Unsolved Mysteries Wiki
Don't have an account?
Register
Advertisement
Register
Unsolved Mysteries Wiki
Unsolved Mysteries Wiki
1,940
pages
in: Alberta, 2015, Murder,
and 3 more

Amanda Antoni

Edit
Amanda and lee antoni

Amanda and Lee Antoni

Real Name: Amanda Kristy Antoni
Nicknames: No known nicknames
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Date: October 26, 2015

Case[]

Details: Thirty-one-year-old Amanda Antoni lived with her husband, Lee, in the community of Castleridge in northeast Calgary, Alberta, Canada. On the afternoon of Monday, October 26, 2015, he made a frantic call to 911 after coming home and finding her in the basement. According to him, there was blood everywhere, and she was cold to the touch.
When paramedics arrived at the house, they found Amanda in full rigor mortis on the blood-soaked basement floor. This suggested that she had died the previous day, Sunday. Deeming the scene "suspicious", they called the Calgary Police Service. Patrol Supervisor Sgt. Trent Petersen was the first officer on the scene. He found Lee on the front porch, shaking and visibly upset. The only thing he said was, "She's in the basement".
Sgt. Petersen went to the basement stairwell and noticed a partially broken piggy bank on a ledge next to the top of the stairs. As he entered the basement, he found Amanda lying on the floor. He was surprised by the amount of blood. It appeared that she had been struck by something that caused a significant injury to the right portion of her face and skull, where her eye met her hairline. He went upstairs and joined the backup units to clear the house. He told an officer to stay with Lee. He was unsure what had happened or if Lee was involved.
Sgt. Petersen describes the scene as "gruesome" and the bloodiest one he had ever seen. The police treated Amanda's death as "suspicious" based on what was found inside the house. They set up an operational center at the police station. They then went through the process of understanding and interpreting the scene to determine what happened to her.
According to Detective David Sweet, lead investigator for the Calgary Police Service, there were no signs of a robbery or forced entry, and no items were missing from the house. In the dining room, a chair had been found tipped onto its side. Amanda's phone was found on the floor. It had been broken, and the screen had been cracked. The phone and chair were found on the opposite side of the room from where the basement stairs were located. This evidence indicated to Detective Sweet that there had been some sort of violent altercation.
At that point, the police knew that Amanda's death was not "natural" because her body was in a position inconsistent with natural death. There was also no indication that it was suicide. To Constable T.L. Krezanoski, forensic identification specialist for the Calgary Police Service, it was obvious that something violent had occurred in the basement. Amanda's clothes were covered in blood, and there was blood on the walls. According to Sgt. Jodi Arns, bloodstain pattern analyst for the Calgary Police Service, Amanda had bruises in many places, and it looked like she had been beaten. Sgt. Arns was certain that Amanda's death was a homicide.
To Detective Sweet, it appeared that the killer had left behind the murder weapon: the ceramic piggy bank found on the ledge next to the top of the stairs. Its front was "sheared off". Many of its pieces were strewn down the stairs. More pieces were embedded in Amanda's forehead. Detective Sweet was bothered by the fact that she was partially clothed and her pants had been pulled down past her buttocks. Based on the way she was lying on the floor, he believed she had been sexually assaulted.
Shortly after discovering Amanda's body, Lee called her family. They were shocked and could not believe that she was dead. She was originally from Carstairs, Alberta, and was the youngest child of Leslie and Linda Hogg. Her brothers Allen and Darrell were thirteen and eleven years older, respectively.
Amanda was brought into the Hogg family home as a foster child when she was two months old. They fell in love with her right away. When she was fourteen months old, Leslie and Linda adopted her. Allen and Darrell looked after her and entertained her. For Darrell, it was exciting to watch her personality develop and grow. She loved to prank and joke with them. She loved animals, especially cats and dogs. She loved to bring in stray animals.
According to Linda, Amanda had a lot of energy, had a kind heart, and loved people. Kelly Durant grew up across the street from Amanda. They spent almost every day together, and the Hoggs were like a second family to her. She loved Amanda's personality, humor, and "feistiness". She remembers Amanda was stubborn in a "good" way.
According to Darrell, one of Amanda's most special qualities was her care for others. She would often pick up clothes and backpacks from a second-hand store, walk around downtown Calgary, and give them out to homeless people. She would sit, talk, and have coffee with them. She would also buy meals for them.
