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Family of Carolyn Kay Riggins still seeking answers for her mysterious death
An autopsy report for Carolyn Kay Riggins lists the cause of death as "undetermined," but that is not sitting well with her family.
FORT WORTH, Texas - An autopsy report for Carolyn Kay Riggins lists the cause of death as "undetermined," but that is not sitting well with her family.
Her family is left with more questions.
"There was no effort put into finding out what happened to my sister," Riggins’ sister, Kimberly Haynes, said.
Back in October 2020, the remains of the mother and grandmother were discovered inside her Lincoln Town Car in a wooded area of Cooke County.
RELATED: Body found in missing Fort Worth woman’s car in rural Cooke County
She’d been missing for three months after last being seen at a bingo hall in Watauga after winning a large cash prize.
Hours after being seen at bingo, her vehicle was picked up by TxDOT cameras heading north on I-35W.
Riggins’ relatives are frustrated, saying they are caught between two agencies - Fort Worth PD and the Cooke County Sheriff’s Department - with no clarity about the investigation findings, other than no foul play was suspected.
"No, we’re not ready to accept that. We’re not willing to accept that because we can’t even get paperwork from Fort Worth, we can’t get paperwork from Cook County to tell us what happened. When my mother was found, there was no investigation of the car, there was no investigation of the scene. All it was was my mom is decomposed in the backseat in a remote area covered in brush. Nobody investigated. Cook County or Fort Worth," Riggins’ daughter, Kendra Holloman, said.
Two weeks ago, the family met with Fort Worth Police Chief Neil Noakes and other Fort Worth investigators. They said they’ve since been told their mother’s vehicle was destroyed, but that it’s unclear who gave the order for that to happen.
"My biggest push was to try to get the car, get some kind of forensics done on the car. Nobody would every convince me my mother drove to where her car was found and just got lost, you won’t ever convince me of that," Riggins’ daughters, Gale Haynes, said.
"It’s just a constant back-and-forth where Fort Worth PD put a police hold on my sister’s vehicle, but they don’t process the vehicle, and then Cook County is waiting on the word from Fort Worth to say what Fort Worth is going to do. And it’s almost like the worst tennis match you’ve ever seen between two agencies, and I think neither of which wants to take responsibility," Riggins' sister said.
Riggins’ body was found more than three months after her disappearance.
The autopsy notes that: "While there is no evidence of lethal trauma or foul play, traumatic injuries or natural disease processes may be obscured due to the advanced state of decomposition."
[REPORTER: "Do you still feel like there was foul play involved in your mother’s death?"]
"Absolutely," Gale Haynes responded. "Everything in me says there was foul play in my mother’s death."
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