The Unsolved Death of Lori Malloy

In March of 1993, 30-year-old Lori Lee Malloy was found dead in her East Providence apartment. The scene was disturbing: bruises on her body, hair torn out in clumps, and signs of a violent struggle. Detectives initially treated it as a homicide. But within days, the state medical examiner declared Lori’s death the result of “natural causes,” specifically a rare heart condition. That single ruling closed the case, despite evidence that pointed to foul play. For decades, Lori’s daughter, Lauren, believed what officials told her—that her mother’s heart simply stopped. But in 2020, she learned the truth: the evidence never supported the ruling. Since then, Lauren has fought to reopen the case, pushing for new forensic testing and national attention. Thirty years later, Lori Malloy’s story remains unresolved, but her daughter’s relentless search may finally bring answers—and justice.

This episode unpacks the evidence, the forensic controversies, and the relentless determination of a daughter who refuses to let her mother’s story fade.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today I'm digging into one of those cases that honestly
has stuck with me all week, the unsolved death of
Lori Moloy. We're in East Providence, Rhode Island, back in
March of nineteen ninety three, where thirty year old Lori
Lee Maloy, known by friends as sled Dog, was found
naked and dead on her bathroom floor right out the gate.

(00:23):
Everything about that scene was just off. The police walked
into Lorie's apartment on a welfare check and they found
the front door open, bathroom faucet running, two drinking glasses,
and some leftover salad sitting on the kitchen table, the
fridge fully stalked but unplugged. Odd right. Welcome to beyond

(00:45):
the silence whispers across America. I'm Sammy, your host, driven
a shine light on the dark corners of forgotten cases.
Demand justice and keep alive the voices the world has
tried to silence. Let's get into the ominous case and
death of Laurie Maloy. Let me paint this for you.

(01:06):
Laurie was found lying face down, completely naked, bruise as
clear as day on her thighs and arm. But it's
the hair that will never leave me. Her dark brown
hair torn out in clumps literally all over the apartment,
wrapped around her fingers, around one foot, even a strange
little bracelet on her wrist. There was a clump of

(01:26):
someone else's light brown hair stuffed in a shoe on
a table by the door, like it had been yanked
clean out of a scalp. It's no wonder detectives took
one look at this and said, we've got a homicide here.
They processed fourteen pieces of evidence that night, towels with mucus,

(01:46):
kids clothes, sheets, that hair, those glasses. They even did
a sexual assault kit, which should tell you just how
suspicious they really were. See, it was more than just
the physical evidence too. Laurie had a complicated, often violent
relationship history. I mean her marriage to scary Harry Mariano

(02:08):
had just ended weeks before, and there were police reports
of domestic violence, restraining orders threats. Her life wasn't as
be exactly calm leading up to that night. All of this,
the open doors, the appliances, unplugged hair everywhere. What's that saying?
The house was almost staged, like something you'd see in

(02:30):
those cases where little details tell a much bigger story.
Actually I read another one a few years back. A
woman gone missing, but every light in her house was
left on and the sheets were stripped. When you see
a scene that strange, you know your gut tells you
the truth isn't what's on the surface. Where was I

(02:52):
going with this? Oh? Right? The point is police knew
from the very first night this was anything but natural.
Now here's where things take a turn. Doctor F. John Krolikowski.
You've probably heard that name if you follow cold cases
in New England. He was the medical examiner called in

(03:13):
the next day and well, he ended up being stripped
of his credentials in not one but two states for
exactly this sort of thing. But I'm jumping ahead. Doctor
Krolikowsky officially decided Laurie died of natural causes, specifically hypertrophic cardiomyopathy,
a rare heart condition. But when you look at his

(03:35):
own notes, there's basically no major damage to Laurie's heart,
and he skips over the hair, doesn't even mention the
state of her scalp. Toxicology comes back clean, even though
the file labels her as a known cocaine user. I
might be wrong, but how do you miss physical signs
of violence and call it a natural death. So just

(03:58):
like that, the homicide investigation was wrapped up and closed.
The cops had to take the Emmy's ruling as gospel.
I think most people don't realize one report like that
and the whole system just grinds to a halt. If
the doctor says natural causes, suddenly, detectives are told to

(04:19):
stand down, evidence is boxed up, families get told there's
nothing more to do. Doctor Thomas Andrew, a forensic pathologist
up in New Hampshire, even said that if the cardiac
findings weren't all there, the entire death certificate is built
on sand. He laid it out plain a day. Without

(04:40):
a thorough workup, without tissue samples and the right kind
of examination, the case should have stayed open. But it didn't.
So here's where everything changes. Lauren Malloy Laurie's daughter. She
was just a toddler when her mom died, and for
most of her life she accepted what everyone told her.
Her mother's heart just stopped. Except in twenty twenty, Lauren

(05:06):
gets this message out of the blue from one of
her mom's old friends. The friend says, hey, what you've
heard all these years, it isn't true. Laurie was murdered,
and you need to look at the case again. That
was it for Lauren. She pulled all the old files,
she went searching for answers, and refused to drop it,
even after decades of doors being slammed in her face.

(05:29):
She brought the case to the Rhode Island Medical Examiner's office,
and you know what happened. The acting chief said, he
flat out refuted the old autopsy, said hypertrophic cardiomyopathy wasn't
the cause, said there wasn't any clear reason for Laurie's
death at all, which is a strange thing for a
state doctor to admit when re examining a thirty year

(05:52):
old file. Lauren kept pushing, petitioned for Laurie's body to
be exhumed, tracked down new forensic experts, and went to
the press. Her mother's case became public for the first
time in decades, then made its way to national coverage. Meanwhile,
old pieces of evidence from nineteen ninety three, like the

(06:16):
assault kit, miraculously hadn't been tossed out. Everything was on
the table for fresh analysis. I've talked with families who've
walked the same path and look long term advocacy feels
like living life in waiting rooms and inboxes. Lauren once
described the wait for forensic results as like holding your breath,

(06:36):
not knowing when you'll get to breathe again, day fifty,
day one hundred. She even posted little countdowns to social
media just so people could see how the not knowing
eats you alive. Even now, more than three decades after
Laurie's death, Lauren's still waiting for answers, her mom's body exhumed,

(06:58):
new tissue tests pending, attorneys and detectives passing the case
back and forth. But that hope it never went out.
And you know, for every case like this, where a
daughter stands up and refuses to be ignored, there's a
whole set of families quietly doing that work in the background.
Every voice matters, even if change takes years. All Right,

(07:21):
I could talk about this for hours, but that's where
we'll leave Lori Molloy's story today, on the edge of hope,
with justice not forgotten, just waiting to be claimed. That's
it for today's episode. The questions remain and the search continues,
because every lost soul deserves answers and every story deserves

(07:43):
to be heard. What are your thoughts, what do you
believe happened? Share your voice because sometimes the smallest detail
can spark the biggest breakthrough. I'm Sammy and this is
beyond the silence whispers across America. Thank you for listening.
Stay safe, and I'll see you next time.