin gets emotional here. He's just told Schmidley that he
woke up, looked around for Libby and saw his belt
peeking out from the top of the closed bathroom door.
When he opened the door, Libby's body fell to the ground.
The detective leans back, taking it all in, then starts
to recap, but Devon interrupts to tell him about something
(10:03):
else that happened right before he went to sleep.
Speaker 12 (10:08):
Him You got in the shower and you went to bed,
and we had the.
Speaker 7 (10:12):
Orde about my drug use. That's what we argued about.
Speaker 9 (10:17):
That was this morning before you went to bed.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, right, if forgot out a shower, this is information
that IPD had already gathered. One of the cops spoke
to a guest staying in the room next door who
heard a loud argument between a man and a woman.
According to Devon, their fight was over his continued use
of methamphetamine. Drugs were a constant source of tension between
(10:39):
the couple. Schmidley doesn't seem very surprised to learn about
Devn's drug use, and it's likely this was a pretty
familiar story to him. Independence, Missouri has a long history
with mes, which I'll get into later, and the sports
stadium in it's not a particularly nice place to stay.
In the yearly up to Livy's death, IPD had been
(11:02):
called there more than one hundred and fifty times for theft, assault,
and incidents involving drugs. Schmidley himself had responded on a
handful of occasions. The detective doesn't linger on Devin's drug use,
but before he can get to his next question, Devin
pivots again and offers some more unprompted information about Libby
(11:24):
and her mental state.
Speaker 14 (11:29):
I didn't think she would ever do it.
Speaker 7 (11:30):
You know, she was probably not killing herself the day before,
but it was like she okays a lot of times
when she says.
Speaker 6 (11:39):
That, you know, I don't.
Speaker 9 (11:39):
So she talked about killing yourself today before?
Speaker 7 (11:42):
Yeah, yes there? Why just because of our situation she
set up with.
Speaker 9 (11:48):
We have boss Christy and.
Speaker 7 (11:50):
Our son Ashley.
Speaker 9 (11:51):
I stay as christ the other, but he presides with
her mother, and we were going to get everything strange.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Not still, the custody situation with their son was complicated,
and I'll get to it later. But the picture Devin
paints of Libby is of a depressed mother, forcibly separated
from her son and frustrated by her boyfriend's drug problem.
Devin's story provides a reason why Libby might have taken
her own life. Then he offers up his own theory
(12:23):
for how she did it. Remember, Devin never says he
actually saw Libby hanging because the bathroom door was closed,
but he tells the detective that he thinks his belt
was too long to have kept her feet off the ground.
Speaker 7 (12:38):
I was really trying to understand it all because there's
no way she going to hurt herself from the door,
you know, like after she's hung there with my belf's
long have been on the ground.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
It's an odd fact. I've puzzled over it too, but
Devin had an answer for Detective Schmidley.
Speaker 7 (13:00):
So I've been sitting trying to thankfully, what kinda how
did it have happened? I'm taking maybe she put it
in the door and like until she passed out, because
went out opened the door, she bounce forward.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Devin later tells the detective this is something he'd seen
Libby do before, put a belt around her neck and
pretend like she was strangling herself.
Speaker 7 (13:23):
I mean when we were younger and said she would
have like you know, when you didn't argue or something,
she would.
Speaker 9 (13:28):
Have like she's chunking herself with the belt.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Actually, Detective Schmidley asked Stephen what he did after he
found Libby's body grated her.
Speaker 7 (13:38):
I didn't notice the belt but around her neck until
after i'd pulled her apartment, and she was so stiff.
So I'm sorry. Now you're fine, You're fine.
Speaker 6 (13:56):
So poor baby?
Speaker 9 (13:58):
Well, oh man, so what do you do at that
pointably you assume? Okay, break out?
Speaker 7 (14:06):
I just seen Tuesday. I try to undo the belt
a little bit where I keep field poles or something,
and I think I'm taking too much and couldn't feel
so I told m mourn, how are you shock?
Speaker 6 (14:23):
And I got in the car and.
Speaker 15 (14:24):
I wait to my dad.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Devin's explanation. He was in shock, so he drove to
his dad's. It might sound bizarre, but in my experience
as a journalist covering traumatic events, people can act in
all kinds of unexpected ways. You don't really know how
you'll respond to a tragedy until it happens to you.
You may think you'll become act rationally, but when was
(14:49):
the last time you found a dead body? Schmidly, in
any case, seems to listen to this story without much judgment.
He doesn't question Devn's decision to run or express much
curiosity about where he went. He notes it and moves on.
But there's another detective in the room who up until
now has just been listening, and he's more skeptical.
Speaker 10 (15:14):
Do you see how this looks suspicious at it?
Speaker 6 (15:18):
Just by.
Speaker 16 (15:20):
That's why I'm here.
Speaker 7 (15:22):
That's why i'm here, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
By this point in the interview, Devon has been sitting
inside a small interrogation room for about forty minutes. This
is what IPD has learned so far. Devin and Libby
and another friend, Nick checked into the sports citiumen early
that morning. After nick Le, Devin and Libby fought about
his drug use. Devon went to sleep sometime that morning
(16:05):
and Libby headed into the shower. Devin woke up around
eight pm, walked over to the bathroom and saw the
end of his belt sticking out over the top of
the door. He opened the door and Libby's body fell
to the ground inside the bathroom. He touched her body
to see if she was alive, and then panicking, he
(16:26):
called nine one one and then drove away. Detective Schmidley's
tone throughout the interview is relaxed and understanding, almost conciliatory.
If he has any real issues or concerns with Devin's
version of events. He doesn't say anything, but as the
(16:46):
conversation proceeds, the other detective jumps in Prod's Devin a
little harder. Classic good cop, bad cop.
Speaker 10 (16:56):
D See how this looks suspicious, Devin?
Speaker 6 (17:00):
Just by you leaving?
Speaker 7 (17:01):
Yeah, yeah, that's why I'm here.
Speaker 16 (17:04):
That's why I'm here.