In 2004, when she was twenty, Amanda left home. In 2005, a mutual friend introduced her to Lee. For them, it was "love at first sight". A short time later, they got an apartment together in Calgary. A few years later, on July 18, 2009, they married. They later moved into their house in Castleridge and rescued several pets. According to Allen, she would "light up" when she was with Lee, and they had a lot of fun together.
According to Darrell, when the couple first met, Lee partied and had a bit of a "wild side" to him. Amanda approached Darrell a few times and was frustrated with Lee. At the time of her death, she had started her own house-cleaning business. Lee was often between jobs. According to Darrell, she had to take care of the bills and support Lee. She would get frustrated when he did not have a job. Sometimes, they would fight.
After Amanda's death, Detective Sweet interviewed Darrell. He told Detective Sweet to look into Lee just in case he had something to do with her death. When questioned, Allen also voiced concerns about Lee. He said he did not trust Lee. He was not sure if Lee was responsible, but he noted that Lee was "impulsive" with his rage.
Detective Sweet notes that the husband is always the first suspect. In this case, Lee was the one who found Amanda dead, so he was "central" in trying to figure out what happened. Four hours after her body was found, Lee was brought in for an interview. According to Detective Sweet, Lee presented himself as a distraught and despondent husband.
During the interview, Lee told Detective Sweet that he left his house on Friday, October 23, to drive to his mother's house in Makwa, Saskatchewan. He was helping her settle the estate of his father, who had passed away the year prior. He returned on Monday, October 26, to find Amanda dead. According to him, they had never spent a night apart during their entire relationship.
Detective Sweet felt it was hardly a coincidence that something happened to Amanda on the one weekend Lee was away from home. Detective Sweet asked him if he killed her, but he denied it, maintaining he was at his mother's house all weekend. Once the police learned the route Lee took to Makwa, two investigators traveled along it and collected surveillance videos from gas stations he claimed he had been at. The videos confirmed his story.
The police considered the possibility that Lee may have hired someone to kill Amanda. However, they found no evidence that he was in contact with someone else or that an arrangement had been made for someone to kill Amanda while he was away. They also found no evidence of "distress" in the marriage. They then ruled him out as a suspect.
Detective Sweet asked Lee if he knew who killed Amanda, but he said no. He describes her as his "better half". He fell in love with her personality. She made everyone smile and made sure they were comfortable. In October 2015, shortly before her death, they went to San Francisco, California – her favorite place. Because she was an "organizer", she had everything planned out. They went on bus tours and visited Fisherman's Wharf and Alcatraz.
Lee was not worried when the police were investigating him. He knew they were doing their job and had to look at the spouse first. He was fine with it because he wanted to know what happened to Amanda.
The police next delved into Amanda's activities before her death. They learned that she had originally planned to travel with Lee to Makwa that weekend. But, at the last minute, she stayed home because she was not feeling well. On the morning of Friday, October 23, she told Linda she had a migraine and did not have plans for the day.
According to Darrell, Amanda occasionally had severe migraines. He figures that her migraine that day must have been bad if it kept her from going with Lee. That morning, she told Lee, "You got to go help your mom. I'll stay here, and I'll see you on Monday when you come back home." When he left at 11am, that was the last time he saw her alive.
When Lee got to his mother's house, he called and talked to Amanda. When he asked about her headaches, she said, "They're still kind of bad." According to Detective Sweet, Amanda and Lee were in almost constant contact from Friday to Saturday. There was a long record of text messages back and forth. She also researched herbal remedies for her migraines on her computer. The police believe she may have gone to local herbalists or pharmacies for treatment on Friday and Saturday.
The last time Lee spoke to Amanda was on Saturday when he called her at 7:06pm. She said her migraines were going away. Suddenly, their dog Ruby started barking excitedly. Amanda yelled, "Shut up, Ruby!" and Ruby yelped. He heard Amanda walking and then a "crunching" sound. Then, at 7:10pm, the phone cut out. He said, "Hello? Honey? Amanda?" but there was no response.
Lee hung up and tried to call Amanda back. However, it went straight to voicemail. He called on his mother's house phone. Once again, it went straight to voicemail. He was not sure what had happened. He wondered if she had dropped her phone or if the battery had died. After waiting for a while, he texted her. She did not reply.
At 10:44am on Sunday, Lee texted Amanda again. Once again, she did not reply. He figured she was busy, possibly visiting family members. He did not think anything bad had happened. He was also busy trying to organize stuff with his mother. On Sunday night, he decided he would go home the next morning and surprise her.
