300 Days After RI Exhumed Mother's Body, Malloy is “Exhausted" Waiting for Answers From AG

300 Days After RI Exhumed Mother's Body, Malloy is “Exhausted" Waiting for Answers From AG

This Sunday marks 300 days since Lori Lee Malloy’s remains were exhumed. 

Malloy was deemed to have died of “natural” causes in East Providence in 1993, but her daughter Lauren Lee Malloy — who was 18 months old at the time of her mother’s death — believes her mother may have been murdered.

Malloy, armed with another forensic pathologist’s opinion, petitioned the state to reopen the case. 

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In November 2022, Malloy got the court to grant a motion to exhume her mother’s body; in February 2023, her mother’s remains were removed from her cemetery plot in East Providence and placed in control of the state. 

And since then, Malloy says she has received minimal communications as to where things stand. 

Speaking with GoLocal, Malloy says she approaching the date of 300 days is a “weird feeling.” 

“It's been 10 months, the better part of a year since she was exhumed. I’m anxious, frustrated and exhausted waiting for results,” said Malloy. “I know labs are dealing with a backlog of cases, but does it really take 10 months to get results? Have answers already been found? I have no idea.”

 

Asking for Answers From AG Neronha's Office 

Malloy — who was instrumental in supporting the establishment of a new "cold case unit" under Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha — said she has had limited communication with the office. 

After her mother’s remains were exhumed, Malloy says she was told by the state that the forensic testing would likely take “four to five weeks.” 

Malloy reached out to the AG’s office in July, armed with the information that the office had received her mother’s final exam and test reports the prior week, and asked to know the cause of death.

Stephen Dambruch responded on July 27 that they were in receipt of the report and that he would be meeting with Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Chirkorv the following week to determine if additional forensic testing “needed to be done.”

In August, Malloy inquired which outside lab was handling the “additional” testing; the AG’s office only provided that it was a private company that conducts “certain types of DNA testing.” 

“I’ve set silent milestones ever since February 1, like hey, maybe Mother’s Day will be when I finally know how she died. Of course, that occasion came and went. Same with Independence Day. Next is Thanksgiving, then her birthday on November 30, then Christmas,” said Malloy. “How sad is it that — all I really want for Christmas is to know how my mom died.”

“I used to visit her grave. There’s been no place for me to visit with my mom,” said Malloy, of waiting for answers, and the return of her mother’s remains.

“Even though she won’t be returned to that grave, I’m going to scatter her ashes. I don’t even know where she is," she said. 

The AG's office provided the following on Thursday. 

"This remains an ongoing investigation and as such there is no further comment at this time," said spokesperson Brian Hodge. 

 

 

Efforts to Reopen Case

GoLocal first reported on Malloy’s efforts to reopen the case — back in May of 2022. 

As GoLocal reported: 

On March 7, 1993, East Providence police were alerted to a welfare check for Lori Lee Malloy, as friends and family said they hadn’t heard from her in days. 

According to police officer Antonio Britto, once he entered Malloy’s apartment on Waterman Avenue along with an acquaintance of Malloy’s, he found a shocking scene.

His report states:

“The sound of running water appeared to be coming from the bathroom, so I walked toward there…as we got there, [we] could see a person's head lying on the floor of the bathroom,” Britto reported.

Malloy was naked, and he noted “had obviously expired.”

Britto continued:

“Some of the suspicious conditions were the fact that the door was apparently left open, there were small tufts of the victim's hair found all around the apartments, she was found nude on the bathroom floor, with slices of bread all around her. The victim herself has pieces of hair wrapped around her left hand and around one foot. The refrigerator in the kitchen was found to be unplugged and there was food still inside. There were two empty glasses found on the table and a small tub (plastic) of some sort of food salad, also the faucet in the bathroom was running freely.

At this time, until the investigation should perhaps prove otherwise, the detective division is investigating this matter as a homicide.” 

The following day, Dr. F. John Krolikowski in the state Medical Examiner’s office conducted the autopsy.

On August 11, 1993, Malloy’s death was ruled “natural” — with Krolikowski attributing it to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, due to Molloy’s history of cocaine use.  In December 1992, Malloy’s case was closed by the East Providence Police Department. 

Krolikowski would soon come under fire for his work in the medical field, however.

In 1999 Krolikowski was investigated by the State of Massachusetts for his role in misdiagnosing dozens of cases at Sturdy Memorial; he extended an agreement not to practice medicine while the investigation was ongoing. 

In 2002, he was reprimanded by Massachusetts and sanctioned for the incorrect analysis of multiple cases and was banned by the state Board for Registration in Medicine from continuing to practice surgical pathology in the state. 

This week, Malloy said if the autopsy results in her mother’s case was deemed to be incorrect — she questions what that could mean for other examinations undertaken by Krolikowsi in Rhode Island that had potential criminal implications.