An unsolved homicide case involving the death of Calgarian Amanda Antoni is getting international attention after being featured on the Netflix reboot of Unsolved Mysteries.
Antoni’s death has stumped investigators since 2015, when she was found in the basement of her Castleridge home.
The traumatic scene that accompanied her death is one to this day that left an impression, and lingering questions for Calgary Police Service detectives.
“Amanda’s death was initially thought to be suspicious, and over the next 14 months investigators spent countless hours poring over evidence and consulting with experts. Throughout the investigation detectives sought the expertise from our own cyber forensics unit and our forensic crime scenes unit,” said Staff Sgt. Sean Gregson of the CPS Homicide Unit.
“Investigators also worked closely with the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and a biomechanics expert and the RCMP Behavioural Science Unit to review the evidence in this case.”
Ultimately, investigators concluded that she died after accidentally falling down the staircase in her home, but evidence from the scene kept prompting questions from the investigation team, Gregson said.
“I was a detective on this investigation working with Detective Sweet at the time, and it’s a graphic scene, no doubt. That’s what brings those questions to light, like what happened down here. We don’t typically see this in a regular fall, so that speaks to why this is unsolved and why there’s so many questions that do remain outstanding,” he said.
Among those questions, said SSgt. Gregson, was why she didn’t walk back up the stairs, despite evidence that she was able to walk after the fall.
Lingering doubts about conclusion of case led to documentary
Among the other clues put forward by the Netflix documentary were reports of someone running from the area through a neighbour’s backyard, sounds of yelling—although no evidence of a break and enter or an intruder could be found.
No sign of trouble could be found in her marriage that would indicate a domestic homicide.
“It’s a very, very strange circumstances, and I know as an investigative team, there was different theories going back ‘could this have happened? Could that happened?’ Ultimately, we follow the evidence, and what the evidence showed us at the end of the day is that Amanda was in the basement by herself,” Gregson said.
“There’s no other evidence that spoke to anybody else being down there with her, but when you look at this on the front, it shows that it looks like an assault occurred here.”
SSgt. Gregson said that the decision to bring the case forward to Unsolved Mysteries was a result of trying to renew interest in the now nine-year-old case, and to put it before a wider audience than just Calgary.
“It’s a unique situation here, but this is one of those cases that just has unsolved questions in the investigators’ minds. So it was an opportunity where we could work with a broader agency outside of just local Calgary media to span out there, get more attention, and maybe provide some answers,” he said.
Answers, he said, that would provide closure for the Antoni family.
This case, said SSgt. Gregson, was the first time that CPS has worked with Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries, but that working with television companies on cases to generate public interest and investigative leads is not new.
“Calgary Police are featured prominently in Crime Beat, and there has been some episodes of True Detective in the past that we’ve participated in,” he said.
“This is the first time for Unsolved Mysteries… it’s a unique opportunity if we need to reach a broader audience, and we have cases that are unsolved or we need more assistance on.”
Anyone with information on Antoni’s death is asked to call police at 403-266-1234, or submit tips anonymously to Crime Stoppers.
Her episode is available on Netflix now.