Speaker 10 (17:06):
You know, I don't want We've investigated a lot of definitely,
I mean Detector Schmidley and I because you know, we
have a lot of experience, and some are very obvious
suicidal you know, suicide deaths, and some are not so obvious.
Speaker 16 (17:24):
Absolutely, and I'm garian man, I promise you I would
not I would not ever do anything to harm her physically. Fact,
I would prevent her from being harmed physically.
Speaker 6 (17:35):
My nag.
Speaker 10 (17:35):
There is going to be an autosy. You know that
they can.
Speaker 7 (17:37):
Determine absolutely, and how would chance to get the results?
Speaker 10 (17:40):
When do you think that autosy, of course, is going
to indicate because she had trained herself. You see how
it's kind of suspicious a little bit because we have
witness to say that you are arguing with her.
Speaker 7 (17:52):
That day, and like I said, we had gotten to
an argument that morning. Okay, I would not do nothing
her in my life.
Speaker 6 (18:01):
I understand.
Speaker 7 (18:02):
I'm not trying to say you're a tot. I just
I'm trying to explain expressed as you.
Speaker 10 (18:06):
And I understand that I just want to I just
want you to know that that it's just a little
suspicious of how you reacted, which you know, most people
would stick around.
Speaker 6 (18:19):
Look.
Speaker 9 (18:19):
To be honest with you, I've never had a good
incounterance police stand.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Devin is twenty one at the time of this interview,
and he's no stranger to IPD. By my account, he
had been arrested around ten times before for various nonviolent offenses.
Speaker 10 (18:36):
I've got to understand that we have a job to
do and it's not personal. But when we have several
different factors involving this investigation which are suspicious in nature,
which you know, I mean, I understand your drug ucisi
and everything, but the whole argument thing, and then just
the way that she was positioned and sort of well.
Speaker 6 (18:58):
That's because I think they're okay, and.
Speaker 10 (19:00):
That's why you're here to explain some of those things
that we feel that are suspicious.
Speaker 7 (19:08):
Yeah, our fights are loud. Realize it well, obviously because
people heard you.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
The second detective pushes Devin about a claim he made
earlier in the interview that Libby choked herself in the past.
Something about this story seems off to him, like maybe
it's a little too convenient, so he startles back to it.
Speaker 7 (19:30):
But she's tried to choke herself out with a belt before.
Speaker 8 (19:33):
Yeah, yeah, and I've had to really pull her, pull
her hands off and hit the belt out from around
her night and yeah, and.
Speaker 7 (19:39):
That's the honest truth.
Speaker 10 (19:40):
I mean, do you see And and I've investigated a
lot of dancer, but I've never seen anybody be able
to choke themselves out and kill themselves. That's yeah, you
see what I'm saying, because you're going to pass out, yes,
sire first, Yes, Okay.
Speaker 16 (19:56):
Honestly, I want to see if I don't know exactly
how it happened.
Speaker 7 (20:02):
So let me ask you a question, Evin.
Speaker 10 (20:03):
Okay, there's no doubt in my mind that you love
her to death. There's no doubt in my mind that
you guys, you know, were higher grade school, middle school
to high school sweethearts. Okay, but to put this to
rest a little.
Speaker 13 (20:21):
Bit, it's something bad happened that thanks got out of
controls positive that promise to help help put my hand
on the Bible, and I'll put it on everything.
Speaker 14 (20:36):
I love, all my children, on my son's life. I
would not ever do nothing like that. Never, Okay, when
I heard it like that, I don't.
Speaker 7 (20:48):
I hope you guys do believe me.
Speaker 11 (20:50):
And if you.
Speaker 8 (20:50):
Don't, everything forensics figures out will prove that I have.
I wanted to call y'all and I would just lived
in you know, so I wouldn't have done that is.
Speaker 6 (21:02):
Worth the truth is.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Beyond denying any involvement in Libby's death. Devon is adamant
that he'd never heard her before.
Speaker 16 (21:12):
I've never put I act a pride in the fact
that I've never put my nays on to the woman unless.
Speaker 7 (21:17):
You to stop her from hurt me. Yeah, and that's
like holding her average fay urge as you call there.
That's the only thing I've ever.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Said that, As the second detective said to Devin, some
suicides are straightforward, some or not. In Libby's case, there
were a lot of suspicious facts at play, but Devin
seems to have explanations for all of them. The weird
position of Libby's body was because he held her and
tried to loosen the belt. He left the scene because
(21:45):
he was scared of the cops and had been using drugs.
And yes, they had an argument, but that's just how
their relationship was volatile. The interview wraps up just after
midnight and around the same time i'd he clears the
crime scene at the sports stadium in but before they
do so, they check to see if there's any evidence
(22:07):
to corroborate Devin's story that Libby hanged herself with a
belt over the bathroom door, and they find something a
mark on the top of the door. The crime scene
tech notes that it appears fresh and seems to be
about the width of Devon's belt. Schmidley has one more
person he wants to speak with Devon's friend, Nick, the
(22:31):
other person inside the motel room that morning and possibly
the last person besides Devin to see Libby alive. At
the detective's request, Nick comes down to the police station
and they talk for a few minutes.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
It was just you and Devin. I was okay, any issues.
Speaker 6 (22:52):
No, She is like very like.
Speaker 17 (22:58):
That's a word, just stressed about herself. She's just like
very depressed. She's dressed under brass. She was talking about
toting suicide and I was like, no, you know, when
did she talk about comment Suicideamorean?
Speaker 6 (23:12):
And I told her. He was like, you don't want
to do that.
Speaker 17 (23:15):
I talked to her about her kid.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Nick corroborates most of Devon's story and adds something new.
He tells Detective Schmidley that Devin called him after finding
Libby's body. Nick then returned to the motel and the
two drove together in Libby's car to Devon's dad's house.
Schmidley wraps up the interview and sends him on his way.
