Tony Lombardi

[kadrmas15]

This case was on UM yesterday. 22 year old Tony Lombardi Jr was found dead in his bedroom by his mother in August of 1990. The police of course came over and instantly ruled it suicide. The police said the reason why he killed himself was because he was depressed over getting arrested for drunk driving two days earlier and having his corvette impounded. Let me tell you, I have been arrested for drunk driving myself once, and it does stink it is embarassing and it makes you feel stupid. BUT I would certainly never kill myself over something like that and I cant imagine anyone else that would.

There was so much to this case that tells me it wasnt suicide. This young man had no obvious signs of depression, he was popular with many people, especially the ladies and had a couple of women he was seeing at the time of his death. Tony was found naked in his room. His mother said that Tony was the type that he wouldnt sleep naked. She also said his head was on top of two pillows and that the bullethole was in the headboard in a place that was below the pills. There were obvious defensive wounds on Tony's knuckles and he also had a gash on his chest I think. It was obvious that at least one person had been holding him down forcibly. Where the gun landed was questionable as well. The cops said that he killed himself also because he had traces of metal on his hands. Yet Tony worked in a factory where he constantly handled metal cans.

The creepy thing was when Tony's mom came home and saw his light off with the door closed. She actually went about the house and did her nightly chores and she actually went into her bedroom and shut the door and was laying in bed reading or something right before she was going to go to bed. She then heard the door open and close and she heard footsteps. She assumed it was Tony coming home. She got up and went out into the hallway and saw his door closed but the light was now on. She knocked on the door a couple of times opened it and went in the room and what a sight she saw. She called the cops and I think they estimated Tony had been dead for at least 5 hours. That is scary to think that the footsteps Tony's mom heard was his killer. Why the killer was hanging out in Tony's room for hours after the murder is what I dont understand.

I think the killer was the boyfriend of one of Tony's girlfriends. Remember one of Tony's girlfriends was with another man at the same time she was seeing Tony and this man did not like her seeing another man. Tony tried to mediate the situation and this man had told Tony's friend "Tony is going to get what is coming to him." That doesnt look good and I am surprised the cops never investigated it. I know Tony's friend said the cops never interviewed him, never even attempted to contact him. This seems like another example of shotty police work. A case where the cops instantly decide it is suicide and basically either dont have the manpower or just dont want to investigate and spend all the time on it so they just label it suicide to make it easy. Kind of reminds me of the Danny Williams case in terms of the cops labeling an obvious murder, suicide.

[kadrmas15]

I believe this case occurred in August of 1990 in Westerville, Ohio which is on the very northeastern corner of the Columbus metro area. Westerville is what many thought was a nice suburb and has a population of about 35,000. I believe that the law enforcement agencies involved in this case were the Westerville Police Department and the Franklin County Sheriff's Department. I dont know the reputations of these law enforcement agencies but after this case I dont think too highly of either one.

[peachysquirt21]

I have never believed he commited suicide. One of the things that sticks out in this case is why would anyone get naked to commit suicide. That is just ridiculous. Of all the suicide cases I have heard & read about. Not one case the person has been naked. I think the police just decided this was a suicide & didnt wanna bother with doing a further investigation. I still cannot believe they can say this is a suicide & to think people are gonna believe that it was. I believe Tony was murdered & it's really sad that his family cannot get some closure on what really happened to him.

[kadrmas15]

Yes! I had forgotten that point. I have never heard of anyone killing themselves while they were naked either. Tony's mother also said that he would never let family members or other see him naked. I think this was a major screw up on the part of the Westerville, Ohio Police Department. This is so obviously not a suicide though. As I said above, a guy had threatened to kill Tony and a friend of Tony's had even talked to this same man and the man told Tony's friend "Tony is going to get what is coming to him." Supposedly the cops never pursued the theory of homicide and never even interviewed Tony's friend or the man that had threatened Tony. I think the cops from the time they got there were dead set on suicide and werent going to be driven off that point. That one detective lied his tail off. "All unexplained deaths are considered homicides until they are proven otherwise." How was it proved suicide? I guess that is what I am wondering with this. The cops theory was Tony killed himself because he was depressed about getting arrested for drunk driving two days before his death. Getting a dui is depressing but I have never heard of anyone killing themselves after getting one. I am sure the cops never backed off their conclusion and I was surprised the coroner also ruled it suicide despite the defense wounds on Tony's body.

