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 1 (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 3 (02:06):
Well, I think we went to see Where the Wild
Things Are.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
That's Jamie, Devin's stepmom.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
We were howling like the wild things do at the
end movie in the theater, and I remember Devin being
so embarrassed. I remember him telling me and Charlie the
Dax's 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 1 (02:49):
She would do doodles you know of three nineteen eleven
Devin and Libby.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Devin loves Sleepy, Laby loves Devon is a fun through win.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So what 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 1 (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.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Maybe Devon rented that room.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
They specifically asked for that room because of something. Maybe
it was random. They just got that room, you know,
I wanted to know.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Watch from iHeart Podcasts. I'm Melissa Jelson, and this is
what happened to Libby Caswell.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
His first inclination was it was homicide.
Speaker 6 (04:25):
He was crying and I said, and I was like, man,
what happened?
Speaker 1 (04:29):
They asked me my name and it was I Cindy
Caswell and tuck him.
Speaker 6 (04:36):
A minute to get it out of it, and he said,
my wife upon herself and.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
My heart just kind of froze.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Watch God see chapter two undetermined.
Speaker 7 (05:06):
Then undetector Shirley raised department put so.
Speaker 8 (05:09):
Forrmonia, 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 8 (05:44):
You have right ring silent. Anything you say cannot be used.
Mansion a courterwall. You eight to talk to him. Thirty
fourth question and have him president.
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 8 (06:21):
Let's start from the beginning, Okay. Like I said, I
want you to be detailed. Wants to be honest, Okay,
because I mean this is a deafitty. Have slow take
death investigations with her seriously, okay, and what I need how.
Speaker 7 (06:35):
To use the honest.
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 4 (06:55):
She's Elizabeth Caswealthy. I'm doing that son's daughter. Bring to
get married 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 4 (07:20):
Would you guys get would you check into this.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Mot 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 forward fusion. Some of this,
like what time they checked in, police already know from
(07:44):
accessing motel records, but establishing a timeline of events that
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 all that
morning and when Devin called nine one one that evening
that is unknown to police.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
You get there this morning, what do you guys do
most of day?
Speaker 6 (08:14):
Okay, So my friend Nick hung out with us until
about maybe maybe eighty nine o'clock in the morning, eight
thirty when they left and I took a shower and.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
I get out of the shower, and she said she
was going to take a shower.
Speaker 6 (08:29):
And I remember because we had been up all night
the night before, and I remember laying on the bed
and passing out, but fell asleep and I probably woke up,
and it.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Was it's probably around eight thirty I think roughly.
Speaker 8 (08:46):
What time do you think you fell asleep on the beat,
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,
and I.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
Remember looking she went in the room.
Speaker 6 (09:13):
So I went to take the bathroom and my belt
was the top of it takes to my belt sitting
out at the top of the door. And when I
opened the door, she fell forward and picked her up,
and her thin was so pale and.
Speaker 7 (09:30):
Her lips were blue.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
I'm sorry, man, that's okay.
Speaker 7 (09:34):
Ryan, Oh, I can't believe this, No, 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 4 (10:08):
Him you got in the shower and you went to bed,
and we had the orde about my drug use. That's
what we argue about. That was this morning before you
went to bed.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
Yeah, right, I.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Forget out a shower.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
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 the couple. Schmidley doesn't seem very surprised
(10:43):
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 meth which I'll get into later,
and the sports stadium in It's not a particularly nice
place to stay in the year later. Up to Livy's death,
IPD had been called there more than one hundred and
(11:03):
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 and her mental state.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
I didn't think she would ever do it.
Speaker 6 (11:30):
You know, she was probably without killing herself the day before,
but it was like she okays a lot of times
when she says.
Speaker 7 (11:39):
That, you know, I don't.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
So she talked about killing herself today because the work. Yeah, yes,
why just because of our situation she set up with.
Speaker 6 (11:49):
We have boss Christy and our son Ashley. I stay
at 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
(12:20):
her own life. Then he offers up his own theory
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 6 (12:38):
I'm really trying to understand it all because there's no
way she going to hurt herself from the door, you know,
Like howter she's hung there with my belts long.
Speaker 7 (12:49):
Have been on the dround.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
It's an odd fact. I've puzzled over it too, But
Devin had an answer for Detective Schmidley.
Speaker 6 (13:00):
So I've been sitting kind of thankfully we're gonna how
could it have happened?