At around 8:30am on Monday, Lee headed home. The only time he stopped was for gas. When he arrived home at around 3:45pm, the front door was locked. He walked inside and checked the living room and kitchen, but Amanda was not there. When he looked in the dining room, he found her purse and keys on the dining room table. He went upstairs, believing she was taking a nap. He went into the bedroom and bathroom but could not find her.
Lee let Ruby out the back door, figuring she had to go to the bathroom. Ruby and their two cats, Gizmo and Meatloaf, were in a "frenzy". Their food and water bowls were empty, and dog urine was on the floor. He realized the only place he did not check was the basement. According to him, Amanda did not like it that much. She had a "creepy" feeling about it.
Lee turned on the light, walked down the first four stairs, and noticed blood on the basement floor and walls. Bloody drag marks led to a small room off the main basement area. He found Amanda lying there in a pool of blood. He yelled her name, but she did not answer. He turned around and started shaking. He then ran upstairs and called 911.
The 911 operator asked Lee if he knew if Amanda was still alive, and he said no. The operator asked him to go back downstairs and check on her. He did not want to go back downstairs. He said that was the hardest thing to do. When he touched her, he realized she was cold.
Based on the facts and evidence in this case, Detective Sweet believed that the assault on Amanda likely occurred around 7pm on Saturday. That was the last time she was known to be alive. There was no activity on her phone after that time. The police had significant concerns that a violent offender was "running around" northeast Calgary.
The police relied on their forensic crime scene unit to assist them in identifying the offender using evidence from the scene, including fingerprints, footprints, and DNA. It was one of the worst scenes Sgt. Arns had ever been in. She had never seen one where so many types of patterns and stains were visible.
Constable Krezanoski was the primary forensics investigator responsible for processing the scene and collecting the evidence. She dusted doors for fingerprints but did not find any. In the blood, they found about twelve impressions, most of which were foot impressions.
Detective Sweet was perplexed by two footprints at the bottom of the stairwell facing up the stairs. According to Sgt. Arns, the toes almost touched the base of the stairs, but the prints did not proceed up the stairs. There were also two slippers at the base of the stairs. Detective Sweet believes Amanda was wearing the slippers when she was injured.
What was most puzzling to Sgt. Arns was that she could not find any shoe impressions. The only impressions found were from bare feet. They also found back-and-forth swipe marks in the blood. She thought someone had done this to cover up their shoe impressions. According to Detective Sweet, there were no obvious defense wounds on Amanda's body. However, she was covered in several bruises.
According to Sgt. Arns, an offender sometimes ends up with a bloodletting injury while committing a violent crime. Usually, when they are exiting or moving around the scene, they will drip blood. In one section of the floor, the police found dark brown bloodstains. When Sgt. Arns found this bloodstain drip pattern, she thought it was from the offender bleeding. Blood swabs were collected and sent off to the lab for DNA analysis.
As the police waited for the crime lab results to come back, they looked for any other clues that could assist them in identifying Amanda's killer. There were no signs of forced entry. So, the killer either gained access to the house with a key or entered through the unlocked back door. Unfortunately, Lee cannot remember if the back door was locked when he came home. He immediately grabbed the knob, opened the door, and let Ruby out.
The police canvassed Amanda's neighborhood. Castleridge has a statistically higher level of crime than most other communities in Calgary. According to neighbor Marcy Monford, it was not a good area. Crime was constant, including break-ins, assaults, and shootings. Police cars were often there.
According to Detective Sweet, Amanda was concerned about a nearby alley. She and Lee claimed transients were entering their backyard and stealing bottles and cans. They sometimes saw footprints in the snow. Occasionally, their back fence door would be left open. This door led to the back door, which may have been unlocked.
Darrell wonders if the transients were brazen enough to go into the backyard, would they also have gone into the house? The police had to consider all possibilities, including a stalker. Someone could have followed Amanda home at some point and then used the opportunity of Lee being away to strike.
Amanda's neighbors, the Gurneys, told the police that they heard Ruby barking between 6:30 and 7pm that Saturday, around the same time Lee heard her bark and the phone disconnect. They described it as a "scary" dog bark, like she was trying to get someone to leave. They had heard her bark before, but on that night, her bark was different. Shortly afterward, they also heard someone yelling. The neighbor to their right claimed that they saw someone running through the Gurneys' yard.