(23:38):
In his reports from that night, the detective summarizes his
interviews with both Devon and Nick and writes, quote investigation
to continue, but I have the case file on Libby's death,
and after Schmidley's interviews with Devon and Nick and the
discovery of the mark on the bathroom door, the file
(24:02):
essentially trails off. There's very little to suggest this initial
investigation goes any further. This was kind of surprising to
me because when police first arrive at the sports stadium
in it's clear they're treating it as a homicide. There
are at least a dozen officers at the scene, detectives,
patrol cops, a crime scene tech, plus various personnel from
(24:25):
the Medical Examiner's office. But then sometime during the night,
there's a shift and the focus of the investigation turns
from homicide to suicide. By the time Cindy is notified
about Libby's death, the IPD seems to have made up
their minds.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
The only question they asked the night they knocked on
our door to tell us our daughter was found in
a motail bathroom. Was she suicidal?
Speaker 2 (24:54):
The case isn't officially closed that night, though, IPD has
to wait for the medical examiner to make his own
determination on how Libby died. As one of the detectives
told Devin, there's going to be an autopsy and that
should give everyone more answers.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Right, they were going to set aside a room for
us to come and be with her and say our goodbyes,
(25:31):
and we could stay as well as we want.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
A few days after Libby's death, Cindy and her family
were given the opportunity to see Libby's body in private
at the funeral home. They planned to do a cremation
and service for Libby, but wanted a moment alone with
her first years later, Cindy's grief is still so raw
it's hard for her to speak.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
And she just looked so beautiful, you know.
Speaker 5 (25:57):
They they had had done her makeup and combed her hair.
Speaker 18 (26:02):
And she wasn't, you known't dressed in anything fancy. It
was just, you know, she was wrapped in a blanket
up up under her arms and.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
Her arms were folded.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
And her head was like it was on a pillow.
I talked to her, and I told her.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
I was sorry that I couldn't protect her and loved her.
And then we just kind of stayed in there for
a little longer. And I had noticed that she had
some scratches on her forearm, really deep scratches, and I
(26:46):
noticed her fingernails were broken off, and she had a
bruise on her nose.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Cindy told me that Libby always liked to have her
nails nicely done. She was wearing light orange acrylics at
the time of her death, but at the funeral home,
Libby's hands looked raggedy. There was a cut on one finger,
and two of her acrylics were broken off.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
Roughly, I got my phone out, I took a picture
of the scratches on her arm, hidden her fingernails.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Why did you decide to document it yourself.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
I didn't know if you know, if they had documented
that stuff.
Speaker 5 (27:33):
So I just decided I would.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Seeing Libby's body in that state unsettled Cindy, and so
later when she got home, she decided she would look
through Libby's car to see what she could find. Devin
and Nick had been the last ones to drive Libby's
car after her body was discovered. They later returned it
to police, and Sindy got the car back the following day.
(27:59):
It had been so into her driveway ever since. From
the outside, the car was newly dented, the windshield cracked,
the dashboard loose.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
She was so proud of that car. I was just
devastated that her car was in the condition it was
because she took such good care of her car. It
was always clean and smelled nice, and so it was
all very just kind of shocking kind of devastation, you know.
(28:31):
I just felt so heavy. I thought, how did this
come to this?
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Cindy had been too distraught to look inside the car
until now, and what she found surprised her. In the
crevice of the seat, an orange acrylic fingernail. She stared
at it for a moment, thinking about Libby, her body,
the police investigation.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
I thought, well, they must have missed this fingernail, you know,
or I had no idea what I was, why that
would be there, and I was naive. It wasn't till
much later, and I thought, why would they not search
the car?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Cindy told me she was under the impression that the
investigation into Libby's death was ongoing. Two months went by
while she waited for an update from the IPD.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
We tried to call several times to speak with someone,
and we never got a hold of anybody, and we
would just leave voicemails. We just didn't understand why they
just wouldn't talk to us.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
On February twentieth, twenty eighteen, Cindy received her first big
piece of news in the case, not from one of
the detectives she'd been trying to reach at IPD, but
in a letter from the in our home. Inside was
Libby's death certificate. The autopsy was complete. The police received
the autopsy report around the same time Cindy got the
(30:09):
death certificate. Here's Major Anka, one of the officers who
worked on Libby's case, we.
Speaker 6 (30:15):
Had gotten the report back from the medical examiner. I
can remember I've sitting in my office and Smili came
in and he was beside himself and said, the medical
examiner ruled Libby's death undetermined. I go, what do you
mean they ruled undetermined? He goes, yeah, they ruled it undetermined.
That was something that really caught us off guard because
(30:38):
when we get a you know, all of our medical
examiner reports, they come back suicide, homicide, national causes. I mean,
this was the first undetermined that most of us had seen.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
When we received the death certificate and read undetermined, it
was like, you know, affirmation for me. I can't say relief,
you know.
Speaker 5 (31:01):
Because.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
There's no relief, isn't that But in that feeling of Okay,
we know she didn't do that, but now there's this
horrible reality, you know that the person she trusted to
protect her, you know, potentially did it to or her.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Cindy was suspicious of Devon, and rumors were circulating in
Independence that there was more to the story than he
was letting on. Devon had been released the morning after
he was interviewed by police, and as we heard earlier,
this episode. He had been hoping the autopsy report would
clear his name.
Speaker 10 (31:43):
Wouldn't you think that were forced to any.
Speaker 7 (31:45):
Kate train on her stuff?
Speaker 2 (31:49):
But the autopsy report didn't clear Devon undetermined didn't roll
out homicide, but it didn't roll out suicide either. It
just meant the medical examiner couldn't really figure out how
Libby died. It meant that the Independent's Police Department should
be looking at other evidence to figure out what happened
(32:09):
to Libby.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
I was confident that they would launch a full investigation
at that point.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Specifically, she thought they would focus on Devon.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
I hope they would be looking at his story and
corroborating what his story was.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
But that's not what happened. Instead, the IPD told Cindy
the case was closed despite the medical examiner's ruling.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
In my mind, I go, well, I'm thinking, isn't this backwards.
Isn't the emmy who decides if he doesn't sign suicide,
don't they police do an investigation?
Speaker 10 (32:47):
You know?
