A new wave of Unsolved Mysteries are upon us...

Amanda Antoni was found in a massive pool of her own blood at the bottom of her basement staircase while her husband was out of town visiting his mother. She was last on heard on the phone yelling at her barking dog before the call unexpectedly cut off. When her husband returned home he let the dog out, a dining room chair overturned and her phone thrown across the room on the floor with the screen cracked.

Investigation quickly ruled out the husband and theories presented was that his sister had something done to her as revenge for CPS taking her kids away, a potential affair based on an underwear choice, transients via her back gate, or that her death was the result of an accidental fall since no other DNA was found in the basement other than hers.

What are everyone's thoughts?

Coming out of the episode I feel like per usual with the new show there's really not enough information given to form any specific theories, or jog any investigation. We don't really come away with knowing much about the victim and their life. What was her friends circle like? What were her extracurricular activities? How well was her cleaning business doing, did she have any weird customers?

The accidental fall theory certainly is possible. She could have sustained enough of a head injury that making it back up the stairs wasn't something she was able to do, or may have been too dazed to think to do. The phone being across the room doesn't negate this like the episode suggests, to me it goes to explain why it was shattered if as she fell it flew across the room. But why the dining room chair? (and why has no one since thought to put a railing over such an obvious drop point?!)

A potential killer would certainly have to be a master if they left zero DNA, prints, dirty shoe prints from the back yard, and zero entanglement with the big dog. Anything's possible but in this era to find absolutely nothing forensically of a second person is pretty hard to explain.

What doesn't make sense to me is how the piggy banks head got broken off...but there was dust on it etc like it hadn't been moved. (so wasn't used to hit her on the head). If the dog tripped her and she fell...how would that have broken the head off?
As far as her footprints at the bottom of the stairs...I think someone was still upstairs and that's why she didn't go up. Also explains why the pets didn't go down there with her.
But no dna anywhere...can't explain that.

My thing with the pets and the someone upstairs theory is if some stranger had attacked their owner it's super odd that the dog wouldn't have attacked them and left DNA or blood in the upstairs that way. As for why they didn't go down stairs .... pets can be weird? I once had a cat that was afraid to go into my bathroom because I got a new bath mat. I dunno. Maybe the blood scared them?

It's strange that they didn't find any foot prints from an attacker in the basement with her in all that blood, only her own. Also interesting that there apparently was no forced entry at the back door, since the question of if the husband unlocked it when he let the dog out was brought up. You'd assume if they had all these problems with transients in their yard they'd keep the backdoor locked.

Maybe she knocked and broke it as she fell? (or was pushed).

The thing for me with the dog tripping her thing is why would the dining room chair be flipped over. The phone is explainable IMO, the chair's strange for me. Stranger than missing the laundry pile.

This was a great episode. The teaser about this being a murder or accident was confusing to me because for the first 35 minutes or so there is no way you would think this was an accident. The complete lack of any foreign or unknown DNA, fingerprints, blood, etc. tells me that this woman unfortunately tripped, probably face first (which she landed on the piggy bank head first and pushed it back into the wall but the railing probably protected it from falling off of that ledge) and then fell down the stairs. She obviously woke up at some point and wandered around, probably in a complete daze.

The dog didn't go down in the basement because it was scared (the scream, the woman falling, the blood). Probably the same for the cat. Dog could have knocked the chair over also. There is no real plausible scenario that exists in which she was murdered. Yes, someone could have pushed her. But then they just wait around, without ever going into the basement to make sure she was dead, and wait it out? What sense does this make? "She didn't want to go upstairs because her killer was up there" is absurd. This person didn't just stand at the top of the stairs for the entire weekend. They would have had to have used the bathroom or eaten at some point. I suppose it is possible that someone she knew pushed her and they fled in a panic and got lucky that she never made it out of the basement and died...but who would have had the motive to do so?

