Sandra Maloney’s killer, John Maloney: where is he now?
A veteran police officer from Green Bay, Wisconsin has been charged with the murder of his estranged wife, who died in February 1998. But the ensuing investigation has not been so straightforward. The subject of “48 Hours: A Matter of Murder” on CBS News is the death of Sandra Maloney and why John Maloney was held accountable by police. So if you also want to know more, we can help you.
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John Maloney: Who is he?
When Sandra Cator and John Maloney attended the same high school in the 1970s, they became friends. Sandra worked as a secretary while John earned a degree in criminal justice before they married in 1978. He then joined the Green Bay Police Department and worked there for about two decades. John eventually rose to the position of detective and arsonist. Matt, Aaron and Sean were the trio of sons the couple had. The wedding originally seemed to be going well, but soon things started to go south.
Due to her persistent neck pain in the 1990s, Sandra developed an addiction to prescription drugs. As a result, the couple began to argue frequently, and she accused John of physically abusing her. Later, John denied it, and after Sandra’s DUI car accident in 1997, John decided to file for divorce. John took the children with him as he left the family home. But disaster struck on February 11, 1998. The burnt body of the forty-year-old was discovered on the sofa in the main room by Sandra’s mother, Lola Cator.
Sandra and the couch had burned after catching fire. Sandra’s cause of death at the time was listed as a combination of blunt force trauma to the back of her skull, strangulation and suffocation. The medical examiner at the time claimed that Sandra had been murdered. The initial investigation suggested the fire was accidental, but authorities eventually concluded it was started deliberately. John was therefore the prime suspect. Lola claimed that because the divorce was taking too long, he despised Sandra and wanted her gone.
More information about him
Lola believed that John wanted to start a new life as soon as possible because he was seeing Tracy Hellenbrand, an IRS agent, at the time. However, John and Sandra’s two youngest children claimed he was present when Sandra was allegedly murdered. Coincidentally, their last divorce hearing was on February 11. According to the prosecution, John visited Sandra on February 10 to ensure she appeared in court. They claimed John struck her with a blunt instrument in the back of the head during an altercation.
Sandra tried to hang herself, according to Sheila Berry, who later took over John’s case. She cleaned up the blood and herself before going upstairs, but she managed to injure the back of her skull. Sheila thought the fire started because Sandra passed out while smoking there. Traces of blood were visible in the basement using luminol, and there were also suicide notes in the trash. The jury, however, never had this evidence.
Where is John Maloney now?
There also seemed to be additional issues with the case. An expert for John’s defense later testified that the burn pattern in front of the couch was formed by melting foam from the cushions, not the vodka, despite the prosecution’s inference that the vodka may have could be used to light the fire. The defense at John’s trial blamed Tracy, but John always insisted he was innocent. John was nevertheless found responsible for first-degree intentional homicide, burning and mutilation of a corpse.
He was sentenced to life in prison with a potential parole of 25 years in April 1999, when he was 42 years old. Additionally, John received concurrent sentences of 10 years for dismembering a corpse and 4 years for setting fire. He has persisted in his fight for justice in the years since his incarceration, accusing the prosecution of using fabricated evidence to convict him. John is still being held at Dodge Correctional Facility in Waupun, Wisconsin. In February 2024, John will be eligible for parole.
Background
In 1978, Sandra was hitched to Green Bay Police Detective John Maloney. Sandra told her doctor it was an abusive relationship in which she suffered physical and emotional abuse.
In May or June 1997, she and John Maloney divorced. When she died, they had not yet finalized their divorce. Additionally, Sandra and John Maloney were embroiled in a custody dispute over their three sons, who are now 12, 9 and 8, and she had already conceded the dispute.
Sandra, who was raised by an alcoholic police officer, began seeing a local psychiatrist in 1992. The doctor recommended the highly addictive drug Klonopin after being diagnosed with panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder (benzodiazepine).