Speaker 4 (13:03):
I'm taking maybe she put it in the door and
like chi until.
Speaker 6 (13:09):
She passed out, because went out opened the door, she
fell 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 6 (13:23):
I mean when they were younger, and so she would
have like you know, we in arguments up and she would.
Speaker 4 (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.
Speaker 7 (13:37):
Graded her.
Speaker 6 (13:38):
I didn't notice the belt but around her neck until
after I'd pulled her apartment and she was so sick.
Speaker 7 (13:47):
So I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
Now you're fine, You're fine.
Speaker 7 (13:56):
So poor baby?
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Well, oh man, So what do you do at that point?
Speaker 8 (14:02):
Oncebably you assume okay, they break it out.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
I just same Tuesday.
Speaker 6 (14:09):
I try to undo the belt a little bit where
I keep Field close to something and I think I'm
taking too much and cut it. Okay, Fields, So I
cold mourn. How are your shock? And I got in
the car and I went 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 Devin'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 7 (15:14):
You see how this looks suspicious at it. That's why
I'm here.
Speaker 4 (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 stadiumen early
that morning. After nick Le, Devin and Libby fought about
his drug use. Devon went to sleep sometime that morning
(16:06):
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 9 (16:56):
D See how this looks suspicious, Devin, just by you leaving?
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Yeah, yeah, that's why I'm here. That's why I'm here.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
You know, I don't want to.
Speaker 9 (17:08):
We've investigated a lot of definitely I mean detecta Schmidley
and I.
Speaker 7 (17:14):
You know, we have a lot of experience, and some
are very.
Speaker 9 (17:18):
Obvious suicidal you know, suicide deaths, and some are not
so obvious.
Speaker 6 (17:24):
Absolutely, and Jaran Man, I promise you I would not
I would not ever do anything to harm her physically.
I would prevent her from being harmed physically with my.
Speaker 7 (17:35):
Now, there is going to be an autosy, you know
that they can.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
Determine absolutely, and how would actually get the results?
Speaker 9 (17:40):
When do you think that autosy, of course, is going
to indicate because she had trained herself.
Speaker 7 (17:45):
You see how it's kind of suspicious.
Speaker 9 (17:47):
A little bit because we have witnesses say that you
are arguing with her.
Speaker 6 (17:52):
That day and like I said we had gotten into
an argument that morning. Okay, I would not do nothing
to her in my.
Speaker 7 (18:00):
Wife, I understand.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
I'm not trying to say you're a tout.
Speaker 6 (18:03):
I just I'm trying to explain expressed that you.
Speaker 7 (18:06):
And I understand that.
Speaker 9 (18:07):
I just want to I just want you to know
that that it's just a little suspicious.
Speaker 7 (18:13):
Of how you reacted, which you know most people would
stick around.
Speaker 6 (18:19):
Look to be honest with you, I've never had a
good incouterance 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 7 (18:36):
You've got to understand that we have a job to
do and it's not personal.
Speaker 9 (18:40):
But when we have several different factors involving this investigation
which are suspicious in nature, which you know, I mean,
I understand your drug ucision everything, but the whole argument thing,
and then just the way that she was positioned.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
As far as well, that's because I think they're okay,
and that's.
Speaker 9 (19:01):
Why you're here to explain some of those things that
we feel that are suspicious nature.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Yeah, our flights are loud realize it well, obviously.
Speaker 7 (19:12):
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 circles back to it.
Speaker 7 (19:30):
But she's tried to choke herself out with a belt before.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
Yeah, yeah, and I've had to literally pulled.
Speaker 6 (19:35):
Her, pull her hand off and hit the belt out
from around her night and yeah, and that is the
honest truth.
Speaker 9 (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.
Speaker 7 (19:48):
Out and kill themselves.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
That's what.
Speaker 7 (19:50):
Yeah, you see what I'm saying because you're going to
pass out?
Speaker 6 (19:53):
Yes, Cerre first, Yes, Okay, Honestly, I want to see
if I don't know what exactly, how it.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Hap m hm.
Speaker 7 (20:02):
So let me ask you a question of it.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Okay, There's no doubt in my mind that.
Speaker 7 (20:07):
You love her to death. There's no doubt in.
Speaker 9 (20:08):
My mind that you guys, you know, were high grade school,
middle school to high school sweethearts.
Speaker 7 (20:17):
Okay, but to put this to rest a little bit.