I lean towards accident. No evidence of an intruder. She was on the phone and didn't say anything like "Who are you, why are you in my house?".
She wasn't talking to anyone that she would have let in the house. No evidence of an argument with someone in the house like the sister-in-law. Just a noise, then the phone cut out.
Most likely an accident.

So full disclosure I havent seen this. I did have Netflix when the first series was out and wasnt impressed, as most things Netflix they seemed to stretch 15 minutes of content to an hour with lots of drone shots/atmosphere. Nice to look at but not much substance.

So I looked at the case online and trying to not spoil it, it isnt exactly unsolved.

https://x.com/CalgaryPolice/status/1818710706893865425

It seems like there are some interesting/puzzling things aspects to it but for my money there are so many cases out there that could possibly generate a lead or whatever to actually gain information on.

The reality is though that they are doing this for entertainment purposes first, not advancing a case, at least for the true crime segments.

I lean towards accident. No evidence of an intruder. She was on the phone and didn't say anything like "Who are you, why are you in my house?".
She wasn't talking to anyone that she would have let in the house. No evidence of an argument with someone in the house like the sister-in-law. Just a noise, then the phone cut out.
Most likely an accident.

I concur. Let me add some other items/thoughts in here. For both sides.

1) That stairway is a freaking death trap. Good Lord. Who in their right mind builds something like that? What's wrong with you Canada? Make you builders put rails in. That was halfway a damn hole in the floor.

2) Boo on UM because they didn't give the explanation for the COD. It was exsanguination (Blood loss) but.. Why? the head injury wasn't bad enough for that. I *THINK* I saw when they scanned over some documents, like the autopsy report something about the femoral artery Which.. Now.. THAT certainly would cause the amount of blood we saw. Can someone answer WHY she bled to death? Am I right about the femoral artery?

3) If it was a torn femoral artery.. She would have had about 15 minutes to live on the outside.. 5 minutes of consciousness, most likely. And, since she was alone.. 5 minutes. With the head injury, which, likely was a pretty bad concussion.. I totally buy the 'woozy and confused'

4) Some of the blood spray and locations.. Don't add up with accident. I mean, there was blood on every wall and it looked like on the ceiling, even.

5) They had the footprints.. Footprints are like finger/handprints. They never mentioned if they tested and confirmed, those were HER footprints in the blood.

6) The 'smears' in the blood.. Seizure? Certainly a possibility with the blood loss.

7) The dog(s) are the biggest sticking point for me. That's.. strange. I SUPPOSED it's possible that the dog was the cause of the fall and it felt guilty.. Maybe it came down the stairs, but didn't get on the floor.. Maybe that's why her footprints (we assume) went to the stairs.. The dog was coming downstairs and she sent it back up? Didn't want it tracking blood through the house?

8) The overturned chair.. That bugs me, too.. The phone, I can kinda buy.. She's going ass over teakettle and the arms would flair wildly.. The phone certainly could have been thrown during that time.. but.. The chair.. That needs an answer. Phone thrown wouldn't have knocked that over. Maybe she was going after the dog to get it to stop barking, tipped the chair at that time? I can come up with ways that happens, but.. It gets into that 'reaching' area a bit.. Not nice, clean with a bow on top.

9) Where is the blood on the stairs? if her head hit the piggy bank.. She still had to continue falling down.. Seems there should have been some blood there.


All told.. Based on the evidence.. Accident certainly seems to be the most likely.. But.. There are certainly things that don't fit nicely into a package about that theory. It's just.. There's too many things that don't match intruder for that to be more likely in my eyes.

One other note.. The neighbors with the idea that the dog was barking a "Get out of here" bark.. I'd say that bark can EASILY be confused with a "My master is badly hurt and i'm scared" bark. I think what they heard was the dog barking after she went down the stairs.

I got no problem with those who think this is nefarious.. I don't agree with you, but, hey.. Not going to say you're crazy for thinking it. Unless you're pointing at the husband, who.. good Lord, UM.. You tried to lead us down that road and swerved us, didn't you? Notice how they didn't bring him in the story for about 15 minutes, talked to amanda's brothers who basically said "We thought it COULD have been him" before dropping in "Nope, no way it was him".

