Here’s Every Single Theory About JoAnn Romain’s Disappearance From ‘Unsolved Mysteries’
Content warning: suicide.
If you’ve already sped through as many episodes of Netflix’s newest slate of Unsolved Mysteries as possible, you know by now that the case of JoAnn Romain is a particularly sketchy one. The police claim the 55-year-old Michigan mom committed suicide by drowning; her family believes otherwise. The evidence points to…well, no one knows for certain, and a lot of experts have been consulted. For you true-crime sleuths, that provides ample fodder for internet theories.
Romain’s family is looking for more information or leads on the case in an effort to bring their mother’s alleged killer to justice. To better understand exactly what happened—and how those leads might be acquired—we broke down every single detail of Romain’s case. Here’s what we know.
What happened the night of Romain’s disappearance?
Romain left her home to get gas from a local station, where she knew the gas attendant and engaged in some normal, unhurried conversation with him. Then she drove to her church, the St. Paul Catholic Church in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, where she attended a prayer service until somewhere between 7:15 p.m. and 7:20 p.m., according to witnesses who saw her in one of the back pews. She left the church and headed out to her car.
A witness claims to have heard Romain’s car alarm go off for about 15 seconds around this time, but when the witness left the church, Romain’s car was nowhere to be seen.
Around 9:20 p.m., police showed up to tell Romain’s children that their mother was missing, and her Lexus had been found parked in the church’s driveway, approximately 100 feet from the lakeside, with her purse in the front seat. There was no sign of a struggle in or around the car, nor were there any usable fingerprints inside or outside the car, according to Richard Rosati, the detective lieutenant who did the fingerprinting.
Police found footprints and buttprints in the snow nearby, leading down to the lakeside. That night, the water was partially frozen and only a few feet deep, with no current. There was no broken ice or evidence that someone had entered the water. Supposedly, Romain had traversed the steep slope down to the lake in 4-inch heeled boots, and police said the prints looked like heeled boots, despite there being no 90-degree photographs taken that could have been enlarged and used to confirm Romain’s foot size and shoe.
Search and rescue was conducted, but no body was found in the lake that night, despite the lack of current. As one TV host put it, “If she went in here, she should’ve been here.”
It wasn’t until days later that her body was eventually found in Amherstburg, Ontario, on Boblo Island, 35 miles from where she supposedly entered the water.
Were there other details that made the case look like a homicide?
You bet—a whole list of them.
For one, Romain left behind no suicide note. She wasn’t on any medications for depression or anxiety or other mental health issues. She was also a devout Catholic, and her children believe her religious beliefs would have kept her from committing suicide.
Some other details make things especially sticky:
A week before her disappearance, Romain had contacted an investigator. She was acting nervous and scared but wouldn’t tell her family why.
Her boss at the boutique where she worked said she’d been taking more calls lately and had, at one point, thought her mail was being interdicted.
When her body was found, she had two bruises on her upper left arm.
Her purse, which her daughter claims was new, was ripped when it was found the night of her disappearance. Authorities claimed that wasn’t evidence because it wasn’t ripped at the strap.
Her car keys were found zipped up in her jacket, and her jacket was zipped up on her body, which apparently was not something she would have normally done.
Both her rosary and cell phone were missing from the body. A cell phone can be tracked, so supposedly a criminal would have wanted to get rid of it.
Her Lexus had to have left the church at some point and come back, or else the witness would have seen it in the driveway.
Who might have wanted to kill Romain?
This is where the episode dives headfirst into speculation, because there are currently no leads into a homicide investigation. But a few theories make some degree of sense.
First, Romain and her husband were separated and didn’t get along. He was apparently angry about the way things ended, so it’s possible he retaliated by killing her. But this appears to be the least likely theory.
Then there’s John Matouk, Romain’s brother. His interviews appear throughout the Unsolved Mysteries episode, and he too believes the death was caused by foul play. But he also admits to having a complicated past and owing a lot of people money. It’s possible, he says, that someone connected to him might have known about Romain’s financial assets, and they might have gone after Romain to get to him. “It’s possible that someone I had dealings with could have murdered JoAnn,” he said.
The third and final theory is that Tim Matouk, a cop and first cousin of Romain, had something to do with her death. They had an estranged relationship following a lawsuit among the Matouk family over inheritance, and they’d apparently gotten into an argument in the weeks leading up to Romain’s disappearance. At one point, Romain told her eldest daughter, “If something happens to me, look to Tim.”
Are there any details that Unsolved Mysteries doesn’t go into?
Yes—and they’re important.
One particularly chilling piece of evidence that Unsolved Mysteries never explores? Apparently, a witness saw Tim with Romain that night. According to CBS Local Detroit, a witness named Paul Hawk allegedly saw a dark-haired woman in black clothes sitting on the edge of Lake Saint Clair, and two men were standing nearby next to an illegally parked car. Hawk is apparently “positive” one of the men was Tim. But after giving police a statement, Hawk waited two years before a detective finally followed up, and the detective allegedly “became very aggressive when Mr. Hawk confirmed that he could positively identify the two men he saw on the evening of January 12, 2010, if he were to see them again or their pictures.”
Then again, retired FBI agent Bill Randall interviewed Tim and found nothing to indicate he had anything to do with her disappearance. Randall says he truly can’t figure out what happened to Romain.
Romain’s daughter, Michelle, also went on The Deep Dark Truth podcast and said that when police showed up at her door that fateful night, they told her their mother’s car had been found abandoned and that she was missing. But the thing was, the Lexus was registered to Michelle, not her mother. So when they ran the plates, how would police have known Romain was driving it?
Local law enforcement in Grosse Pointe Farms declined to be interviewed for Unsolved Mysteries, according to The Wrap.
Romain’s daughter told The Deep Dark Truth her theory: “We believe my mother uncovered something that she wasn’t supposed to know.”
You Might Also Like
