What happened to JoAnn Romain? Michigan woman's death written off as suicide but series of events suggest foul play
On January 12, 2010, a middle-aged woman from Grosse Pointe in Michigan mysteriously disappeared after attending a prayer service at St. Paul's church. The woman, JoAnn Romain's disappearance had initially been written off as a suicide given that her car was found parked near the church with footprints found in the snow leading to a lake. The authorities assumed that Romain had committed suicide and that there was a possibility that the woman had walked into the freezing lake and drowned herself.
However, many theories pointed in a different direction with some saying that there had been foul play in her disappearance and subsequent death. The case has been covered in Netflix's documentary 'Unsolved Mysteries' which looks into the sequence of events and the possibilities of what happened to Romain.
JoAnn Matouk Romain's disappearance
On January 12, 2010, Romain disappeared after attending a prayer service at church. Her car was found abandoned in the parking lot of the church. The car had been locked with her cellphone missing and her purse still in the car. The police had said that Romain had committed suicide though there was no evidence to support this claim. Romain had three children who were between the ages of 20- 29 and came from a close-knit family.
According to Lt. Richard Rosati, there had been no clear fingerprints or usable prints from the car with the authorities indicating that since there was no sign of a struggle, it likely been a suicide. Romain was very popular and well-liked through the community with many people organizing search parties and handing out fliers. A 3-day search of the lake in front of the church did not result in anybody being found nor any clues that she was in the lake at all.
Investigators had claimed that the 55-year-old had left her bag, wallet, and some cash in the car after which she had crossed Lake Shore Drive, entered the icy waters, and drowned herself. Her family claimed she had no mental illness and despite her body not being found, her death was written off as a suicide.
Around two months later, Romain's body was found by Canadian fishermen and was found on Boblo Island, 48 kilometers from where she had vanished. A Canadian autopsy ruled that there had been no signs of the suspicious death. However, her family believes otherwise.
Murder or Suicide?
Romain's daughter, Michelle Romain has strongly believed that there was much more to her mother's death. In the documentary, investigator Sal Rastrelli had re-enacted the theory suggesting Romain had committed suicide by having a friend of his walk down the difficult traverse in heels to the lake as Romain had supposedly done only to find that the task was impossible. The fact that there had been no indication of a body in the lake besides footprints and butt prints in the snow, the theory of suicide was put into question.
Michelle's legal team had also found that the footprints in the snow actually matched those of a large business shoe and not the size 5 of heels she was wearing. Michelle had claimed that her mother had been abducted from the church car park, was murdered, with her body being dumped into the river. She also believes that her mother's death is likely connected to a feud that she had with a relative who worked in law enforcement.
A retired FBI agent who was hired to help with the case looked through Romain's cellphone records and found that she had been in touch with a security company. She had also been calling an investigator and believed that she was being stalked.
In the weeks leading up to her disappearance, she had been acting troubled and scared but would not disclose to anyone as to what was going on.
Suspects
One of the suspects was John Matouk, the brother of Romain who had made some bad business deals with people. John has maintained he had nothing to do with Romain's disappearance and death but says it could be someone with who he had some sour business deals with given that Romain had always bailed him out financially.
Another suspect, who is said to be the prime suspect in the case is Romain's cousin, Tim Matouk who worked in law enforcement. The two even had an estranged relationship. Tim had reportedly called Romain and the two had an argument where they were yelling at each other. Romain had reportedly said, "if something happens to me, look to Tim". However, there is no evidence to prove who was connected to Romain's death.