JoAnn Romain: Suicide or Police Cover Up?

7 Mar

Jo Ann Romain before her mysterious death. Photo: RadioTimes

JoAnn Romain was found dead on Boblo Island, two months after disappearing from outside her church. Police immediately ruled the case to be a suicide but many concerning details have arisen that suggest that JoAnn may have been murdered.

Who was JoAnn Romain?

Jo-Ann Romain Pictured with Family. Photo: ClickOnDetroit

JoAnn Romain was a 55-year-old Michigan local, devoted Catholic, and mother of three grown children.

JoAnn lived in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan, a wealthy community near Detroit. She had heaps of close friends and was always entertaining them at her home.

JoAnn regularly attended the services of St. Paul Catholic Church, right next to lake Michigan. For JoAnn, her faith was a central part of her life, and she found solace and comfort in the rituals and teachings of the church.

JoAnn's life was not without its share of challenges. Her marriage to her children's father, Dave Romain, didn't work out, leading to their separation. However, JoAnn remained committed to raising her children and building a life for herself.

On the day that JoAnn Romain went missing, her family was in court as plaintiffs in a lawsuit related to black mold that had been found in their home

The Disappearance of JoAnn Romain

Michelle Romain with a photo of her Mom, JoAnn. Photo: Detroit Free Press.

After spending the afternoon in court, Michelle Romain saw her mother, JoAnn Romain, for the last time. JoAnn left with her son Michael, while Michelle left with her brother David.

Michelle and David went to a restaurant in Grosse Pointe Woods for dinner before parting ways around 9pm.

At 6pm, JoAnn dropped Michael off at home and told him she was going to fill up the car with gas for the next morning. She stopped at a local gas station at 6:25pm, where the station manager, Mike Beydoun, reported that she was in good spirits and nothing seemed unusual. They had their usual friendly conversation before she left.

Following this, JoAnn decided to attend a 7pm prayer service at St. Paul Catholic Church, which was part of her regular routine.

She arrived at the service at around 7:05pm and was seen by a witness who confirmed that she was there. The service lasted for about 15-20 minutes and was attended by around 10-15 people.

After the service, JoAnn left through the lakeside doors of the church between 7:15 and 7:20pm.

Later that evening, while on routine patrol, Lieutenant Andrew Rogers noticed JoAnn's silver Lexus SUV parked on a one-way exit driveway next to the church, about 100 feet from Lake St. Clair. Running the car's license plate through the Law Enforcement Information Network (LEIN) system, he learned that it was registered to Michelle, and that its license plate had expired several days earlier. As it was on private property, he didn't feel there was a need to investigate further or issue a ticket.

An hour later, Public Safety Officer Keith Colombo also came across JoAnn's car on routine patrol. He saw that it was the only car in the driveway, and the church appeared dark, so he became concerned.

Inside the car, he found JoAnn's purse on the front passenger seat, with her wallet and $1,500 cash still inside. He ran the car's license plate and decided to search the area. Following footprints in the snow, he tracked them down to an embankment near the water's edge.

Officer Colombo saw that the footprints went down the embankment to two break walls. He found handprints and butt prints on both walls, indicating that someone had sat down in the snow.

He couldn't find any prints indicating that the person had come back up from the water's edge. Based on what he found, he believed that someone had gone into the water. He reported his discovery over the radio and requested assistance from Lieutenant Rogers. The U.S. Coast Guard was eventually contacted, and a search and rescue operation commenced.

Around 9:20 pm, while Michelle was changing into her pajamas, she saw a car turning the corner and initially thought it was JoAnn returning home.

She realized it was a police car when she looked outside. The officer informed Michelle that JoAnn's car had been found abandoned in the church parking lot and asked if she was missing. Kellie immediately tried calling JoAnn's phone, but it went to voicemail.

JoAnn's children started calling friends to check if anyone had seen her. Michelle called John and asked him to come over, and they all decided to go to the church to look for her since that's where her car was found.

They arrived at the church around 10 pm and saw that JoAnn's car was surrounded by crime scene tape, with police officers present. JoAnn's cell phone was missing, her purse was left on the front seat, and the car was locked. Michelle became nervous when she saw JoAnn's purse in the car since she never left it behind.

