Joe Hunter

Casey Gwynn was sure Joanna's case was what he calls a hidden homicide.

He and Gail Strack are the co-founders of Alliance for Hope International, an advocacy group for survivors of domestic violence and their families.

When they took up the hunter's cause, they believed that Joanna's history of neck injuries told them they were looking at a strangulation.

Smock, who works for Alliance for Hope, confirmed their suspicion.

But when the sheriff's office agreed to hire Dr. Smock, it also commissioned another review.

This one by Dr. Brian Peterson, a pathologist and former president of the National Association of Medical Examiners.

He disputed Smock's findings.

I see neither injuries nor toxicology findings that would support the physical involvement of another person, the report said.

The sheriff's office took issue with the fact that Dr. Smock is not a forensic pathologist.

Harris also took issue with Smock's methods.

Smock sent us his contract with the sheriff's office, which requested his opinion as to the cause and manner of her death.

He also told us the sheriff's position was disingenuous because I didn't agree with what they wanted me to say.

So Bill Smock's report, are you completely discounting everything that he reports in it?

And so what Dr. Smock called the murder weapon was never examined.

What was missed?

What about the history of domestic abuse?

Was that missed?

Because three different forensic pathologists and three separate reviews, starting with the original coroner's report in 2011, the 2014 reinvestigation, and Dr. Peterson in 2024, all found suicide.

Captain Harris maintains that even if they had initially taken the domestic violence into account, nothing would have changed.

Knowing all that you know now, though, you said you would have called Mark Lewis's past into question and you would have investigated it differently.