One other note.. The neighbors with the idea that the dog was barking a "Get out of here" bark.. I'd say that bark can EASILY be confused with a "My master is badly hurt and i'm scared" bark. I think what they heard was the dog barking after she went down the stairs.



Or maybe just "hey get away from the back fence, stranger."

I've wondered if the broken piggybank might be unrelated to her death at all. Perhaps she broke it accidentally and tried putting it back together, but it didn't work.

I've wondered if the broken piggybank might be unrelated to her death at all. Perhaps she broke it accidentally and tried putting it back together, but it didn't work.

The dent in the drywall behind it, as well as the pieces of it on the stairs is good enough for me that it was.. 'involved' in the incident.

Does seem.. A bit of a stretch that it'd get hit so perfectly to break and remain on the shelf, yet, so far as I could tell.. No pieces of it remained on the shelf..

That's why I only say accident seems most plausible. I wouldn't say I was certain it was an accident.. Just.. The evidence most points to that for me.

The dent in the drywall behind it, as well as the pieces of it on the stairs is good enough for me that it was.. 'involved' in the incident.

Does seem.. A bit of a stretch that it'd get hit so perfectly to break and remain on the shelf, yet, so far as I could tell.. No pieces of it remained on the shelf..

That's why I only say accident seems most plausible. I wouldn't say I was certain it was an accident.. Just.. The evidence most points to that for me.

They indicated in the episode that there were pieces of the piggy bank in her forehead.

This episode was fascinating and it scared the heck out of me. Gave me the "are my doors locked" vibes like the show used to do back in the day.

So there are some things that I can't explain, but this appears to me to be an accident.

That stairway down into the basement is freaking BANANAS. If my basement stairs were like that it would be a matter of time before I sailed down them into the basement.

What it boils down to is that there is zero evidence that anyone was in the house. The idea that a killer could have left no blood, no finger prints, no shoe prints, no DNA -- at all in that mess of a basement crime scene doesn't work for me.

I get the idea she fell into that - accident waiting to happen - stairway entry and hit the piggy bank head first before falling down the stairs into the basement. Confused/knocked silly, who knows, she managed to bleed out over time, while she obviously walked around the basement.

I don't know about anyone else's pets but my dog freaks out when I go anywhere but when I go to my basement he stands at the top and whines until I come back up. And cats have basically entered meme status in regard them not caring what happens to their owners.

What I can't explain is the ending to the phone call or the broken phone or the tipped over chair and why there was SO much blood from a head wound.

I suppose she could have fallen out of the chair at the table, sending her phone flying, and hit her head on the kitchen floor?

They don't fully mention how broken her phone was but i've cracked a phone screen pretty good dropping it straight out of my hand. Perhaps the fall from the chair banged her head and it led to her falling down the stairs?

Someone above mentioned something about a torn femoral artery -- that would certainly explain the blood loss all over the basement, but I think someone else mentioned -- a torn femoral artery isn't something that affords you the ability to amble around your basement over time spilling and dropping blood in various splatter forms. It's a quick thing.

Usually when they air these it takes a week or so before the "What UM Left Out" hit the streets so I do look forward to any more info. All in all, this was a great episode. It's not Classic UM of course but it's good tv.

What doesn't make sense to me is how the piggy banks head got broken off...but there was dust on it etc like it hadn't been moved. (so wasn't used to hit her on the head). If the dog tripped her and she fell...how would that have broken the head off?


From what they showed...I don't think the head broke off. To me it looked like there was a 'conical' break in the side of it. If someone told me that it was head butted I would 100% believe it.

Seems too much of a stretch the dog and cats would have been in the house for more than a whole day without going down into the basement, without some external factor stopping them.

Possible external factors:

Drugged animals - nah.