Speaker 9 (20:22):
It's something bad happened that thanks got out of controls
positive that prompts I.
Speaker 6 (20:32):
Doubt help put my hand on the Bible and I'll
put it all and everything I love, all my children
on my son's life.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
I would not never do nothing like that.
Speaker 7 (20:41):
Never. Okay what I.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Heard in mind that.
Speaker 7 (20:47):
I don't.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
I hope you guys do believe me.
Speaker 6 (20:50):
If you don't, everything forensics figures out will prove me
that I have.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
I wanted to call y'all and I.
Speaker 7 (20:58):
Would just lived. And you know so I wouldn't have
done that is worth.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
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 6 (21:12):
I've never put I act a pride in the fact
that I've never put money into on to the woman
unless you to.
Speaker 7 (21:17):
Stop her from hurt me.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Yeah, and that's like hold her down.
Speaker 7 (21:20):
Stay. Urge is to call there. That's the only thing
I've ever done that the girl.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
As the second detective said to Devin, some suicides are straightforward,
some are 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 he was scared
(21:45):
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 to corroborate
(22:08):
Devn'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 other person
(22:31):
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 8 (22:45):
It was just you and Devin Ellis, but their okay,
any issues?
Speaker 10 (22:52):
No, I mean, she is like very like that's a
just stressed about herself. She's just like very depressed. She's
dressed under brass. So she was talking about to hitting
the suicide and I was like, no, you.
Speaker 7 (23:09):
Know, when did she talk about comment Suicideamorian?
Speaker 5 (23:12):
And I told her.
Speaker 7 (23:14):
He was like, you know, want to do that? 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 Devn'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 1 (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 1 (25:10):
Right, they were going to set aside a room for
us to come and be with her and say her goodbyes,
(25:31):
and we could stay as long as we wanted.
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 1 (25:54):
And she just looked so beautiful, you know. They had
had done her makeup and combed her hair, and she wasn't,
you know, dressed in anything fancy. It was just, you know,
she was wrapped in a blanket up up under her
arms and her arms were folded and her head was
(26:19):
like it was on a pillow. I talked to her
and I told her I'm sorry that I couldn't protect
her and loved her, and then we just kind of
stayed in there for a little long. Cuner and I
had noticed that she had some scratches on her forearm,
(26:42):
really deep scratches, and I 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 roughly.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
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 1 (27:25):
I didn't know if you know, if they had documented
that stuff. 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 Cindy got the car back the following day.
(27:59):
It had been so in her driveway ever since. From
the outside, the car was newly dented, the windshield cracked,
the dashboard loose.
Speaker 1 (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 1 (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 1 (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 funeral home. Inside was Libby's
death certificate. The autopsy was complete. The police received the
autopsy report around the same time Cindy got the death certificate.
(30:11):
Here's Major Anka, one of the officers who worked on
Libby's case.
Speaker 5 (30:15):
We 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
(30:37):
guard because 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 1 (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, because 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
(31:15):
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 7 (31:43):
Wouldn't you think that to any Kate Train other 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 1 (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 1 (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 1 (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 7 (32:47):
You know?
Speaker 1 (32:48):
And that is when that was my first time that
I thought something's not right here.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
After the interview with Devin Martin the night of Libby's death.
IPD did very little to corroborate Devn's story that Libby
was suicidal, beyond talking to his friend Nick.
Speaker 10 (33:09):
No, I 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.
Speaker 6 (33:22):
Would not ever do anything to harm her physically. I
would prevent her from being born physically with life my neither.
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 1 (34:05):
They had so much information about domestic violence between the
two of them.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
They had it in their hands.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
They knew that.
Speaker 11 (34:12):
So when I opened up the door, I seen Devin
was on top of it and he was choking her,
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? From
I Think That Did, from the Rain and Until Keep
You heard of the Grown.
Speaker 11 (34:54):
Don't Me?
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 Catle. Fact checking by Maya Shukre.
Our theme song is written by Aaron Kaufman and performed
by Aaron Kaufman and Melisabeth Wolfe. 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, water Away, five eyes so
(36:06):
in pieces.