Speaker 3 (32:48):
And that is when that was my first time that
I thought something's not right here.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
After the interview with Devin Martin night of Libby's death,
IPD did very little to corroborate Devin's story that Libby
was suicidal beyond talking to his friend Nick No, I.
Speaker 17 (33:09):
Mean she was like very like just stressed about herself.
She was just like very depressed.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
And on Devon's other claim that he'd never laid a
hand on Libby, I would not.
Speaker 16 (33:23):
Ever do anything to harm her physically, but I would
prevent her from being worn physically my nare.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
IPD made no attempt to interview those who knew Libby
and Devin best, who could speak to the intimate details
of their relationship, which maybe would not have been that
unusual in another case with different circumstances, except for the
fact that inside the ipd's own files were records of
(33:52):
over a dozen nine one one calls involving the couple.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
They had so much information about domestic violence between the
two of them, They had it in their hands. They
knew that.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
So when I opened up the door, I seen Devin
was on top of it and he was choking, and
I got upset. I went out to the Independent Police
Department where it occurred, and I just told them what
I had witnessed.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
That's next time on what happened to Libby Caswell.
Speaker 15 (34:39):
From I think that did from the Rain and until.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Keep You Heard and grown.
Speaker 6 (34:54):
Don't ma.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
What Happened To Libby Caswell is written, reported, and hosted
by me Melissa Jelson, with writing and story editing by
Marisa Brown and Lauren Hanson. Episodes are edited by Jeremy
Thal and Carl Catle. Our executive producer is Ryan Murdoch.
For iHeart Podcasts, executive producers are Jason English and Katrina Norvel,
(35:22):
with our supervising producer Carl Catele. Fact checking by Maya Shukree.
Our theme song is written by Aaron Kaufman and performed
by Aaron Kaufman and Melisabeth Woolf. Original music by Aaron
Kaufman with additional music by Jeremy Thal. Our episodes are
mixed and mastered by Carl Catle. To find out more
(35:44):
about my investigation or to send a tip, please email
me at what Happened To Libby at gmail dot com.
Thanks so much for listening.
Speaker 15 (36:02):
One away, five eyes so in Pieces in Pieces and
don't don't you know follow you until until one Away,
(36:24):
five eyes so.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
In Pieces and Pieces
Originals.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
This is an iHeart original. This story can be hard
to hear. There's detailed talk of suicide and violence, but
we think it's important not to gloss over the reality
of what happened to Libby Caswell. Please take care while listening.
(00:24):
I'm holding in my hands a green spiral notebook that
Libby used to document the last few months of her life.
I got it from her mom, Cindy, who found it
in the trunk of Libby's car after her death. Thumbing
through the notebook, a lot of the pages are filled
with basic adulting stuff, detailed grocery lists, appointment reminders. Libby
(00:46):
was due for an oil change, and from what I
can make of her notes, she either was planning to
or had already gone to a clinic to get the
depot shot, a form of birth control. Cindy told me
Christmas was Libby's favorite holiday, and in the notebook it's
obvious her shopping list for Xavier, who was four, spread
out over a number of pages. On one page, a
(01:09):
toy car, air Jordan's, a swing set. On another, fidget toys, chocolate, Peeps,
Superman pajamas. Libby decorated these lists with sketches of Christmas
trees surrounded by presence and snowmen. It's unclear if she
ever bought any of these gifts. She died on December eleventh,
(01:30):
twenty seventeen. Paging through Libby's notebook, I stumbled on a
date written now incursive, March nineteenth. I realized I'd seen
it a few times before on Libby's Facebook page, shortened
to three nineteen. When I asked Cindy about this, she
(01:52):
told me it was the anniversary of Libby's first date
with her boyfriend Devin.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
They went with his family. They had a real nice
blue minivan. First they went to eat, and then they
went and seen a movie. And I don't remember the movie.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Well, I think we went to see Where the Wild
Things Are.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
That's Jamie Devins stepmom.
Speaker 5 (02:12):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
We were howling like the wild things do at the
movie in the theater, and I remember Devin being so embarrassed.
I remember him telling me and Charlie the Dacks who
he was going to marry at fourteen years old, and
we were like, you know, you're so young, and da, da, dad,
you have so much to go through, and you know,
then it all started.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
That first date Libby and Devon were only freshmen in
high school. For the next six years, the number three
nineteen took on an almost sacred significance to Libby, who
scrawled it everywhere like an incantation.
Speaker 3 (02:49):
She would do doodles you know of three nineteen eleven
Devin and Libby.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Devin loves Sleepy and Laby loves Devon. There's a fun
through win.
Speaker 5 (03:08):
So what.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
She was totally infatuated, however you want to say it,
totally wrapped up in it.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
The number three nineteen has an entirely different connotation to
Cindy now, one very far removed from those early idyllic
feelings of obsession and puppy love, because now that number
is inextricably linked with the room where police found Libby's body,
the room at the sports stadium in.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
I didn't know anything about the room until we received
our first reports, and then when I saw that, that's
when I was like, oh my god, it was it
was room three nineteen. Maybe Devon rented that room. They
specifically asked for that room because of something. Maybe it
was random. They just got that room. You know, I
(04:01):
wanted to know.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
Watch what.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
From iHeart Podcasts. I'm Melissa Jelson, and this is what
happened to Libby Caswell.
Speaker 6 (04:22):
His first inclination was it was homicide.
Speaker 7 (04:25):
He was crying and I said, and I was like, man,
what happened?
Speaker 3 (04:29):
They asked me my name and it was I Cindy
Caswell and tuck.
Speaker 8 (04:36):
Him a minute to get it out of it, and
he said, my wife hung herself.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
And my heart just kind of froze.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Watch God see chapter two undetermined.
Speaker 7 (05:06):
They have an undertector.
Speaker 9 (05:06):
Shirley's department gets your cell phone on you Yeah, okay,
once you want to detect his head in Okay to
his apartment.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
On the evening of December eleventh, twenty seventeen, three hours
after calling nine one one to report Libby's death and
then leaving the scene, Devon Martin arrives at the Independence
Police Department in Libby's car. When he enters the station,
he's taken into a small, drab room to make a
formal statement. Although he comes involuntarily, he's immediately arrested on
(05:40):
a handful of outstanding traffic tickets and read his rights.