Someone in the house the whole time, keeping them out until the husband arrived. This would only be possible if they left just before the husband arrived home - which wouldn't make sense - no reason for an unknown intruder to do that. Unless it was the sister (not enough info given on why they excluded her as a possibility) and she knew when he was about to return, or was expecting him because he was in on it.

Or the sister did it on her own, and was there when he arrived home and he chased her out, then discovered his wife dead, and didn't want to get his sister in trouble, until it looked like he'd be taking the blame for it. Then he starts suggesting his sister to the police. It's possible the sister could have kept the pets outside for most of the time, until before she left. Or she locked them out when she left. Or the pets came inside when victim's husband, Lee, came home. He could have left this information out when he was interrogated.

Or his sister (or any assailant/stranger) could have done it by accident, attacking but not expecting to kill her, then freaked out and left, locking the animals outside, and the husband didn't notice the animals were outside and followed him in.

With no prints on anything, the intruder/assailant could have worn gloves, Amanda gets up from her chair in a hurry, knocking it over, or the dog does, the assailant smashes the phone out of her hand, attacks her, pushing her backward, perhaps hits Amanda in the head with a weapon, Amanda's head or other body-part hits the piggy-bank, and fragments are imbedded in her, as she falls down the stairs. It's also possible that she was dragged/carried down the stairs and kicked or flailed, getting fragments of the pig in her body. The assailant didn't need to step into the basement. They could hit or push her from the base of the stairs if Amanda tried to come back up. After it's clear Amanda's dead, they have no reason to stay to make sure the animals don't go down there (unless someone asked them to keep an eye on the dogs) - so it's either a person who knows the dogs, who's going to keep an eye on them, or the dogs get locked outside until the husband gets home. If you never go into the basement and don't touch anything, then you've only got footprints (of normal dirt from outside) to clean up. That shouldn't be difficult.

Can't remember if they said she was sexually assaulted. They did say her pants were partially pulled down. Could be she was attacked when on the toilet?

Could be a complete stranger, planning to sexually assault her, before things got competely nuts. They leave the house, with the animals outside.

These are all stupid/weird ideas, but the whole circumstance, no matter what the explanation is weird.


Or husband and his sister planned it for when he was away, giving him an alibi. He tells the police all the gas stations he stopped at along the way so they can check the CCTV footage. His sister shows up and kills her and they text back and forth, using Amanda's phone. He phones his sister. We only have his word that it was Amanda he spoke with. His sister smashes the phone after the call. Sister either stays in the house until he arrives, stopping the pets from going down there, and cleaning up any possible areas where prints might be left. She never goes into the basement. It seems unlikely she'd stay in the house a whole day and a half with the pets without feeding them, and also wait for her brother, but if she has drug issues, you never know wtf she's thinking. She could have locked them outside straight after pushing Amanda down the stairs, then left. When Lee came home and walked in, he'd then let the animals in with him - we only know they were in the house when he found her because he says they were in the house. They may have been outside the whole time.

Maybe Lee killed her before he left, and locked the animals outside? And had his sister at the house do the phone text thing?

Was the husband's mother interrogated? What if the person on CCTV footage is just someone who looks like the husband, who took the husband's phone to use as an alibi, while the husband stayed at home, killed the wife, and they texted back and forth?

Or husband gets someone else (not his sister) to take care of it. Using methods mentioned above.

I lean more towards it being an accident although a few things don’t make sense. The chair for one. The dogs not going there make me wonder they didn’t although they could have just been scared. If someone else was there my guess is they pushed her.

I’ve had an iPhone get cracked from just dropping a foot from the ground so they can crack easy. Did they say how many feet away the phone was?

With the dogs barking before the line went blank makes me wonder if someone did come into the house. I’ve had someone break into my house and there was absolutely no evidence like finger prints, dna, hair etc, there was nothing. Only reason I knew they came in was due to having two outdoor cameras that recorded when motion was triggered.

It’s possible someone came into her house even without leaving finger prints
etc.

