The household of an engineer discovered lifeless with “no neck” in a quaint Connecticut cottage he shared along with his girlfriend continues to be trying to find solutions two years after his dying.
Shane DeJongh, 53, was discovered lifeless in his Cheshire dwelling on Oct. 6, 2023, from what investigators initially believed was introduced on by a “coronary heart assault,” the Hartford Courant reported.
Nonetheless, when his sister Robyn van Ekelenburg and different relations flew out from his dwelling state of California to view his physique, they instantly “knew one thing was unsuitable.”
“He didn’t appear like he had had a neck,” van Ekelenburg instructed the outlet. “And we didn’t know at that time, however we knew sufficient to know there’s one thing unsuitable along with his neck. It was like he had no neck. I can’t even clarify it.”
The grieving sister — who was named the administrator of her brother’s property — suspected foul play was concerned and began gathering proof to show DeJongh didn’t die of pure causes like authorities had stated.
After DeJongh’s post-mortem outcomes had been submitted, the household’s suspicions had been confirmed.
DeJongh’s official explanation for dying was listed as “cardiac arrhythmia following bodily altercation with blunt accidents of head and neck, complicating hypertensive and atherosclerotic heart problems,” the Connecticut Workplace of the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed, based on the Hartford Courant.
DeJongh additionally suffered bruising, a left ear abrasion, and a mind bleed, together with a neck hemorrhage and a perimortem fracture on his “left superior cornu of the thyroid cartilage,” based on the post-mortem.
A spokesperson for the workplace then dominated his dying a murder.
Nonetheless, since his dying, the engineering supervisor’s household nonetheless has not gotten any solutions to what occurred.
“We knew at that time one thing actually did occur that evening,” van Ekelenburg instructed the outlet.
In March, the household sued DeJongh’s girlfriend, Natasha Vadasz, however withdrew the case final week to revise the grievance and add a further defendant and plaintiff.
In accordance with the withdrawn lawsuit, Vadasz, 51, listed her three-bedroom Cheshire dwelling — positioned about 30 miles south of Hartford — on the market shortly earlier than DeJongh’s dying. The couple had been making ready to relocate to Georgia after he accepted a brand new job supply, based on the Hartford Courant.
The evening DeJongh died, the couple went out to have a good time with their realtor earlier than relocating. He can be discovered lifeless in his mattress the subsequent morning in the identical garments he had on the evening earlier than.
Cheshire Police Chief Frederick J. Jortner stated officers responded to a report of an premature dying, after which detectives took over the case with assist from state police main crimes investigators and the health worker.
Jortner revealed that the investigation has included a number of interviews and intensive forensic work and is being led underneath the route of the New Haven State’s Lawyer’s Workplace, however declined to launch any further particulars “to protect the integrity of the investigation.”
Van Ekelenburg stated the household has obtained few updates from investigators and has solely pieced collectively restricted info from Vadasz earlier than she bought the cottage in March and relocated to North Carolina along with her son.
DeJongh’s sister claims that the household has their suspicions of who was behind his dying, however didn’t explicitly title the particular person.
“We don’t know what actually occurred that evening,” van Ekelenburg instructed the outlet. “It’s like making an attempt to place a puzzle collectively with out all of the items. However regardless of the case is, Shane was the one one with accidents that evening.”
The DeJongh household legal professional, Kenneth Krayeske, confirmed that the swimsuit was withdrawn in order that DeJongh’s daughter, Zoey, might be added as a plaintiff. One other defendant was added to the swimsuit, however Krayeske didn’t share their title.
As of late 2025, no arrests have been made, and the investigation stays energetic underneath the supervision of the New Haven State’s Lawyer’s Workplace.
DeJongh grew up in San Jose and moved to Connecticut in 2020 after accepting a place with APCT, Inc., a circuit board producer based mostly in Wallingford.
He’s remembered as having a “robust work ethic” and as “an completed musician, writing and composing lots of his personal songs of a number of totally different genres, and taking part in for a lot of fundraiser occasions for the good thing about others,” based on a web-based obituary.