Speaker 9 (05:44):
You have right ring silent. Anything you say cannot be
used Mansion court wall. You ever red to talk to
him thirty fourth question and have him present.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
I obtained a video of Devin's interview with IPD through
a Freedom of Information Act request. The original tape is
around fifty five minutes long, but for length and clarity purposes,
I'm using just parts of it and playing some of
it out of order. In the grainy footage, Devin looks upset.
He's sweating, jittery, and doesn't seem to know what to
(06:15):
do with his hands. He thrust them into the front
pocket of his hoodie. He rubs his face.
Speaker 9 (06:20):
Let's let's start from the beginning, Okay. Like I said,
I want you to be detailed. Wants to be honest. Okay,
because ran this is a death misty, So take death
investigations with her seriously, okay, And what I need how
to use me honestly.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Detective Steve Schmidley had been at the motel earlier in
the night investigating the scene when Devin called nine one
one for the second time to say he'd talked to police,
so Schmidley headed back to the station to interview him.
And here he refers to Libby by her full name,
Elizabeth Caswell.
Speaker 9 (06:55):
He's Elizabeth cas Wealthy.
Speaker 10 (06:57):
I'm doing some matter.
Speaker 9 (07:03):
Bring to get Mary in March.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Devin's voice is soft, like he's on the verge of tears.
It's a little hard to understand what he's saying, but
he tells the detective he and Libby have a child
together and they were going to get married in three
months time.
Speaker 9 (07:20):
Would you guys get when you check into this mote?
Speaker 6 (07:24):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
So Devin tells Detective Schmidley that he arrived at the
sports stadium in early that morning. He was with Libby
and another friend of theirs, Nick, and they were driving
in Libby's car, a black Ford fusion. Some of this,
like what time they checked in, police already know from
accessing motel records, but establishing a timeline of events that
(07:48):
day is critical, as police aren't sure exactly when Libby died.
There is an almost fourteen hour period of time between
when the three friends arrived at the moto that morning
and when Devin called nine one one that evening that
is unknown to police.
Speaker 9 (08:10):
You get there this morning, what do you guys do
most of day?
Speaker 10 (08:14):
Okay?
Speaker 7 (08:14):
So my friend Nick hung out with us until about.
Speaker 11 (08:18):
Maybe maybe eighty nine o'clock in the morning, eight thirty
when we left and I took a shower and I
get out of the shower and she said she was
going to take a shower. And I remember because we
had been up all night the night before, and I
remember laying on the bed and passing out.
Speaker 7 (08:38):
The fell asleep and I probably woke out. It's probably
around eight thirty, I think, roughly.
Speaker 9 (08:46):
What time do you think you fell asleep on the beat?
Speaker 12 (08:49):
I would say between ten and eleven o'clock ten am
and eleven am this morning, and then at that point
you were maimed asleep the entire times that you woke
up this evening.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Sir Devin says he was asleep for more than eight
hours and when he woke up, he noticed Libby wasn't around.
Speaker 6 (09:11):
And I remember looking.
Speaker 10 (09:12):
Lit in the room.
Speaker 7 (09:13):
So I went to check the bathroom and my belt
was the top of it. I see my belt sitting
out the top of the door, and when I opened
the door, she fell forward and her skin was so
pale and her lips were blue. I'm sorry, man, that's okay, Ryan,
(09:35):
I can't believe it.
Speaker 13 (09:37):
This is real.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Devin gets emotional here. He's just told Schmidley that he
woke up, looked around for Libby and saw his belt
peeking out from the top of the closed bathroom door.
When he opened the door, Libby's body fell to the ground.
The detective leans back, taking it all in, then starts
to recap, but Devon interrupts to tell him about something
(10:03):
else that happened right before he went to sleep.
Speaker 12 (10:08):
Him You got in the shower and you went to bed,
and we had the.
Speaker 7 (10:12):
Orde about my drug use. That's what we argued about.
Speaker 9 (10:17):
That was this morning before you went to bed.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, right, if forgot out a shower, this is information
that IPD had already gathered. One of the cops spoke
to a guest staying in the room next door who
heard a loud argument between a man and a woman.
According to Devon, their fight was over his continued use
of methamphetamine. Drugs were a constant source of tension between
(10:39):
the couple. Schmidley doesn't seem very surprised to learn about
Devn's drug use, and it's likely this was a pretty
familiar story to him. Independence, Missouri has a long history
with mes, which I'll get into later, and the sports
stadium in it's not a particularly nice place to stay.
In the yearly up to Livy's death, IPD had been
(11:02):
called there more than one hundred and fifty times for theft, assault,
and incidents involving drugs. Schmidley himself had responded on a
handful of occasions. The detective doesn't linger on Devin's drug use,
but before he can get to his next question, Devin
pivots again and offers some more unprompted information about Libby
(11:24):
and her mental state.
Speaker 14 (11:29):
I didn't think she would ever do it.
Speaker 7 (11:30):
You know, she was probably not killing herself the day before,
but it was like she okays a lot of times
when she says.
Speaker 6 (11:39):
That, you know, I don't.
Speaker 9 (11:39):
So she talked about killing yourself today before?
Speaker 7 (11:42):
Yeah, yes there? Why just because of our situation she
set up with.
Speaker 9 (11:48):
We have boss Christy and.
Speaker 7 (11:50):
Our son Ashley.
Speaker 9 (11:51):
I stay as christ the other, but he presides with
her mother, and we were going to get everything strange.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
Not still, the custody situation with their son was complicated,
and I'll get to it later. But the picture Devin
paints of Libby is of a depressed mother, forcibly separated
from her son and frustrated by her boyfriend's drug problem.
Devin's story provides a reason why Libby might have taken
her own life. Then he offers up his own theory
(12:23):
for how she did it. Remember, Devin never says he
actually saw Libby hanging because the bathroom door was closed,
but he tells the detective that he thinks his belt
was too long to have kept her feet off the ground.
