KSHB 41 News anchor/I-Team reporter Sarah Plake is always looking for story ideas in Kansas City. Send Sarah an email.
—
Eight years after Libby Caswell, 21, died unexpectedly and suspiciously in an Independence motel room, her mother continues to fight for a new investigation.
"We are standing here today because Libby deserves the truth, wherever it leads, and she deserves the dignity of a complete and transparent investigation," Cindy Caswell said, standing outside the Eastern Jackson County Courthouse.
She's made the same pleas year after year, including holding news conferences in 2023 and 2024.
Cindy still has significant concerns about how her daughter's case was handled. She and a group of experts say the Independence Police Department did not take a hard enough look at what she calls red flags, leaving the case unresolved.
"From the moment we were notified of Libby's death, there were things that did not add up," Cindy said.
On December 11, 2017, Libby was found dead at the Sports Stadium Motel, on the bathroom floor with her boyfriend's belt around her neck.
We're calling the boyfriend "Kevin" because he's never been charged. He says he woke up and found her dead.
"My belt, the top of it, I could see my belt sticking out the top of the door and when I opened the door, she fell forward," Kevin told investigators in his interview the night of Libby's death.
In the video of the interview we obtained, he told police he had nothing to do with Libby's death.
While Independence police closed the case, calling it a suicide, the Jackson County Medical Examiner ruled Libby's manner of death as "undetermined."
"We believed that this would trigger a deeper, more comprehensive investigation," Cindy said.
Since then, the KSHB 41 I-Team has investigated and uncovered a documented history of violence in Libby's relationship with Kevin dating back to 2013.
In police reports we obtained, a family member told investigators he saw Kevin strangling Libby one week before her death.
Witnesses have also told the I-Team that Kevin knew Libby was dead hours before he told police.
"With the domestic violence history, we never looked at him any other way than as a suspect," Independence Police Major Mike Onka told the I-Team back when we first reported on Libby's story.
We learned surveillance video from the motel and surrounding businesses was never collected to corroborate Kevin's story.
"There has been a blind eye turned to this," Casey Gwinn, founder of Alliance for HOPE, International, said.
Alliance for HOPE Int. got involved several years back and is backing Cindy the whole way.
The Alliance, an advocacy group for domestic violence victims made up of former law enforcement, former prosecutors, forensic experts, and social services workers. The Alliance has a training institute dedicated solely to strangulation in intimate partner relationships.
"If a woman is strangled one time by an intimate partner, she is 750 percent more likely to be killed by that person," Gwinn said.
Experts in the field, like Gwinn, say strangulation is one of the most lethal forms of domestic violence, and many times it leaves no visible marks.
The Alliance's strangulation expert believes the scene was staged, and the marks on Libby's neck don't match a hanging.
IPD says the evidence they have doesn't support it.
"We've done everything and anything we can think of doing with this case. We don't have enough to make a case file to take to the prosecutor," Onka said.
In 2022, IPD turned to an outside medical examiner who consults with the FBI, who said his opinion is "suicide."
According to records we received from a FOIA request to the FBI, we learned that the medical examiner was provided Libby's autopsy and scene photos.
Still, Cindy wants a redo of the investigation from the beginning, one that is not directed by IPD.
"Eight years is too long for silence. Too long for unanswered questions," Cindy said. "Too long for a grieving family to feel unheard."
Libby leaves behind a son, who is 12 now. Libby's loved ones say she was a dedicated, loving mother who would not leave her son.
Next week, we'll have a more in-depth piece where the I-Team will share many more details about the case and information we've never reported before.
The Alliance has offered up a $12,000 reward for new information about Libby's death that could lead to a conviction.
KSHB 41 has tried many times to reach Kevin, but he's never responded.
—