Usually when they air these it takes a week or so before the "What UM Left Out" hit the streets so I do look forward to any more info. All in all, this was a great episode. It's not Classic UM of course but it's good tv.


I've become so used to that with regards to the Netflix-era that I went looking myself. There's really nothing in any of the media articles, local or national, going back to the incident that wasn't in the episode that I could easily find. One article mentioned that she used to fill backpacks full of supplies and give them out to homeless people in town -- possible stalker could have come from that I suppose but I always come back to the lack of any evidence of a second person. No DNA on the body or in the blood castings, no foot prints in a bloody mess, finger prints, saliva, SA, evidence of a break in, and how would a person keep animals out of an open concept basement for days without eating or being attacked by the dog or using the washroom and thus leaving DNA?

how would a person keep animals out of an open concept basement for days without eating or being attacked by the dog or using the washroom and thus leaving DNA?

My dog follows me everywhere - except for the bathroom and the basement. I am 100% certain I could die in either room and he wouldn't come to me.

Ok, this was an enthralling case, but I do think it was an accident.

Trying to get all the evidence to fit, she is sitting on a dining room chair talking to her husband when someone comes up and knocks on the door, maybe someone getting in the yard to steal cans as stated in the episode, but the dog is going nuts. Maybe the person that is seen running(if that was that night) was the person stealing cans in the back yard running scared because the dog barking that aggressively scared them into thinking they were about to be caught) She starts yelling at the dog to stop, and dog going crazy knocks the phone out of her hand. She stands up to see what dog is doing but is a little angry the dog knocked phone out and knocks the chair down in her rush of standing(another thing could be the dog knocked it over at some point, he was pretty big), and then as she goes to see what the dog is doing, she trips, be it over the dog, be it dog jumps up on her excitedly and pushes her, be it the cat running away from the loud dog barking and she trips over it, be it in her anger at the dog takes a misstep and trips over her own feet, but one way or another she trips and falls to the basement directly into the piggy bank, which stabs her in the face and probably, unlucky for her, in a major artery. She falls backwards down the steps. In shock at first, she stands up and staggers to the steps, not realizing how bad she is. With blood gushing out of her. She walks to the steps but starts getting light headed. She falls down and dies in the spot she was found. Animals not going to the basement may not be weird. Depends if they went to basement before I guess. Like if the pets never went to basement before, itÂ’s not that odd they wouldnÂ’t have here.

It is sad for sure and it makes you wonder why there was no railing on those steps, but I think with the evidence, and the fact there was no dna evidence found in the basement or seemingly on her at all(and strange that they would have tried to rob a house with that big of a dog barking at them and not been scared, but meh), it just seems this may have been an unfortunate accident.

I do understand though where the family is coming from or anyone thinking that this was a murder. For me though, it is just so hard to find no evidence and seemingly nothing missing from the house and all the injuries coming from items in the house to call this a murder. Sad case.

I lean more towards it being an accident although a few things don’t make sense. The chair for one. The dogs not going there make me wonder they didn’t although they could have just been scared. If someone else was there my guess is they pushed her.

I’ve had an iPhone get cracked from just dropping a foot from the ground so they can crack easy. Did they say how many feet away the phone was?

With the dogs barking before the line went blank makes me wonder if someone did come into the house. I’ve had someone break into my house and there was absolutely no evidence like finger prints, dna, hair etc, there was nothing. Only reason I knew they came in was due to having two outdoor cameras that recorded when motion was triggered.

It’s possible someone came into her house even without leaving finger prints
etc.

According to the husband.. Well, he didn't MENTION anything about the dog being 'scared' of the basement.. Which.. One might think he'd bring up.. Of course, he seems to think that someone else was involved, so.. He could be excluding that piece of evidence to bolster his case. We see that one all the time here.. People mention everything that backs up their theory, but leave out everything that points away from it.

Confirmation bias is a very real thing.

They didn't say how far the phone was, but they showed the crime scene photo, and it was.. A good 10 feet from the stairs..