According to Lee, Ruby normally did not bark. Something would have to cause her to bark, such as someone coming into the house. He believes that if someone had confronted Amanda, she would have put up a fight. She was small, but she could "hold her ground".
As the police continued their investigation, they talked to Amanda's family and friends. They examined journals, diaries, phones, and other electronic devices. They wondered if she was having an affair and invited this person to come to the house while Lee was away.
When Lee arrived home and found Amanda's body, he noticed that she appeared to be wearing a "fancier" pair of underwear, different from the casual pairs she wore throughout the week. However, the affair theory was quickly dismissed because they could find no evidence that she was in intimate contact with anyone else. According to Allen, Amanda and Lee had fights, but he is certain that they loved each other.
According to Detective Sweet, Amanda was not involved in drug or gang activity or anything of that nature. She did not have many enemies. But during Lee's interview, he identified someone he thought could be a suspect: his sister, "Jane". He said she hated Amanda. At the time, she was into "bad" drugs. He and Amanda called child services because he was concerned about her daughter. As a result, she was taken away.
After that, Jane called every day, sometimes twenty times a day, asking where her daughter was. She was mad at Lee and Amanda. According to Allen, she threatened Amanda. Amanda became scared, which was significant to Allen because not much scared her. Darrell wondered if Jane had someone go to Amanda's house and hurt her, knowing that Lee was out of town. An experienced investigator interviewed Jane. However, according to Detective Sweet, there is no evidence that she was involved in Amanda's death.
Despite a heavy media presence, no tips from the public came in. Detective Sweet found that unusual. Then, on December 7, 2015, six weeks after Amanda's death, the autopsy results came in. The cause of death was a loss of blood due to blunt force trauma. There was no trauma to her brain. There were no broken bones, aside from her right orbital bone.
The autopsy report surprised Detective Sweet. He thought they would have found skull fractures. However, none were found. She did have bruises on her elbows, knees, and hips. Toxicology tests showed signs of cannabis in her system. Lee had said she may have used cannabis for her migraine. However, it is not known how "intoxicating" the cannabis was.
At that point in the investigation, the police were anxious to get results from the lab. Detective Sweet hoped it would identify a suspect. However, when the results came in, it revealed that all the DNA, including the passive drip stains, belonged to Amanda. Based on the violent scene, Sgt. Arns had expected that the stains were from the killer. She was shocked to find out that it was all Amanda's DNA.
The police found no evidence that anyone other than Amanda had been in the basement. Fingerprints, palm prints, and footprints collected from the basement belonged to her. No evidence of sexual assault was found either.
Throughout the investigation, Detective Sweet was in contact with an experienced group of behavioral science investigators. When they examined Amanda's case, they suggested that her death may have been an accident. They based this partially on the fact that no physical evidence was found in the house belonging to anyone other than her.
Detective Sweet went back through the entire investigation. No fingerprints were found on the broken ceramic piggy bank. The dust on top of it was settled. It did not look like it had ever been picked up. There was no evidence to suggest that it ever left the shelf. He wondered if Amanda struck it as she fell down the stairs.
The police hired a biomechanics engineer to review Amanda's case. He found that, although rare for a woman of her age, the type of injuries she suffered were consistent with an accidental stair fall. The police looked into the possibility that her death was a tragic accident. They also tried to figure out how the accident occurred.
Detective Sweet believes, based on all the evidence collected, that the opening at the top of the basement stairs is where Amanda's fall began. One theory is she tripped over Ruby and fell down the stairs. From examining the opening, the police know that an impact occurred. She came through the opening and struck her head off the piggy bank, which was driven into the back of the wall. Behind the piggy bank, a small divot was left in the drywall.
However, the police cannot say for certain whether Amanda fell or was pushed down the stairs. What works against the fall theory is that the laundry basket at the top of the stairs was undisturbed. Also, Detective Sweet wonders how the piggy bank was not knocked over when she fell. And he wonders why her phone was found eight feet from the stairs. He thinks it is possible that someone pushed her into the piggy bank.