Speaker 10 (36:09):
In pieces, and don't you.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Allow you until until on Away? Five eyes so in
pieces and pieces and the
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 1 (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 3 (02:06):
Well, I think we went to see Where the Wild
Things Are.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
That's Jamie, Devin's stepmom.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Oh.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
We were howling like the wild things do at the
end movie in the theater, and I remember Devin being
so embarrassed. I remember him telling me and Charlie the
Dax's 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 1 (02:49):
She would do doodles you know of three nineteen eleven
Devin and Libby.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Devin loves Sleepy, Laby loves Devon is a fun through win.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So what 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 1 (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.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Maybe Devon rented that room.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
They specifically asked for that room because of something. Maybe
it was random. They just got that room, you know,
I wanted to know.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Watch from iHeart Podcasts. I'm Melissa Jelson, and this is
what happened to Libby Caswell.
Speaker 5 (04:22):
His first inclination was it was homicide.
Speaker 6 (04:25):
He was crying and I said, and I was like, man,
what happened?
Speaker 1 (04:29):
They asked me my name and it was I Cindy
Caswell and tuck him.
Speaker 6 (04:36):
A minute to get it out of it, and he said,
my wife upon herself and.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
My heart just kind of froze.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Watch God see chapter two undetermined.
Speaker 7 (05:06):
Then undetector Shirley raised department put so.
Speaker 8 (05:09):
Forrmonia, 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 8 (05:44):
You have right ring silent. Anything you say cannot be used.
Mansion a courterwall. You eight to talk to him. Thirty
fourth question and have him president.
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 8 (06:21):
Let's start from the beginning, Okay. Like I said, I
want you to be detailed. Wants to be honest, Okay,
because I mean this is a deafitty. Have slow take
death investigations with her seriously, okay, and what I need how.
Speaker 7 (06:35):
To use the honest.
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 4 (06:55):
She's Elizabeth Caswealthy. I'm doing that son's daughter. Bring to
get married 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 4 (07:20):
Would you guys get would you check into this.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Mot 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 forward fusion. Some of this,
like what time they checked in, police already know from
(07:44):
accessing motel records, but establishing a timeline of events that
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 all that
morning and when Devin called nine one one that evening
that is unknown to police.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
You get there this morning, what do you guys do
most of day?
Speaker 6 (08:14):
Okay, So my friend Nick hung out with us until
about maybe maybe eighty nine o'clock in the morning, eight
thirty when they left and I took a shower and.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
I get out of the shower, and she said she
was going to take a shower.
Speaker 6 (08:29):
And I remember because we had been up all night
the night before, and I remember laying on the bed
and passing out, but fell asleep and I probably woke up,
and it.
Speaker 4 (08:42):
Was it's probably around eight thirty I think roughly.
Speaker 8 (08:46):
What time do you think you fell asleep on the beat,
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,
and I.
Speaker 4 (09:11):
Remember looking she went in the room.
Speaker 6 (09:13):
So I went to take the bathroom and my belt
was the top of it takes to my belt sitting
out at the top of the door. And when I
opened the door, she fell forward and picked her up,
and her thin was so pale and.
Speaker 7 (09:30):
Her lips were blue.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
I'm sorry, man, that's okay.
Speaker 7 (09:34):
Ryan, Oh, I can't believe this, No, 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 4 (10:08):
Him you got in the shower and you went to bed,
and we had the orde about my drug use. That's
what we argue about. That was this morning before you
went to bed.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
Yeah, right, I.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
Forget out a shower.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
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 the couple. Schmidley doesn't seem very surprised
(10:43):
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 meth which I'll get into later,
and the sports stadium in It's not a particularly nice
place to stay in the year later. Up to Livy's death,
IPD had been called there more than one hundred and
(11:03):
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 and her mental state.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
I didn't think she would ever do it.
Speaker 6 (11:30):
You know, she was probably without killing herself the day before,
but it was like she okays a lot of times
when she says.
Speaker 7 (11:39):
That, you know, I don't.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
So she talked about killing herself today because the work. Yeah, yes,
why just because of our situation she set up with.
Speaker 6 (11:49):
We have boss Christy and our son Ashley. I stay
at 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
(12:20):
her own life. Then he offers up his own theory
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 6 (12:38):
I'm really trying to understand it all because there's no
way she going to hurt herself from the door, you know,
Like howter she's hung there with my belts long.
Speaker 7 (12:49):
Have been on the dround.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
It's an odd fact. I've puzzled over it too, But
Devin had an answer for Detective Schmidley.
Speaker 6 (13:00):
So I've been sitting kind of thankfully we're gonna how
could it have happened?
Speaker 4 (13:03):
I'm taking maybe she put it in the door and
like chi until.