Breaking into a house and not leaving prints or other evidence, I would submit, is a whole lot easier than killing someone and leaving no evidence. Especially when it was an 'up close and personal' killing. And, if this was a killing, it certainly was up close and personal.

The only POSSIBLE indication of an intruder.. Physical evidence we're talking here.. Is the smears in the blood. Which.. Could have other answers. A seizure as she bled out, for example.. And, if not from that, perhaps from the head injury.. Though.. It seems that wasn't overly severe.

One other thing that wasn't made clear in the episode.. All those footprints in the basement.. A foot print is just as good as a palm print for ID purposes.. I assume all those footprints were hers.. But.. They didn't say that if they were, either that or I missed it. But, I have to believe that was checked and they were all hers.

My dog follows me everywhere - except for the bathroom and the basement. I am 100% certain I could die in either room and he wouldn't come to me.

Again, the husband didn't seem to leave this open as a possibility.. But.. As mentioned.. The absence of him mentioning that doesn't prove anything one way or the other.

Dogs can be funny animals. Mine won't cross one specific section of tiled flooring in my house. Will walk all through the kitchen, which is the exact same tile.. But.. I have a section of tile leading to a bedroom, my office and a bathroom.. Dog will not set foot on that tile no matter what. So.. Yeah.. I think we have to consider that maybe his timing is a bit off so far as what he heard and when the line went dead.

The back door.. I suspect.. Was locked. That's something he mentioned he wishes he remembered/checked. He just let the dog out when he got back home.. I think, it probably was locked.. But, even if it wasn't.. It doesn't really mean anything.

Wow this is one unusual case. Kind of an all-timer for ones presented under the UM banner.

Are they implying, subtly, at the end that the dog did it? Like maybe the dog lost its mind for a minute and attacked Amanda and that is why she dropped the phone and maybe that's why the chair got flipped over, and she fell down the stairs trying to get away and then the dog stayed away from her and she bled to death because she was down in the basement afraid to go near the dog again?

Wow this is one unusual case. Kind of an all-timer for ones presented under the UM banner.

Are they implying, subtly, at the end that the dog did it? Like maybe the dog lost its mind for a minute and attacked Amanda and that is why she dropped the phone and maybe that's why the chair got flipped over, and she fell down the stairs trying to get away and then the dog stayed away from her and she bled to death because she was down in the basement afraid to go near the dog again?

Don't think there's any real thought that the dog attacked her.

But.. I, at least, would leave open the possibility that the dog got underfoot and perhaps led to her haeder down the stairs.

The dog was barking while they were on the phone.. Why? No idea. For all we know, a squirrel was sitting at the back door mocking the dog..

So.. She's telling the dog to stop barking.. She goes over to get the dog, it pulls to go running up to the squirrel at the door again, throws her off balance.. Down the stairs she goes?

So.. In that vein.. There is some belief that the dog could have some responsibility.. But.. Not that the dog attacked her.

What a case.

I made the mistake of watching it at something like 1am, so there was a nice nostalgia feeling of being scared out of my mind...

I think the crime scene is horrific and terrifying. That being said... I don't see how this is NOT an accident. I lean with everyone else on here who has said "head injury and she was too dazed to get up the stairs."

DID the episode mention if her femoral artery had been cut? That would be a pretty obvious reason for a person to bleed to death and would explain the amount of blood found in the basement.

I have a friend who was walking with her dog near a river. The dog bumped into her and she went into the river very quickly (she was fine, other than spraining her knee.) My friend's dog is a medium sized dog. I also have a medium sized dog who has almost knocked me down my own patio stairs. I have no problem believing she and the dog crossed paths and she tripped over him, falling down the stairs. Depending on HOW she fell down the stairs, I think she could have missed the laundry basket entirely. (I say that because some emphasis was placed on the laundry basket not being tipped over.)

In my mind, she falls down the stairs and goes into the wall with the piggy bank headfirst, causing a head injury. From there, I can't explain the blood loss, which is why I'm curious about an earlier comment regarding her femoral artery.

