Tragic Death of Cayley Mandadi

Cayley Mandadi, a 19-year-old sophomore at Trinity University, arrived at a hospital in Texas on October 29, 2017. She was found nearly naked, bruised, and not breathing. According to her sometime boyfriend Mark Howerton, they had taken ecstasy at a music festival and she passed out after consensual sex in his car. Unfortunately, she did not survive and passed away at the hospital.

At 4 a.m. on October 30, 2017, Mandadi's parents received a distressing phone call informing them that Cayley had been life-flighted to Kyle, Texas and had been involved in an incident. Without hesitation, they rushed from their home in Houston to the hospital. "I saw my daughter's body smashed," Steele, Cayley's father, recalled. Mandadi was unconscious and covered in bruises. The doctor delivered the devastating news that there was no hope for recovery.

On October 31, 2017, Mandadi was taken off life support. Steele and Baitland, Cayley's parents, bid their final farewells before she was taken into surgery for organ donation.

A homicide ruling has been made in the case of Mandadi, who died from blunt force face and head trauma. The accused, Howerton, has been charged with her murder. Howerton, however, maintains his innocence and claims that he did not cause Mandadi's injuries. His defense attorney argues that her injuries were a result of resuscitation efforts by hospital staff and medical complications from taking MDMA. After a mistrial was declared due to a hung jury, the parents of Mandadi took matters into their own hands. They sought the help of experts to examine the evidence in their daughter's case, with the hope of finding more information about what happened to her inside Howerton's car.

The parents, Steele and Baitland, received an overwhelming response from experts willing to assist them. They gathered all the evidence they could and began their own investigation into the case.

"What we did was to take that evidence and to make sense of it in a way that was not done in the first trial," said a spokesperson.

The couple focused their attention on one particular piece of evidence - an autopsy photo showing a bruise in the shape of a small dot above the victim's right ear. They also noted another photo showing a larger bruise above her left ear. The spokesperson stated that they developed a theory that the victim's fatal injury occurred when the suspect "reached from his driver's seat, hit her in the left ear and drove her head into the window and onto the lock button of the car." The next step was to prove this theory.

In order to gather evidence, the couple visited a used car lot where they took photos of the spokesperson posing in a car similar to the one the suspect drove on the night of the incident. 

A photographer involved in the investigation stated, "I photographed [the spokesperson's] head in different positions while holding the autopsy images, trying to see if they match up with the door and it's a near perfect match."

Investigation Reveals New Evidence in Mandadi Case

A recent investigation into the death of college student Sarah Mandadi has uncovered new evidence that challenges the initial ruling of accidental death. Private investigator John Baitland and forensic expert Dr. Emily Steele have collaborated to shed light on the true cause of Mandadi's fatal head injury.

Encouraged by their findings, Baitland used a software program to construct a detailed 3D model of Mandadi's head. By layering in photos of Mandadi and the autopsy image, Baitland was able to identify a suspicious dot above her right ear. To determine the size of the 3D head, he utilized a measurement from Mandadi's eyeglasses. Baitland then consulted a biomechanical expert in injury causation who examined the evidence and supported his theory.

"So this gave me the confidence to go to the next step, which was to seek out [Mark Howerton's] car," Baitland said.

After extensive research, Baitland tracked down the Mercedes that Howerton sold in 2018. With the help of friends on social media and an automotive forum, he was able to obtain the car's VIN number. Although the new owner initially hesitated, after learning about Mandadi's story, he agreed to sell the car to Baitland for further investigation.

Driving the car home was described as "torturous" by Baitland, but it was deemed necessary for their investigation. "We had to have the vehicle to show how she was assaulted," he explained.

In order to recreate the events that led to Mandadi's death, Baitland and Steele commissioned a reenactment video. Utilizing evidence photos, they meticulously focused on every detail, including the clothing worn by Mandadi and Howerton, as well as the items present in the back seat. Actors similar in size and weight to Mandadi and Howerton were hired to accurately portray the events.

The reenactment video, which shows three angles of the incident, supports the theory proposed by Mandadi's parents and their experts regarding the fatal injury to her head.