Speaker 6 (13:09):
She passed out, because went out opened the door, she
fell 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 6 (13:23):
I mean when they were younger, and so she would
have like you know, we in arguments up and she would.
Speaker 4 (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.
Speaker 7 (13:37):
Graded her.
Speaker 6 (13:38):
I didn't notice the belt but around her neck until
after I'd pulled her apartment and she was so sick.
Speaker 7 (13:47):
So I'm sorry.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
Now you're fine, You're fine.
Speaker 7 (13:56):
So poor baby?
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Well, oh man, So what do you do at that point?
Speaker 8 (14:02):
Oncebably you assume okay, they break it out.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
I just same Tuesday.
Speaker 6 (14:09):
I try to undo the belt a little bit where
I keep Field close to something and I think I'm
taking too much and cut it. Okay, Fields, So I
cold mourn. How are your shock? And I got in
the car and I went 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 Devin'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 7 (15:14):
You see how this looks suspicious at it. That's why
I'm here.
Speaker 4 (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 stadiumen early
that morning. After nick Le, Devin and Libby fought about
his drug use. Devon went to sleep sometime that morning
(16:06):
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 9 (16:56):
D See how this looks suspicious, Devin, just by you leaving?
Speaker 4 (17:01):
Yeah, yeah, that's why I'm here. That's why I'm here.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
You know, I don't want to.
Speaker 9 (17:08):
We've investigated a lot of definitely I mean detecta Schmidley
and I.
Speaker 7 (17:14):
You know, we have a lot of experience, and some
are very.
Speaker 9 (17:18):
Obvious suicidal you know, suicide deaths, and some are not
so obvious.
Speaker 6 (17:24):
Absolutely, and Jaran Man, I promise you I would not
I would not ever do anything to harm her physically.
I would prevent her from being harmed physically with my.
Speaker 7 (17:35):
Now, there is going to be an autosy, you know
that they can.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
Determine absolutely, and how would actually get the results?
Speaker 9 (17:40):
When do you think that autosy, of course, is going
to indicate because she had trained herself.
Speaker 7 (17:45):
You see how it's kind of suspicious.
Speaker 9 (17:47):
A little bit because we have witnesses say that you
are arguing with her.
Speaker 6 (17:52):
That day and like I said we had gotten into
an argument that morning. Okay, I would not do nothing
to her in my.
Speaker 7 (18:00):
Wife, I understand.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
I'm not trying to say you're a tout.
Speaker 6 (18:03):
I just I'm trying to explain expressed that you.
Speaker 7 (18:06):
And I understand that.
Speaker 9 (18:07):
I just want to I just want you to know
that that it's just a little suspicious.
Speaker 7 (18:13):
Of how you reacted, which you know most people would
stick around.
Speaker 6 (18:19):
Look to be honest with you, I've never had a
good incouterance 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 7 (18:36):
You've got to understand that we have a job to
do and it's not personal.
Speaker 9 (18:40):
But when we have several different factors involving this investigation
which are suspicious in nature, which you know, I mean,
I understand your drug ucision everything, but the whole argument thing,
and then just the way that she was positioned.
Speaker 4 (18:58):
As far as well, that's because I think they're okay,
and that's.
Speaker 9 (19:01):
Why you're here to explain some of those things that
we feel that are suspicious nature.
Speaker 4 (19:08):
Yeah, our flights are loud realize it well, obviously.
Speaker 7 (19:12):
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 circles back to it.
Speaker 7 (19:30):
But she's tried to choke herself out with a belt before.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
Yeah, yeah, and I've had to literally pulled.
Speaker 6 (19:35):
Her, pull her hand off and hit the belt out
from around her night and yeah, and that is the
honest truth.
Speaker 9 (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.
Speaker 7 (19:48):
Out and kill themselves.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
That's what.
Speaker 7 (19:50):
Yeah, you see what I'm saying because you're going to
pass out?
Speaker 6 (19:53):
Yes, Cerre first, Yes, Okay, Honestly, I want to see
if I don't know what exactly, how it.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
Hap m hm.
Speaker 7 (20:02):
So let me ask you a question of it.
Speaker 4 (20:03):
Okay, There's no doubt in my mind that.
Speaker 7 (20:07):
You love her to death. There's no doubt in.
Speaker 9 (20:08):
My mind that you guys, you know, were high grade school,
middle school to high school sweethearts.
Speaker 7 (20:17):
Okay, but to put this to rest a little bit.