Sandra started regularly abusing her prescription after a year. Usually she would take the full amount of pills recommended, then ask for more saying she had lost the medicine, put it in her pocket and clean it, etc. a doctor, who prescribed the habit-forming barbiturate Fioricet, which Sandra later took.
For example, on May 3, May 10, May 16, May 23, and May 31, 1994, Sandra filled and consumed 30 prescriptions for Fioricet tablets for one of her children. She also took them on June 8, June 14, June 16 and June 21. On the days of May 16, May 23, June 5 and June 11, 1994, thirty tablets were also ordered for another son of Sandra Maloney.
Personal information
The following year, the only way for the Maloney children to obtain Fioricet was to go to their neighborhood pharmacy and present it to the pharmacist. When they were outside, Sandra made her children spit out the pills so that she could take them herself after instructing them not to take them.
Sandra had multiple altercations with her neighbors, including one where she got into a fight with another woman while watching a young athlete. Sandra started drinking while her husband and mother pushed her to stop using drugs. But rather than replacing prescription drugs, it was a complement to them. Her best friend helped Sandra get the drugs and alcohol she had become addicted to because they both had similar habits.
Following a car accident caused by her drunk driving in 1996 and again in 1997, Sandra underwent psychiatric treatment and treatment for alcohol and drug abuse. But she refused to participate in outpatient therapy. Sandra started smoking cigarettes after John left in May 1997 and filed for divorce, which plunged her deeper into addiction and depression.
By the end of that year, Sandra was only allowed supervised visitation with the children because they were living with John and his new partner, Tracy Hellenbrand. She was involved in another car accident, but neglected to appear in court, so a warrant was issued. His weight dropped to 97 pounds. Sandra’s mother claimed that in the second week of February 1998, she anticipated that Sandra would drink herself to death before the end of the week.
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Investigation
Sandra’s blood alcohol level (BAC) at the time of her autopsy was 0.25% and her vitreous alcohol level (VAC) was 0.40%, indicating that a few hours before her death, his actual blood alcohol level was at least. 40%.
The kitchen trash can contained five suicide notes.
An electrical extension line was discovered attached to a conduit pipe in the basement of the home. Beneath the cord, a stack of two VCRs sat on the coffee table. The shorter end had the disturbing appearance of a noose that had come undone. Blood was discovered on the carpet, coffee table, laundry room, and in the basement shower and bathroom. Her clothes, which had blood on the collar, were discovered in the laundry basket. Sandra’s best friend’s bloody fingerprint was found on the shower door.
The Green Bay Fire Department report noted:
The structure had a number of ashtrays, several of which were stuffed with cigarette butts. Several cigarettes were found to have been left to smoke and either burned or self-extinguished on tables, counters and a telephone book. On the floor of the living room, near the coffee table, east of the sofa, two burnt paper matches could be seen.
A reckless routine of smoking by the resident is suggested by evidence found in the residence, such as several ashtrays with cigarette butts, burnt matches left on the living room carpet, and self-extinguished cigarettes on furniture throughout the room. home.
Autopsy
Dr. John Teggatz of the Milwaukee Medical Examiner’s Office performed the autopsy. Only a brief description of the incident – that the victim was discovered dead in a burnt down house – is made of Sandra’s past in the autopsy report. There is no evidence that the results of her study took into account Sandra’s social, medical, mental health or smoking history. This is not an approved forensic procedure. Dr. Teggatz came to the conclusion that Sandra’s death was “probably manual strangulation” after spotting signs of strangulation (Sandra’s neck was too charred to distinguish between ligature and manual strangulation).
He is the Brown County Medical Examiner, analyzed this ambiguous discovery and added his own creative but unsubstantiated and untrustworthy explanations. Dr Schmunk said Sandra’s death was a homicide despite the lack of a thorough forensic investigation and disregard for physical evidence. Dr. Schmunk claimed the examination revealed no cause of death other than strangulation or suffocation at the hands of others.
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