[Aaron321]

Why isn't there more investigtation into these possible suspects.i mean this comment:"Tony is going to get what is coming to him."should've been a red alert from his friend.I mean obviously his friend probably thought the guy would just beat Tony up or something not murder him. and at the very least would warn his friend,hey so and so said you better stop messing with his girlfriend or he's gonna give you trouble.have police questioned this guy,alibi,etc.?did they dust the room for fingerprints,etc?were neighbors questioned about seeing anyone leaving the house from the front,back,or out a window as it looked like his room was on an upper floor?we are not hearing the whole story which leads me to believe it was suicide.

[kadrmas15]

I just dont buy it was suicide. This young man had no reason to kill himself. Tony was aware that this guy was angry with him. I think Tony thought that too that if the guy would ever come after him that he would just try to beat him up or something and not kill him. Tony was the one that asked his friend to mediate the situation between him and this other guy. When his friend talked to the guy, the guy said "I have no problem with you, there is nothing to talk about. Tony is going to get what is coming to him." That comment should send up a red flag in anyones mind. Clearly something is missing here. You hear stuff from Tony's parents, you hear stuff from the police.

I guess I didnt find it acceptable, the ruling of suicide, because the cops never really looked at homicide as an option. The cops big theory on it was Tony killed himself because he was depressed because he got arrested for drunk driving two days before his death. I have never heard of anyone killing themselves after getting arrested for that. I have certainly never heard of anyone that had no prior history of depression going off the deep end over a drunk driving arrest.

There definitly was unanswered questions. The mother hearing the noises she did. If indeed she did hear these noises and see his light off and then on a short while later clearly it wasnt Tony doing any of it because he was already dead. It was estimated he had died around 7:00 p.m. if I remember right. It seemed to me that the cops just decided it was suicide and were dead set with that conclusion and were not willing to change it or even consider that it wasnt suicide. They never did interview Tony's friend or the man who made the threats. It seemed like the Westerfield, OH police department gets the award for shoddy police work.

[Aaron321]

I have come up with another theory although i don't claim to be right,just a theory.When it comes to suicide there are so many cases i've heard of that people kill themselves and family members are left wondering why.I had a teacher in my middle schools son commit suicide because his parents grounded him for some reason to this day i can't remeber what for.as far as the naked part goes,i don't know why someone comitting suicide would strip naked first,but on the same hand why would the killer strip him naked.the only conclusion i can think of was that he sleeps naked and if he was murdered it was while he was sleeping.Another point is the mother hearing noises and the light flickering on and off.on one hand you can have a sloppy murderer who thinks no one is home and moves casually around his room.you would almost have to have an amatuer because no one would purposely turn the light on and off and try to draw attention to himself after having comitted a horrible crime if he could hear the mother in the hallway.Yes clearly Tony wasn't turning the light on and off and didn't make the noises,so i guess it's the mothers word against the police assessment.On one hand i clearly can't rule out he was murdered,my gut just says it was suicide.

[kadrmas15]

I disagree. Now I do like how you broke it down on why you think it was suicide. However I just dont think it is. Tony's mom said he did not sleep naked. Yes, why would someone strip naked before they killed themselves. At first I also thought, why would the killer strip his clothes off if in fact Tony was murdered. The only thing I can think of is, the killer stripped off Tony's clothes to destroy evidence. Could this be? Clearly we are not hearing the whole story from anyone. I think both the police and the parents are hiding things. We just arent hearing the whole story here. My gut tells me he was murdered but suicide is possible. Basically what I am saying is the cops shouldnt have just ruled it suicide and have that be the end of it. They should have at least labeled the death undetermined until they could figure out for sure how he died.