There is no mention of defensive wounds or stab wounds, etc. The only blood found at the scene was hers. No other DNA was present. I don't see this being an intruder.

What a case.

I made the mistake of watching it at something like 1am, so there was a nice nostalgia feeling of being scared out of my mind...

I think the crime scene is horrific and terrifying. That being said... I don't see how this is NOT an accident. I lean with everyone else on here who has said "head injury and she was too dazed to get up the stairs."

DID the episode mention if her femoral artery had been cut? That would be a pretty obvious reason for a person to bleed to death and would explain the amount of blood found in the basement.

I have a friend who was walking with her dog near a river. The dog bumped into her and she went into the river very quickly (she was fine, other than spraining her knee.) My friend's dog is a medium sized dog. I also have a medium sized dog who has almost knocked me down my own patio stairs. I have no problem believing she and the dog crossed paths and she tripped over him, falling down the stairs. Depending on HOW she fell down the stairs, I think she could have missed the laundry basket entirely. (I say that because some emphasis was placed on the laundry basket not being tipped over.)

In my mind, she falls down the stairs and goes into the wall with the piggy bank headfirst, causing a head injury. From there, I can't explain the blood loss, which is why I'm curious about an earlier comment regarding her femoral artery.

There is no mention of defensive wounds or stab wounds, etc. The only blood found at the scene was hers. No other DNA was present. I don't see this being an intruder.

I brought that part up and i *THINK* it did.. Didn't say it, but when they were flashing part about the autopsy report on the screen, I swear I remember seeing a line about the femoral artery.

I need to watch it again to see if I really saw that or if I'm just making things up again.

Femoral artery would explain the amount of blood.. Would explain her being very 'loopy' from blood loss very quickly.. Would explain quite a bit.

Though.. I would have to say that it'd be exceedingly rare that a fall would tear that artery. Though, i suppose, a handrail or similar could puncture the leg and damage the artery.

From the new Netflix version of Unsolved Mysteries, which I like watching as well. This one is beyond perplexing. Happened in 2015, a husband is gone for the weekend, his wife has a migraine and stays behind. He calls her Saturday night, their dog is barking in the background and all of the sudden the call ends. He never gets a hold of her after that and he returns Monday. Her phone is on the ground smashed, a chair in the kitchen is tipped over and she is found in the basement with blood all over the basement and she died of a loss of blood.

The husband is more or less cleared, he is where he says he is over the weekend and there was no evidence he made a call to hire a hit on his wife. No affairs, no drug deal gone wrong, no revenge killing, nothing.

Two possibilities, one is that Amanda tripped on the top of the stairs and fell. Leaving herself bloodied, possibly disorientated. However in two days she never once tries to climb back up the stairs? Also, there are pets in the house, a dog specifically. He never comes down to check on her? There are no paw prints in the blood - which is all over the rug downstairs - and there are also no DNA evidence that someone else was even in the home. The idea is that Amanda was possibly pushed downstairs and the reason the pets never came to check on her is that the killer(s) were still in the house making sure that happened. Man, if that is the case that is cold but that is also calculated and well planned out. And it would have to be someone that knew her husband was gone the weekend. Her husband claims that his troubled sister might be involved in it since they had called Social services on her about their niece. Either way, nothing. Even Amanda's family didn't seem to blame the husband. She was alive for a while after she fell, but how can an accidental fall like that create so much blood?

None of it makes sense. Someone had to have done that. And yet there is no evidence that anyone was in the house. Neighbors corroborate the story that the dog was barking in a menacing way. Thoughts?

Death by piggy bank? I'm not sure what to think.

I am not saying it was an accident, nor am I saying it wasn't. My concern is the animals - especially the dog - don't go downstairs for two days? Cats sure, cats are stuck up animals that would let you bleed out and die. Dogs though? Not once in all of the time the dog realizes she is hurt does he come down and even just look? That is hard to believe. Just other things that bug me about this too. He hears the phone cut out, and he does check up again. Doesn't think much of it, maybe the battery died out. Alright fine. But the next day wouldn't you at least call her brothers or other family or friends to check up on her? I get that he has guilt over it and such.