Kellie and Michelle thoroughly searched the church premises inside and out, leaving no stone unturned in their quest to locate JoAnn. However, as time passed and no word was heard from JoAnn, her family began to realize that something was amiss.

The Coast Guard sent out helicopters and divers to comb the lake for any signs of her. When Kellie asked the police why there were so many officers and the Coast Guard on the scene, they suggested that JoAnn may have taken her own life by walking into the water.

Joann’s family did not accept this theory as it was freezing cold that night and the water was partially icy. The police also claimed that K-9 units could not track her scent in the cold, but Michelle later discovered this to be untrue.

Chief Jensen reported no signs of struggle, either around JoAnn's car or the footprints in the snow. There was also no evidence to suggest that a crime had occurred, such as torn clothing, dumped out purse, ransacked car, or bullet casings.

They scoured the nearby woods and searched in dumpsters, among other locations. The police conducted an extensive three-day search in the vicinity where JoAnn was believed to have walked into the water.

The water was approximately two feet deep, clear, and had minimal current. On the night she went missing, JoAnn was wearing black clothing, including a black blouse, black pants, black high-heeled shoes, and a black coat.

Michelle Romain is convinced that they would have been able to easily spot JoAnn if she had been in the water. The Midwest Technical Recovery Team, a specialized diving unit, continued the search for three additional days and confirmed that JoAnn was not in the water.

JoAnn Romain’s Body is Found

JoAnn Romain's boot, found still attached to her body.

JoAnn's body was discovered by two fishermen on Boblo Island in the Detroit River's Livingston Channel in Amherstburg, Ontario, 70 days after she went missing on Saturday, March 20, 2010.

The island was located 35 miles away from where she was believed to have entered the water. Later that day, a detective informed Michelle about the tragic news, which confirmed the family's worst fears.

Was JoAnn Romain Murdered?

A video telling the sad story of what happened to JoAnn Romain

Joann Romain’s family weren’t convinced that their Mom had committed suicide. They hired Scott Lewis, an investigative reporter and private investigator, who offered a fresh perspective on the case.

Upon visiting Boblo Island, he and Michelle were surprised to discover how far it was from the church. JoAnn's body would have had to travel through a shipping channel and downstream for 30 miles from the shallow water near the church. For Lewis, this seemed like a bit of a stretch.

Initially, Lewis was unsure if he wanted to take on JoAnn's case. He told Michelle that he would only get involved if he thought it was a murder and not a suicide. He found no indication that JoAnn's death was a suicide.

The fact that JoAnn filled her gas tank before she disappeared was the first red flag for Lewis. He believes that if JoAnn had parked her car in the garage and died of carbon monoxide poisoning or shot herself, he would have considered suicide as a possibility.

He found it hard to believe that she would have walked into the lake to end her life. Lewis also found it unlikely that she could have traveled that far without being detected by divers or helicopters.

There were several reasons the Romain’s believed that their mother had been killed. Firstly, the Lexus that JoAnn Romain was driving that night was actually registered to her daughter, Michelle. They wondered why the police immediately searched for JoAnn instead of Michelle, given that the car was abandoned at odd hours.

Also, the car was found in the church driveway, which was unusual. Lastly, one witness statement indicated that JoAnn and her car were missing when someone checked the parking lot for noise. This led them to question whether JoAnn had left and then returned later to park the car by the church.

There were several more inconsistencies in the Joann Romain case.

JoAnn, who was close to her children, did not leave a suicide note, and her family found it unlikely that she would have committed suicide by drowning as she had a fear of both the dark and deep waters.

Even if she did, it would have been unlikely for her to walk alone across the dark and icy Lake St. Clair wearing 4-inch heeled boots.

JoAnn’s behavior in the weeks prior to her disappearance was unusual, as she seemed nervous and even contacted an investigator at one point. She was also reportedly receiving more calls in the days leading up to her death. She told her children that she thought someone was following her.

The police had access to the inside of JoAnn's car immediately after it was found abandoned, even though the car keys were found in her jacket when her body was eventually recovered.

Both her cell phone and rosary were missing from her body, which raised doubts for her children. Contusions were also found on her upper left arm when her body was retrieved.

What do you think really happened to JoAnn Romain? Let us know in the comments.