Speaker 9 (20:22):
It's something bad happened that thanks got out of controls
positive that prompts I.
Speaker 6 (20:32):
Doubt help put my hand on the Bible and I'll
put it all and everything I love, all my children
on my son's life.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
I would not never do nothing like that.
Speaker 7 (20:41):
Never. Okay what I.
Speaker 1 (20:44):
Heard in mind that.
Speaker 7 (20:47):
I don't.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
I hope you guys do believe me.
Speaker 6 (20:50):
If you don't, everything forensics figures out will prove me
that I have.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
I wanted to call y'all and I.
Speaker 7 (20:58):
Would just lived. And you know so I wouldn't have
done that is worth.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
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 6 (21:12):
I've never put I act a pride in the fact
that I've never put money into on to the woman
unless you to.
Speaker 7 (21:17):
Stop her from hurt me.
Speaker 4 (21:18):
Yeah, and that's like hold her down.
Speaker 7 (21:20):
Stay. Urge is to call there. That's the only thing
I've ever done that the girl.
Speaker 2 (21:24):
As the second detective said to Devin, some suicides are straightforward,
some are 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 he was scared
(21:45):
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 to corroborate
(22:08):
Devn'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 other person
(22:31):
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 8 (22:45):
It was just you and Devin Ellis, but their okay,
any issues?
Speaker 10 (22:52):
No, I mean, she is like very like that's a
just stressed about herself. She's just like very depressed. She's
dressed under brass. So she was talking about to hitting
the suicide and I was like, no, you.
Speaker 7 (23:09):
Know, when did she talk about comment Suicideamorian?
Speaker 5 (23:12):
And I told her.
Speaker 7 (23:14):
He was like, you know, want to do that? 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 Devn'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 1 (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 1 (25:10):
Right, they were going to set aside a room for
us to come and be with her and say her goodbyes,
(25:31):
and we could stay as long as we wanted.
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 1 (25:54):
And she just looked so beautiful, you know. They had
had done her makeup and combed her hair, and she wasn't,
you know, dressed in anything fancy. It was just, you know,
she was wrapped in a blanket up up under her
arms and her arms were folded and her head was
(26:19):
like it was on a pillow. I talked to her
and I told her I'm sorry that I couldn't protect
her and loved her, and then we just kind of
stayed in there for a little long. Cuner and I
had noticed that she had some scratches on her forearm,
(26:42):
really deep scratches, and I 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 roughly.
Speaker 1 (27:13):
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 1 (27:25):
I didn't know if you know, if they had documented
that stuff. 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 Cindy got the car back the following day.
(27:59):
It had been so in her driveway ever since. From
the outside, the car was newly dented, the windshield cracked,
the dashboard loose.
Speaker 1 (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 1 (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 1 (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 funeral home. Inside was Libby's
death certificate. The autopsy was complete. The police received the
autopsy report around the same time Cindy got the death certificate.
(30:11):
Here's Major Anka, one of the officers who worked on
Libby's case.
Speaker 5 (30:15):
We 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
(30:37):
guard because 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 1 (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, because 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
(31:15):
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 7 (31:43):
Wouldn't you think that to any Kate Train other 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 1 (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 1 (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 1 (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 7 (32:47):
You know?
Speaker 1 (32:48):
And that is when that was my first time that
I thought something's not right here.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
After the interview with Devin Martin the night of Libby's death.
IPD did very little to corroborate Devn's story that Libby
was suicidal, beyond talking to his friend Nick.
Speaker 10 (33:09):
No, I 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.
Speaker 6 (33:22):
Would not ever do anything to harm her physically. I
would prevent her from being born physically with life my neither.
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 1 (34:05):
They had so much information about domestic violence between the
two of them.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
They had it in their hands.
Speaker 1 (34:11):
They knew that.
Speaker 11 (34:12):
So when I opened up the door, I seen Devin
was on top of it and he was choking her,
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? From
I Think That Did, from the Rain and Until Keep
You heard of the Grown.
Speaker 11 (34:54):
Don't Me?
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 Catle. Fact checking by Maya Shukre.
Our theme song is written by Aaron Kaufman and performed
by Aaron Kaufman and Melisabeth Wolfe. 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, water Away, five eyes so
(36:06):
in pieces.
Speaker 10 (36:09):
In pieces, and don't you.
Speaker 2 (36:13):
Allow you until until on Away? Five eyes so in
pieces and pieces and the
Host
Melissa Jeltsen
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