And back to the dog. He is inside for two days. He would be hungry, he'd be thirsty, he'd have to badly go to the bathroom. He never goes down in the basement even just to see if she's there? I assume the lights wouldn't be on down there so maybe that was something the dog would never do anyway, but he knows she's down there. I just find that strange. And that was a LOT of blood for an accident.

One thing never talked about was a suicide. And I don't see anything to support that either, but I am surprised it was never brought up. Is it possible that there was a struggle, she was pushed and the perpetrator then fled the house not knowing the result? Just out of sheer luck he finds out she dies on her own and that the animals never come down there to investigate leaving the accident theory open. It would explain the cell phone and the chair toppled over. But I will say this, a chair toppled over at the table doesn't necessarily equate anything. The dog could have done that even over the two days he was by himself. He may have been a little frantic in the home.

And that staircase, thank heavens they didn't have babies yet because that is a death trap without any railing there.

I never heard of this case before and it sure is puzzling. Where was the piggy bank? On the ground? What would it be doing there? Or was she holding it? I'm so confused about this case.

I read up on this case just now, I do find it very strange the dog didn't go down there?

There's not many cases on Netflix UM that really deserve the classic UM treatment, but I think this is one of the few due to the twists and turns. This case stands out to me because the police were certain enough early on that this was a suspicious death to say so to the media, even though they hadn't received the forensic analysis back at that point. That seems to have stopped everything cold and the consensus is this was a tragic accident, but the main investigator walked that back a little in the segment, leaving the possibility open that it wasn't (he was questioning how Anna never made it up any stairs, but her footprint was right there against the bottom stair).

I don't believe it is necessarily iron-clad that this was an accident, but I think the idea of a random attack from a transient or it being Lee's sister can be ruled out because neither would be crafty enough to leave no evidence behind.

The images of the blood all over the walls and floor is what stops me from joining the "this was definitely an accident" chorus. If you fell down the stairs and hit your head that seems unlikely that you'd be mobile enough to smear blood essentially all over the basement, but not able to ascend any of the stairs at all.

This is an edited post of a reply I made re: this case on another site not long after initially seeing the Netflix UM episode - soon after it was released. I recently re-watched the episode, and my opinion had not changed here:

The UM episode focusing on the tragic AA Canadian case, "Body in the Basement" was one of the better episodes in this series. I honestly had never heard about this case before seeing the episode.

I believe this was just a tragic, horrific accident. I don't believe foul play/a stranger in the house were involved at all. And, it was proven that the husband had nothing to do with this, given that he had an alibi - i.e., he was out of town @ the time AA died.

Here is my take on this. Obviously, this is all IMHO only:

I believe that AA was either:

1) Impaired/disoriented due to the migraine & the drugs she took (for the migraine) & that this led to her tripping/falling down the basement steps - or,
2) The other possible explanation(s) are that she simply tripped on her dog/lost her balance due to tripping on something else.

The fall down the long flight of steps to the basement resulted in her extremely severe, fatal injuries. After she ended up on the floor in the basement - it looks like she briefly got up & walked around. And, I believe that soon after she succumbed due to the head injuries/blood loss. I have known of at least one case where someone did die from falling down their steps (resulting in a head injury), so this is absolutely possible.

Her clothes being in disarray could have been something she did herself due to her disorientation. I.e., the clothes being this way doesn't mean that someone else did this to her.

The dog not going down the steps to check up on AA is inconsequential. It may have been spooked/scared due to the noise(s) caused by the fall; the smell of blood, etc.

Also:

-AA showed no signs of assault.
-There was no evidence of any DNA/fingerprints of anyone in the basement - other than AA & her husband. Going along with this, there was no sign of forced entry into the home, and it didn't appear that anything had been stolen.