Speaker 7 (12:38):
I was really trying to understand it all because there's
no way she going to hurt herself from the door,
you know, like after she's hung there with my belf's
long have been on the ground.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
It's an odd fact. I've puzzled over it too, but
Devin had an answer for Detective Schmidley.
Speaker 7 (13:00):
So I've been sitting trying to thankfully, what kinda how
did it have happened? I'm taking maybe she put it
in the door and like until she passed out, because
went out opened the door, she bounce forward.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Devin later tells the detective this is something he'd seen
Libby do before, put a belt around her neck and
pretend like she was strangling herself.
Speaker 7 (13:23):
I mean when we were younger and said she would
have like you know, when you didn't argue or something,
she would.
Speaker 9 (13:28):
Have like she's chunking herself with the belt.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
Actually, Detective Schmidley asked Stephen what he did after he
found Libby's body grated her.
Speaker 7 (13:38):
I didn't notice the belt but around her neck until
after i'd pulled her apartment, and she was so stiff.
So I'm sorry. Now you're fine, You're fine.
Speaker 6 (13:56):
So poor baby?
Speaker 9 (13:58):
Well, oh man, so what do you do at that
pointably you assume? Okay, break out?
Speaker 7 (14:06):
I just seen Tuesday. I try to undo the belt
a little bit where I keep field poles or something,
and I think I'm taking too much and couldn't feel
so I told m mourn, how are you shock?
Speaker 6 (14:23):
And I got in the car and.
Speaker 15 (14:24):
I wait to my dad.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Devin's explanation. He was in shock, so he drove to
his dad's. It might sound bizarre, but in my experience
as a journalist covering traumatic events, people can act in
all kinds of unexpected ways. You don't really know how
you'll respond to a tragedy until it happens to you.
You may think you'll become act rationally, but when was
(14:49):
the last time you found a dead body? Schmidly, in
any case, seems to listen to this story without much judgment.
He doesn't question Devn's decision to run or express much
curiosity about where he went. He notes it and moves on.
But there's another detective in the room who up until
now has just been listening, and he's more skeptical.
Speaker 10 (15:14):
Do you see how this looks suspicious at it?
Speaker 6 (15:18):
Just by.
Speaker 16 (15:20):
That's why I'm here.
Speaker 7 (15:22):
That's why i'm here, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
By this point in the interview, Devon has been sitting
inside a small interrogation room for about forty minutes. This
is what IPD has learned so far. Devin and Libby
and another friend, Nick checked into the sports citiumen early
that morning. After nick Le, Devin and Libby fought about
his drug use. Devon went to sleep sometime that morning
(16:05):
and Libby headed into the shower. Devin woke up around
eight pm, walked over to the bathroom and saw the
end of his belt sticking out over the top of
the door. He opened the door and Libby's body fell
to the ground inside the bathroom. He touched her body
to see if she was alive, and then panicking, he
(16:26):
called nine one one and then drove away. Detective Schmidley's
tone throughout the interview is relaxed and understanding, almost conciliatory.
If he has any real issues or concerns with Devin's
version of events. He doesn't say anything, but as the
(16:46):
conversation proceeds, the other detective jumps in Prod's Devin a
little harder. Classic good cop, bad cop.
Speaker 10 (16:56):
D See how this looks suspicious, Devin?
Speaker 6 (17:00):
Just by you leaving?
Speaker 7 (17:01):
Yeah, yeah, that's why I'm here.
Speaker 16 (17:04):
That's why I'm here.
Speaker 10 (17:06):
You know, I don't want We've investigated a lot of definitely,
I mean Detector Schmidley and I because you know, we
have a lot of experience, and some are very obvious
suicidal you know, suicide deaths, and some are not so obvious.
Speaker 16 (17:24):
Absolutely, and I'm garian man, I promise you I would
not I would not ever do anything to harm her physically. Fact,
I would prevent her from being harmed physically.
Speaker 6 (17:35):
My nag.
Speaker 10 (17:35):
There is going to be an autosy. You know that
they can.
Speaker 7 (17:37):
Determine absolutely, and how would chance to get the results?
Speaker 10 (17:40):
When do you think that autosy, of course, is going
to indicate because she had trained herself. You see how
it's kind of suspicious a little bit because we have
witness to say that you are arguing with her.
Speaker 7 (17:52):
That day, and like I said, we had gotten to
an argument that morning. Okay, I would not do nothing
her in my life.
Speaker 6 (18:01):
I understand.
Speaker 7 (18:02):
I'm not trying to say you're a tot. I just
I'm trying to explain expressed as you.
Speaker 10 (18:06):
And I understand that I just want to I just
want you to know that that it's just a little
suspicious of how you reacted, which you know, most people
would stick around.
Speaker 6 (18:19):
Look.
Speaker 9 (18:19):
To be honest with you, I've never had a good
incounterance police stand.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Devin is twenty one at the time of this interview,
and he's no stranger to IPD. By my account, he
had been arrested around ten times before for various nonviolent offenses.
Speaker 10 (18:36):
I've got to understand that we have a job to
do and it's not personal. But when we have several
different factors involving this investigation which are suspicious in nature,
which you know, I mean, I understand your drug ucisi
and everything, but the whole argument thing, and then just
the way that she was positioned and sort of well.
Speaker 6 (18:58):
That's because I think they're okay, and.
Speaker 10 (19:00):
That's why you're here to explain some of those things
that we feel that are suspicious.
Speaker 7 (19:08):
Yeah, our fights are loud. Realize it well, obviously because
people heard you.
Speaker 2 (19:14):
The second detective pushes Devin about a claim he made
earlier in the interview that Libby choked herself in the past.
Something about this story seems off to him, like maybe
it's a little too convenient, so he startles back to it.
Speaker 7 (19:30):
But she's tried to choke herself out with a belt before.
Speaker 8 (19:33):
Yeah, yeah, and I've had to really pull her, pull
her hands off and hit the belt out from around
her night and yeah, and.
