Lawyer Reveals New Evidence In Ianiero Murder Case

There’s still no proof   who killed Domenic and Nancy Ianiero in their Mexico hotel room last February. But we know almost for certain who didn’t – two Thunder Bay women who were at the centre of controversy for a time in the case.

And it appears it may be Canadian authorities who kept them from being cleared.

Edward Greenspan, the lawyer for the Ianiero family, has revealed the results of his investigation into the murder – including having a close look at the Mexican federales’ own internal records. They tell a story of a lack of cooperation, a lack of proper investigation and a lack of competence.

The Ianieros were found with their throats slashed in their hotel room after heading to Mexico for their daughter’s wedding. No one has been arrested for the brutal crime, and the list of suspects – and red herrings – has been long.

Among them: Cheryl Everall and Kimberly Kim, two Thunder Bay vacationers who became unwitting stars in the tragedy simply because they were staying in the room next door to the slain couple and left within hours of their deaths.  

“They have never been valid suspects,” Greenspan avers. “The lead investigator told us that it is his belief that any blood found in the room of the two Thunder Bay women was there as a result of cleaning staff entering the room after having cleaned the crime scene area and cleaned it not very well.”

The lawyer intends to pursue legal action against the hotel for ordering its crews to clean up the blood before law enforcement personnel could get access to the forensic evidence. It will be heard in a Cancun courtroom on September 4 ^th.

“The cleaning staff, as part of their daily routine, went into the women’s room to clean, were interrupted and called across the hall to the Ianieros’ room. They cleaned up there and then went back to the women’s room. It was the cleaning ladies who told the police that when they were first in the Thunder Bay women’s room, they found nothing suspicious and no evidence of blood. It turns out Thunder Bay was a tragic sideshow…

“I find it unbelievable that a hotel could allow people in the room to clean up before police arrived,” he fumes. “It had to be an attempt to cover this whole thing up.”

But Greenspan claims another surprise – it wasn’t the Mexican police who apparently refused to help prove the Ontario women are 100 percent innocent.

“The only reason the Mexican authorities won’t formally say so is because they made a request for information from the Canadian police in March for simple basic information and the Canadian police have not provided that information and have never responded to the request,” he charges. “I’m surprised, I’m disappointed and I would like answers.”

The lawyer for the women claims the new information exonerates them for good.

“As far as we can tell, it’s as close to a complete withdrawal of allegations against my people as we can get,” Lee Baig asserts. “It appears as though (Mexican authorities) knew right at the outset that they were barking up the wrong tree.”

Greenspan continues to maintain a security guard at the hotel is the main suspect. The man in question, 36-year-old Blas Ismael Delgado, disappeared the day after the murder and hasn’t been seen since.

The investigation shows the former police and military officer had the kind of training that would have been needed to commit the crime.

“He is more than just a suspect,” argues former Toronto Police homicide detective Mike Davis. “He’s probably their primary suspect.”

But he’s wondering what’s taking Mexican police so long to bring him in for questioning. “My question is, okay, there’s the name. Where’s the picture that goes along with it?”

Both victims were found with their throats cut in what the family has always believed was a robbery gone wrong.

But Greenspan cast doubt on that, too.

“Though there may be some missing items from their room or their persons, it would appear that robbery is not an established motive for the killings. The file confirms that Mrs. Ianiero’s purse remained untouched on the top shelf of the closet. Mr. Ianiero’s wallet was found in his back pocket and none of the contents seemed to have been removed.

“Mr. Ianiero still had cash on him, and Mrs. Ianiero’s jewellery box remained intact on the dresser. It appears no jewellery was missing. Although the room may have been ransacked, the travellers’ cheques that were in Mr. Ianiero’s suitcase were still there.”

Only a single watch was missing. There’s been no sign of it since.

Among the other revelations made by Greenspan in a wide ranging press conference:

• The same knife killed both victims. But three knives found at the scene weren’t the murder weapons.
• Domenic Ianiero was soaking his feet in the bathtub when he was attacked and his killer placed his body on the floor of the washroom. His wife was in the next room, likely on her knees and was slashed from behind.
• Whoever killed the couple appears to have completely subdued them or taken them by complete surprise. There were no signs of a struggle and no signs of any defensive wounds.
• Mexican police discounted a “wild tale” of an Ianiero gambling debt which he claimed originated with a reporter and was at one time offered as a possible murder motive.
• The bedspread from the room was moved and placed near the door, in what Greenspan contends was an attempt to keep blood from leaking under the door and into the hallway.
• A hair found in Nancy Ianiero’s hand was apparently her own and not her killer’s.
• The Mexican police have no idea what the main suspect, Delgado, did for a living between 2002 and 2006, until he started working at the resort in January of this year.
• Delgado called in sick the morning of the murder but was seen by hotel staff at the scene. He was known to have had contact with the Ianieros the day before the murder.
• A doctor at the hotel went to the crime scene after receiving a call that the couple had been harmed. It’s unknown what evidence he may have disturbed but Greenspan believes a bloody footprint found outside the room may not be from the killer.