This case has bothered me for a long long time and (as is human nature) I find myself trying to play investigator to find out what really happened to Cindy James. I've got some questions for people in the know on this case (Kane, crystaldawn, dynoguy are you out there?)
BTW I've never read either book about the case so please forgive my ignorance...

1) UM mentions that the harassment started 4 months after her divorce from her husband. My question is does anyone know if this was a messy divorce? i.e. could her ex have possibly been involved?

2) Cindy was a nurse, which (I say this tongue-in-cheek) seems to be the career of choice for women whose murder cases are profiled on UM. Is it possible that Cindy could have had bad blood with a fellow employee (like nurse Mary McGinnes Morris who worked with a man who was constantly trying to have her fired shortly before she was murdered)? Perhaps as in the case of nurse Debbie Wolfe a co-worker or volunteer at the hospital became enraged after a newly single Cindy James rejected his advances?

I find it impossible to believe that Cindy could have done any of this to herself. Yes she might have needed medical help, but I would have gone crazy too if no one believed me after 7 years of torture. What do the rest of you think?

Yes, I'm here! I've actually read both of the books about this case. They make her ex-husband out to sound very strange, and I always thought he could have played a role in the harassment. It seems to be more than a coincidence that the harassment started after she started divorce proceedings (I believe it was her that initiated them). I really don't know why UM didn't even mention her ex-husband or that he could have been a possible suspect in her harassment. We might be in the minority, but I agree with you that she couldn't have done all those things to herself.

On an unrelated note concerning whether it was murder or suicide. The books did mention an interesting fact concerning her. Obviously the police spent a lot of time at her house with all the times she called them to report the harassment and the times the police staked out her house in hopes of catching someone. She did become romantically involved with one of the cops. Of course there was never any mention that he had anything to do with the crimes and I'm sure he wasn't a suspect. If I recall correctly they had cooled off their relationship well before she died.

Cindy and her husband Roy Makepeace actually seperated 3 months before the harassment began. They didn't get divorced until a few years later. When they seperated, it wasn't really messy at all. In fact, they actually dated on and off for a little while after she moved to her own place. Otherwise, they remained friends and even double dated at times with other partners. It wasn't until 3 or 4 years later that their relationship became strained. Almost always, she never thought that Roy was behind the harassment. But after a few years, when it started to get worse, I believe the police really convinced her that he was responsible. I myself don't believe he was responsible. Several incidents even happened while he was out of the country and other times, people could vouch for his whereabouts. He was an odd man but he didn't seem like a killer. And what would the motive be?

Cindy was an administrator at a medical house for children with behaviorial and emotional disorders. She was very well liked by all of her co-workers. I believe she only fired one person during the entire time that she worked there. And that happened several years before the harassment began. This is really the only other theory where someone else might of had it in for her but nobody would ever have known.

I find it odd that a suspect was never caught or seen. But the police automatically believed that Cindy was doing these things to herself. If that were the case, how come they could never in 7 whole years ever catch her in the act? They couldn't be THAT dumb.

You should really read the book(s). They give plenty of details that were never mentioned in the Unsolved Mysteries segment. I'd be happy to answer any other questions, though from what I can remember.

The male co-worker in the Mary Mcginnis Morris case got several paniced phone calls from his other nurse co-worker alleging that Mary Morris had missed a blood draw (which is nothing - everyone does) but then elected to put the empty vials in her pocket and then typed up a fake lab report with arbitrary, normal values. This could be dangerous. This happened on the employee's last day of work before his vacation. I think he did the proper thing in reporting it. Maybe the people that called him were trying to set him up. ie- the report of the fake lab report was a lie.

I have read the book as well and i believe it is one of two things:

1. Cindy James did this to herself or..
2. Someone within the police department was doing it to her. There is just no way after reading that book that an perpitrator could of gotten away with all the survelliance, wire tapping, etc being done for her.

Two points i want to bring up too. In the book everytime that Cindy is found beaten up or stabbed, its always when a friend or someone was suppose to meet her that night. So if this guy came and did this on a night that no one was coming over she would of never been found.

Also, I found it strange that one time the police had video at the house, the "perpitrator" was able to still assault her without being seen and every phone message ended right before it could be traced.

This had to be done by someone within the investigation or Cindy herself.

Just my two cents...

Wow..interesting theory, ddelta, about a cop possibly being responsible. It IS possible....For God's sake, someone killed her and its odd that forensics/criminalistics cannot prove wether she could have killed herslef or not. Is there anyone in her family who would lobby to get her case re-opened? I dont care what the cops declared her case, this one is "cold". BTW...what are the names of thos ebooks you guys mentioned? Thanks..

I can only remember one of the books and the title is "The Deaths of Cindy James" by Neal Hall. He is the reporter who was interviewed in the UM segment. You can probably get a copy really cheap on the internet. (biblio.com has one for 2.95)

Thanks, Crystaldawn. I'm a book freak and appreciate the link to buy books for cheap:)).