VA VA - Cary Kendall Mitchener, 56, Roanoke, 15 April 2013

On April 15, 2013, a Roanoke plastic surgeon called police to report that his wife had committed suicide. When officers arrived at the couple's house on Stanley Avenue, they found Cary Kendall Mitchener with a bag over her head, legs bound and arms tied behind her back.

In the year and a half that have passed, police have revealed little about the case except that Cary's husband has not cooperated with the investigation. The medical examiner's office has yet to deliver an autopsy report with a cause of death. In spite of the strange circumstances, police have said the public has no reason to be concerned.

Search warrants show police seized various items from the house including a phone, shirt, rubber bands, a zip tie, bags and a canvas bag. Warrants also show police investigated the joint banking accounts for the entire month of the death. It would seem they were possibly determining who may have purchased the items associated with the death. A Lowe's receipt found near the body led police to examine surveillance footage from the home improvement store. Again, it would appear there was an interest in who purchased certain items nine days before the death.

Police also checked two laptop computers and Cary's social media accounts. They have also sought her medical records, including psychiatric and psychological.

Cary, a 56 year-old nurse, and James had been married 27 years and had one son.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/local/r...cle_14116884-c43f-11e3-b24e-0017a43b2370.html

http://www.roanoke.com/news/local/r...cle_9f18cdbc-fa89-5559-9622-77e0ba86bbf6.html

http://www.roanoke.com/news/crime/r...cle_a63ee2dc-3e31-5b50-9652-19311ad67c9e.html

http://www.oakeys.com/memsol.cgi?user_id=972344

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=110290102

Google Maps Street View:

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=2609...4-3333&t=m&z=17&panoid=lKsDsLbGdGChXRLReeBd2g

It's been about ten months since I posted this story and there's still nothing new about the case.

How strange. I had never heard of this case.

The most perplexing thing I found with this case is that the husband would assume this was a suicide. I know the article quotes LE saying that they have had suicides where they were bound, but I'm fairly certain that if I were to find someone deceased with a bag over their head, arms bound behind their back and legs bound, my first thought would not be suicide. Its pretty astonishing to me that the husband called it in that way, unless of course there were events leading up to her death that would leave no doubt as to what occurred. If he has that evidence why not cooperate with the police and get this resolved rather than allow it to drag on? Wouldn't the average person want to quickly resolve any legalities so that they could focus on the family and be able to grieve in peace? They have a child together. I didn't see an age for the child but I would think that the child's well being would be enough to want to put an end to any questions concerning who caused her death. The Lowes receipt laying next to her body seems a little too convenient as well. If she were going to leave all these clues that point directly at her doing this to herself then why go through the elaborate measures that were taken to achieve her goal? And finally, what is holding up the autopsy report? I wonder if the husband has close ties either professionally or personally to anyone in the medical examiners office.

All of the above are just my thoughts and speculation based on the information relayed in the articles listed in the first post. A lot of questions because there's been so little information actually released.

You're right. It does seem odd that the husband would assume suicide. I surely wouldn't unless there'd had been some strange statements from the deceased ahead of time. It makes no sense he wouldn't cooperate if he truly believed it to be a suicide. It does seem odd the receipt from nine days previous would be laying there. If it was suicide, I'd guess the bag with the items and receipt had been hidden away together. It is a strange case.

Oddly, the Google StreetView seems to be skipping that house now. It doesn't put the opening view in the correct spot and when you try to navigate up that street, it takes a big jump straight past the house. Weird!

JohnTate90210 said:

You're right. It does seem odd that the husband would assume suicide. I surely wouldn't unless there'd had been some strange statements from the deceased ahead of time. It makes no sense he wouldn't cooperate if he truly believed it to be a suicide. It does seem odd the receipt from nine days previous would be laying there. If it was suicide, I'd guess the bag with the items and receipt had been hidden away together. It is a strange case.

Oddly, the Google StreetView seems to be skipping that house now. It doesn't put the opening view in the correct spot and when you try to navigate up that street, it takes a big jump straight past the house. Weird!

Click to expand...

What? I didn't know you could get google to block out your house if you wanted to . So clearly this is not a suicide. I find it hard to believe he assumed it was a suicide.

SCHMAE said:

What? I didn't know you could get google to block out your house if you wanted to . So clearly this is not a suicide. I find it hard to believe he assumed it was a suicide.

Click to expand...

I knew I had tested the StreetView link before I posted it and was surprised when I tried it a few days ago. You can start clicking up the street and get pretty close to the house. When you click again, it takes a big jump. This gets you close:

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.242...8ZEXhxYyy-NkGYt6P5W4Q!2e0!7i3328!8i1664?hl=en

As I recall, that's the house on the right. Click the road one more time and see if it jumps past it for you.

Update: I see what's going on. When you go back to the map view and try to drag the StreetView guy to the road, the StreetView stops just before the house, now. They've deleted the entire remainder of the street (about 350') although it was shown previously. Very weird!

A newer article from this year:

http://www.roanoke.com/news/crime/r...cle_70b6c4c9-55dd-5366-a007-be69aaf9ff32.html

Her sister and brother-in-law both state they believe it was suicide. Her husband and son won't make a public statement. If it was suicide then she obviously was trying to make it look like murder.

I believe this must mean she was related to President George Washington:

https://books.google.com/books?id=W...SL#v=onepage&q=Cary Kendall Mitchener&f=false