A young mother was found dead 30 years ago under strange circumstances. Now, a mysterious message and concerns about the accuracy of an autopsy are forcing the case back open.
“My whole life changed when my mom died,” Lauren Malloy said. “It took everything.”
Growing up, Lauren Malloy didn’t have memories of her mom; she only had the ending.
She was just 18 months old when her mother, Lori Lee Malloy, was found dead on the floor of her East Providence apartment in 1993.
Police found the door of her apartment open and Lori Lee Malloy lying naked on her bathroom floor. Small tufts of hair were scattered around the apartment and pieces of hair were wrapped around Lori Malloy’s hand and foot. Slices of bread were also lying next to her. The fridge was unplugged and the bathroom faucet was running.
Investigators called the conditions “suspicious” and opened a homicide investigation.
“It was just a bizarre scene, there was nothing natural about any of that,” Lauren Malloy said.
But, days later, the Rhode Island Medical Examiner’s Office listed Lori Malloy’s death as ‘natural’ caused by a rare heart condition, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Months later, police closed the case, citing the medical examiner’s determination and lack of ‘indication of foul play’.
Lauren Malloy grew up accepting that explanation until 2020. She received a Facebook message from a woman who claimed to be one of Lori’s old friends.
“She told me my mom had actually been murdered,” Lauren Malloy remembered. “I wanted the answers.”
Lauren Malloy went digging into her mom’s case and she started to doubt the original autopsy.
She brought her concern to Rhode Island’s acting chief medical examiner.
“One of the very first things he said to me after introductions was, ‘I refute the findings. I refute the autopsy report,’” Lauren Malloy remembered.
She reached out to another independent forensic pathologist who also told her that the cause of death was not supported by the autopsy reports. The forensic pathologist wrote in an email, “the cause and manner of death are unknown/ unclear after almost 30 years.”
The forensic pathologist also told her, “the circumstances of Lori’s death should be investigated and/or re-investigated by police.”
They aren’t the only ones to question the accuracy of the original autopsy.
7 Investigates asked forensic pathologist and former New Hampshire medical examiner Dr. Thomas Andrew to review Lori Malloy’s autopsy.
“In my way of thinking, based on this information alone, the cause of death is still undetermined,” Dr. Andrew said. “I don’t think the degree of enlargement or hypertrophy would have been enough to explain her death on that day and that time.”
Dr. Andrew said Lori Malloy’s heart should have been examined more closely and had further tissue sampling, blood work and a full cardiac workup conducted.
“I think had some of those things been done and yielded an answer… we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” he said.
Lauren Malloy believes that if the medical examiner hadn’t ruled her mom’s death as ‘natural’, police would have taken a harder look at the case.
“I don’t think most people are aware of just how much pull a medical examiner has and it is frightening really because once they sign off on something it is incredibly difficult to get that determination changed,” she said.
Dr. Andrew said in his experience the determination of the manner of death can impact additional investigative effort.
“If the forensic pathologist gives a diagnosis with a natural cause that tends to slow down or even stop law enforcement investigation into sudden or unnatural death,” he said.
In her digging, Lauren Malloy also discovered that the doctor who signed her mother’s autopsy report had been disciplined in Massachusetts.
Massachusetts records show that Dr. Francis Krolikowski faced two malpractice claims related to forensic pathology in 2003 and 2006.
In 2002, the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine disciplined Dr. Krolikowski for mistakes in reading prostate biopsy slides, as well as for poorly interpreting other types of tissue samples while working at Sturdy Memorial Hospital between 1995 and 1997. The Board put him on probation and prohibited him from practicing surgical pathology.
In the wake of those findings, it was reported that the Rhode Island Medical Examiner’s office reviewed hundreds of cases Krolikowski handled while serving as the acting chief medical examiner just months after Lori Malloy’s death. The state said it did not take any disciplinary action against Krolikowski.
“I wouldn’t have know that if I hadn’t started asking questions; if I hadn’t started pushing for answers and most families don’t think of doing that when their loved one dies,” Lauren Malloy said.
7 Investigates tried to reach Dr. Krolikowski for comment, but he said he doesn’t talk to reporters and hung up.
The Rhode Island Office of the Medical Examiner also declined to comment.
The Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office supported Lauren Malloy’s search for the truth and reopened her mother’s case.
Lori Malloy’s body was exhumed in 2023 but Lauren Malloy is still waiting for answers.
The Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office declined to comment on the case but confirmed it is still under investigation.
Standing at her mother’s grave today, Lauren Malloy remembers the victory and hope she felt the last time she was there, right after her mother’s body was removed.
“It’s always been a constant weight on my heart and my mind and my soul, but I feel good that I’ve never given up,” she said. “I’ve never backed down when it comes to her and I’ve pushed her case forward again and again over every single hurdle.”
Lauren Malloy said every day since then has been another small victory and another chance to share her mother’s story.
“To come here now – I see the name, I see the dates – but the little dash in between… I finally know what that meant and who she was,” Lauren Malloy said. “I’m proud of how far we’ve come and we are going to finish it.”
Lauren Malloy is working to raise awareness about other unsolved crimes in Rhode Island and to help bring justice for other families. She encourages anyone who has questions about an autopsy to speak up and request copies of investigative reports and autopsy findings.
(Copyright (c) 2024 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)