Speaker 7 (19:39):
That's the honest truth.
Speaker 10 (19:40):
I mean, do you see And and I've investigated a
lot of dancer, but I've never seen anybody be able
to choke themselves out and kill themselves. That's yeah, you
see what I'm saying, because you're going to pass out, yes,
sire first, Yes, Okay.
Speaker 16 (19:56):
Honestly, I want to see if I don't know exactly
how it happened.
Speaker 7 (20:02):
So let me ask you a question, Evin.
Speaker 10 (20:03):
Okay, there's no doubt in my mind that you love
her to death. There's no doubt in my mind that
you guys, you know, were higher grade school, middle school
to high school sweethearts. Okay, but to put this to
rest a little.
Speaker 13 (20:21):
Bit, it's something bad happened that thanks got out of
controls positive that promise to help help put my hand
on the Bible, and I'll put it on everything.
Speaker 14 (20:36):
I love, all my children, on my son's life. I
would not ever do nothing like that. Never, Okay, when
I heard it like that, I don't.
Speaker 7 (20:48):
I hope you guys do believe me.
Speaker 11 (20:50):
And if you.
Speaker 8 (20:50):
Don't, everything forensics figures out will prove that I have.
I wanted to call y'all and I would just lived
in you know, so I wouldn't have done that is.
Speaker 6 (21:02):
Worth the truth is.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
Beyond denying any involvement in Libby's death. Devon is adamant
that he'd never heard her before.
Speaker 16 (21:12):
I've never put I act a pride in the fact
that I've never put my nays on to the woman unless.
Speaker 7 (21:17):
You to stop her from hurt me. Yeah, and that's
like holding her average fay urge as you call there.
That's the only thing I've ever.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
Said that, As the second detective said to Devin, some
suicides are straightforward, some or not. In Libby's case, there
were a lot of suspicious facts at play, but Devin
seems to have explanations for all of them. The weird
position of Libby's body was because he held her and
tried to loosen the belt. He left the scene because
(21:45):
he was scared of the cops and had been using drugs.
And yes, they had an argument, but that's just how
their relationship was volatile. The interview wraps up just after
midnight and around the same time i'd he clears the
crime scene at the sports stadium in but before they
do so, they check to see if there's any evidence
(22:07):
to corroborate Devin's story that Libby hanged herself with a
belt over the bathroom door, and they find something a
mark on the top of the door. The crime scene
tech notes that it appears fresh and seems to be
about the width of Devon's belt. Schmidley has one more
person he wants to speak with Devon's friend, Nick, the
(22:31):
other person inside the motel room that morning and possibly
the last person besides Devin to see Libby alive. At
the detective's request, Nick comes down to the police station
and they talk for a few minutes.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
It was just you and Devin. I was okay, any issues.
Speaker 6 (22:52):
No, She is like very like.
Speaker 17 (22:58):
That's a word, just stressed about herself. She's just like
very depressed. She's dressed under brass. She was talking about
toting suicide and I was like, no, you know, when
did she talk about comment Suicideamorean?
Speaker 6 (23:12):
And I told her. He was like, you don't want
to do that.
Speaker 17 (23:15):
I talked to her about her kid.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
Nick corroborates most of Devon's story and adds something new.
He tells Detective Schmidley that Devin called him after finding
Libby's body. Nick then returned to the motel and the
two drove together in Libby's car to Devon's dad's house.
Schmidley wraps up the interview and sends him on his way.
(23:38):
In his reports from that night, the detective summarizes his
interviews with both Devon and Nick and writes, quote investigation
to continue, but I have the case file on Libby's death,
and after Schmidley's interviews with Devon and Nick and the
discovery of the mark on the bathroom door, the file
(24:02):
essentially trails off. There's very little to suggest this initial
investigation goes any further. This was kind of surprising to
me because when police first arrive at the sports stadium
in it's clear they're treating it as a homicide. There
are at least a dozen officers at the scene, detectives,
patrol cops, a crime scene tech, plus various personnel from
(24:25):
the Medical Examiner's office. But then sometime during the night,
there's a shift and the focus of the investigation turns
from homicide to suicide. By the time Cindy is notified
about Libby's death, the IPD seems to have made up
their minds.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
The only question they asked the night they knocked on
our door to tell us our daughter was found in
a motail bathroom. Was she suicidal?
Speaker 2 (24:54):
The case isn't officially closed that night, though, IPD has
to wait for the medical examiner to make his own
determination on how Libby died. As one of the detectives
told Devin, there's going to be an autopsy and that
should give everyone more answers.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
Right, they were going to set aside a room for
us to come and be with her and say our goodbyes,
(25:31):
and we could stay as well as we want.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
A few days after Libby's death, Cindy and her family
were given the opportunity to see Libby's body in private
at the funeral home. They planned to do a cremation
and service for Libby, but wanted a moment alone with
her first years later, Cindy's grief is still so raw
it's hard for her to speak.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
And she just looked so beautiful, you know.
Speaker 5 (25:57):
They they had had done her makeup and combed her hair.
Speaker 18 (26:02):
And she wasn't, you known't dressed in anything fancy. It
was just, you know, she was wrapped in a blanket
up up under her arms and.
Speaker 5 (26:14):
Her arms were folded.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
And her head was like it was on a pillow.
I talked to her, and I told her.
Speaker 5 (26:23):
I was sorry that I couldn't protect her and loved her.
And then we just kind of stayed in there for
a little longer. And I had noticed that she had
some scratches on her forearm, really deep scratches, and I
(26:46):
noticed her fingernails were broken off, and she had a
bruise on her nose.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Cindy told me that Libby always liked to have her
nails nicely done. She was wearing light orange acrylics at
the time of her death, but at the funeral home,
Libby's hands looked raggedy. There was a cut on one finger,
and two of her acrylics were broken off.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
Roughly, I got my phone out, I took a picture
of the scratches on her arm, hidden her fingernails.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Why did you decide to document it yourself.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
I didn't know if you know, if they had documented
that stuff.