According to Detective Sweet, once Amanda was in the basement, she did not die right away. It took time for her to lose that much blood. Based on her bloody footprints, she spent a lot of time standing and walking around. There was a concentrated amount of blood in front of a set of mirrors on the wall opposite the stairs. Small pieces of the piggy bank were found there. Most of the blood was found on that side of the basement.
According to Detective Sweet, there are two theories regarding the mirrors. One was that the mirrors were "tricking" Amanda, and she believed they were casting light from upstairs. The other theory was that she used the mirror to view her injuries.
The police found what appeared to be a bloody handprint on the wall in the basement corner next to the stairs. Sgt. Arns believes that Amanda was trying to steady herself against the wall. Other blood patterns found on the wall coincided with the fabric patterns on the cuff of her sweatshirt.
Spatter stains were found on some of the walls. Sgt. Arns believes these stains came from Amanda's hair when she tried to shake it away from her face. With the floor being wet with blood, she kept slipping and falling. Three areas of blood were darker than the rest. Sgt. Arns theorizes that Amanda lay in those areas while she bled out.
Sgt. Arns learned that people with concussions will do things to "soothe themselves" while in distress. She believes that while lying on the floor, Amanda may have rubbed the blood back and forth into the floor to try and soothe herself. Swoosh marks found in the blood seemed to confirm this.
Linda does not believe Amanda's death was an accident. For Lee, what he saw in the basement does not "add up" to a fall. When Sgt. Arns heard that it might have been an accident, she could not believe it. She felt that Amanda had been beaten and had too many marks on her. She has attended many accident scenes but has never seen that amount of blood. Allen does not think Amanda's death was an accident. He points to Ruby barking and the overturned chair. He believes someone pushed her down the stairs.
Nearly forty-five hours passed from the time Lee last spoke to Amanda at 7pm on Saturday to his return home at 3:45pm on Monday. Part of the mystery for Detective Sweet is that none of Amanda's pets ventured into the basement during the period that she lay there dying. There were no paw prints in the blood.
Lee felt that was unusual because if he or Amanda ever got hurt or cried, Ruby would comfort them. Sgt. Arns wonders why Ruby did not go downstairs and check on Amanda if she fell and was in distress. She wonders if someone in the house prevented Ruby from going downstairs.
Constable Krezanoski feels that there are many unanswered questions in this case. There are factors she cannot explain and things that do not make sense. Detective Sweet notes that, based on footprints on the floor, Amanda stood at the base of the stairs at one point. He does not understand why she did not go back upstairs. He believes she was capable of doing it.
Detective Sweet thinks two things could have happened. The loss of blood could have diminished Amanda's ability for rational thought. Or, whoever caused her injury was still inside the house, and she felt safer in the basement rather than going upstairs to face the threat.
On December 13, 2016, after a fourteen-month investigation, the police concluded that Amanda most likely died as a result of an accidental fall down the stairs. However, there was never a full consensus on that ruling. According to the office of the chief medical examiner, her manner of death remains undetermined. Detective Sweet feels that the accident theory cannot explain everything found at the scene. He notes that a case like hers is never closed. However, it is inactive until new information is received.
For Lee, losing Amanda has changed him. He thought that they would grow old together. He wishes he could "change the past" and stay home that weekend so that she would still be alive. For Darrell, she comes to his mind every day. They had a brother-sister bond, and he feels she does not want him to quit. He hopes that if someone knows something about the case, they will come forward.
Suspects: Lee was initially considered a suspect. However, he was ruled out after the police found footage of him along his route to and from his mother's house.
Lee's sister was also considered a potential suspect. She was angry with him and Amanda because they had called child services on her, and her daughter was taken away. She had threatened Amanda. However, the police found no evidence to connect her to the crime.
Lee and Amanda were concerned about transients coming into their backyard. Her family wondered if one of them may have come into the house and attacked her. However, no evidence was found in the house belonging to anyone except Amanda.
Extra Notes:

  • This case was first released on July 31, 2024 as a part of the fourth volume of the Netflix reboot.
  • Family friend and country musician Blake Reid wrote the song, "Everyday Angels", about Amanda and performed it at her memorial service.
  • Lee's sister was not identified during the segment.
  • Some sources state that the autopsy determined that Amanda died between 7 and 7:30pm on October 24.

Results: Unsolved
Links:

Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.
Advertisement

Fan Feed

More Unsolved Mysteries Wiki