[UMLongtimefan]

Yes, why would someone strip naked before they killed themselves.

ADULT DISCUSSION WARNING...

Without trying to be too graphic and keeping the family friendly forum in mind I'm not even going to type what its called. Let me just say that some people accidently kill themselves while doing a certain solo activity and they do this by hanging/strangling themselves. While this more commonly is referred to by medical examiners as an accidental death, it can also be misclassified as murder or suicide.

Obviously that's not the case with Lombardi. I can't remember every detail of the case... but was the gun his? Is it possible he was playing/moving with the gun after or before such a solo activity and the gun accidently went off killing him? Maybe he forgot it was loaded?

Also as I recall another fact in the case was the mom thinking the lights were on and they were found off.. could this have been another case of an eyewitness getting their times wrong?

The nude thing doesn't really bother me as an important clue, if Lombardi was left alone in his room which I'm sure his parents afforded their adult son some privacy maybe he did sleep in the nude how would his mom know?? I doubt he walked out in front of her in the nude but he may have slept naked knowing his parents rarely entered his room while he was sleeping.

I'm not saying I totally buy it was a sucide or even an accidental death, but the evidence pointing to a larger conspiracy seemed lacking to me.

[skunk ape]

What gets me is the injuries to Tony and the broken watch. How can that all be explained along with the tragectory of the bullet.

2 questions I'd like answered in their investigation.

1: Was there a bullethole in the pillows?

2: Where did the gun come from?

[kadrmas15]

Yes, that is what got me too. How the watch was broken, I had actually forgot about that. I think he was fighting for his life. I just dont buy the ruling of suicide. It should at least be switched to undetermined until they could eliminate homicide. They have new detectives for the most part in that department by now I am sure. I think that case should be re-opened. There is just too many unanswered questions for it to be ruled suicide. I think this is just a prime example of shoddy police work. The police failed to interview crucial people to the investigation. If I had heard a guy had said "Tony is going to get what is coming to him." That would send red flags off in my head and he would be the first to be interviewed.

[kamy]

Originally Posted by kadrmas15

Yes, that is what got me too. How the watch was broken, I had actually forgot about that. I think he was fighting for his life. I just dont buy the ruling of suicide. It should at least be switched to undetermined until they could eliminate homicide. They have new detectives for the most part in that department by now I am sure. I think that case should be re-opened. There is just too many unanswered questions for it to be ruled suicide. I think this is just a prime example of shoddy police work. The police failed to interview crucial people to the investigation. If I had heard a guy had said "Tony is going to get what is coming to him." That would send red flags off in my head and he would be the first to be interviewed.

While I think it's obviously a murder, I will say that I sleep naked, but my parent's would have never known that as I wouldn't tell them, that's just weird! I would throw something on everytime I got up, whether it was to go to the bathroom, or to get up in the morning, so the whole "Tommy didn't sleep naked" thing doesn't do anything for me.

[SP4CE INV4DERZ]

Originally Posted by kamy

I will say that I sleep naked, but my parent's would have never known that as I wouldn't tell them, that's just weird!

But... you told us..?

[Chris Billings]

[QUOTE=kadrmas15]This case was on UM yesterday.

Unrelated to this case....what channel now carries UM? I didnt think UM was airing anyplace?

Anyways, back to ur discuss about Tony. This story has some interesting twists which suggest to me something other than suicide. A good one for Cyril Wecht to investigate, dont you think?

Chris

[Chris Billings]

This case was on UM yesterday.

Unrelated to this case....what channel now carries UM? I didnt think UM was airing anyplace?

Anyways, back to ur discuss about Tony. This story has some interesting twists which suggest to me something other than suicide. A good one for Cyril Wecht to investigate, dont you think?

Chris