Speaker 5 (27:33):
So I just decided I would.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Seeing Libby's body in that state unsettled Cindy, and so
later when she got home, she decided she would look
through Libby's car to see what she could find. Devin
and Nick had been the last ones to drive Libby's
car after her body was discovered. They later returned it
to police, and Sindy got the car back the following day.
(27:59):
It had been so into her driveway ever since. From
the outside, the car was newly dented, the windshield cracked,
the dashboard loose.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
She was so proud of that car. I was just
devastated that her car was in the condition it was
because she took such good care of her car. It
was always clean and smelled nice, and so it was
all very just kind of shocking kind of devastation, you know.
(28:31):
I just felt so heavy. I thought, how did this
come to this?
Speaker 2 (28:39):
Cindy had been too distraught to look inside the car
until now, and what she found surprised her. In the
crevice of the seat, an orange acrylic fingernail. She stared
at it for a moment, thinking about Libby, her body,
the police investigation.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
I thought, well, they must have missed this fingernail, you know,
or I had no idea what I was, why that
would be there, and I was naive. It wasn't till
much later, and I thought, why would they not search
the car?
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Cindy told me she was under the impression that the
investigation into Libby's death was ongoing. Two months went by
while she waited for an update from the IPD.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
We tried to call several times to speak with someone,
and we never got a hold of anybody, and we
would just leave voicemails. We just didn't understand why they
just wouldn't talk to us.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
On February twentieth, twenty eighteen, Cindy received her first big
piece of news in the case, not from one of
the detectives she'd been trying to reach at IPD, but
in a letter from the in our home. Inside was
Libby's death certificate. The autopsy was complete. The police received
the autopsy report around the same time Cindy got the
(30:09):
death certificate. Here's Major Anka, one of the officers who
worked on Libby's case, we.
Speaker 6 (30:15):
Had gotten the report back from the medical examiner. I
can remember I've sitting in my office and Smili came
in and he was beside himself and said, the medical
examiner ruled Libby's death undetermined. I go, what do you
mean they ruled undetermined? He goes, yeah, they ruled it undetermined.
That was something that really caught us off guard because
(30:38):
when we get a you know, all of our medical
examiner reports, they come back suicide, homicide, national causes. I mean,
this was the first undetermined that most of us had seen.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
When we received the death certificate and read undetermined, it
was like, you know, affirmation for me. I can't say relief,
you know.
Speaker 5 (31:01):
Because.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
There's no relief, isn't that But in that feeling of Okay,
we know she didn't do that, but now there's this
horrible reality, you know that the person she trusted to
protect her, you know, potentially did it to or her.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Cindy was suspicious of Devon, and rumors were circulating in
Independence that there was more to the story than he
was letting on. Devon had been released the morning after
he was interviewed by police, and as we heard earlier,
this episode. He had been hoping the autopsy report would
clear his name.
Speaker 10 (31:43):
Wouldn't you think that were forced to any.
Speaker 7 (31:45):
Kate train on her stuff?
Speaker 2 (31:49):
But the autopsy report didn't clear Devon undetermined didn't roll
out homicide, but it didn't roll out suicide either. It
just meant the medical examiner couldn't really figure out how
Libby died. It meant that the Independent's Police Department should
be looking at other evidence to figure out what happened
(32:09):
to Libby.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
I was confident that they would launch a full investigation
at that point.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
Specifically, she thought they would focus on Devon.
Speaker 3 (32:19):
I hope they would be looking at his story and
corroborating what his story was.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
But that's not what happened. Instead, the IPD told Cindy
the case was closed despite the medical examiner's ruling.
Speaker 3 (32:35):
In my mind, I go, well, I'm thinking, isn't this backwards.
Isn't the emmy who decides if he doesn't sign suicide,
don't they police do an investigation?
Speaker 10 (32:47):
You know?
Speaker 3 (32:48):
And that is when that was my first time that
I thought something's not right here.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
After the interview with Devin Martin night of Libby's death,
IPD did very little to corroborate Devin's story that Libby
was suicidal beyond talking to his friend Nick No, I.
Speaker 17 (33:09):
Mean she was like very like just stressed about herself.
She was just like very depressed.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
And on Devon's other claim that he'd never laid a
hand on Libby, I would not.
Speaker 16 (33:23):
Ever do anything to harm her physically, but I would
prevent her from being worn physically my nare.
Speaker 2 (33:31):
IPD made no attempt to interview those who knew Libby
and Devin best, who could speak to the intimate details
of their relationship, which maybe would not have been that
unusual in another case with different circumstances, except for the
fact that inside the ipd's own files were records of
(33:52):
over a dozen nine one one calls involving the couple.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
They had so much information about domestic violence between the
two of them, They had it in their hands. They
knew that.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
So when I opened up the door, I seen Devin
was on top of it and he was choking, and
I got upset. I went out to the Independent Police
Department where it occurred, and I just told them what
I had witnessed.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
That's next time on what happened to Libby Caswell.
Speaker 15 (34:39):
From I think that did from the Rain and until.
Speaker 1 (34:49):
Keep You Heard and grown.
Speaker 6 (34:54):
Don't ma.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
What Happened To Libby Caswell is written, reported, and hosted
by me Melissa Jelson, with writing and story editing by
Marisa Brown and Lauren Hanson. Episodes are edited by Jeremy
Thal and Carl Catle. Our executive producer is Ryan Murdoch.
For iHeart Podcasts, executive producers are Jason English and Katrina Norvel,
(35:22):
with our supervising producer Carl Catele. Fact checking by Maya Shukree.
Our theme song is written by Aaron Kaufman and performed
by Aaron Kaufman and Melisabeth Woolf. Original music by Aaron
Kaufman with additional music by Jeremy Thal. Our episodes are
mixed and mastered by Carl Catle. To find out more
(35:44):
about my investigation or to send a tip, please email
me at what Happened To Libby at gmail dot com.
Thanks so much for listening.
Speaker 15 (36:02):
One away, five eyes so in Pieces in Pieces and
don't don't you know follow you until until one Away,
(36:24):
five eyes so.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
In Pieces and Pieces
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