Lamb To The Slaughter: The Trial Of Mary Maloney

Patrick Maloney, a devoted detective, was found dead at about 6 o’clock on Thursday. His wife, Mary, had called the police after she discovered his body coming home from the grocery store. She claimed that earlier that night, he came home from work as usual. Normally on Thursday nights, they would go out to dinner, but he had said he was too tired to go out. Mary went to the grocery store to buy some vegetables for dinner. She had had a frozen leg of lamb at the house that she was cooking for dinner. Mary’s alibi seems to check out, however, looking into the finer details of that night, it is clear that she murdered her husband. Patrick was killed by a hard blow to the back of the head with a large heavy object. There was no murder weapon found, but it would be hard to carry something so large around without being detected. Before he died, he was facing towards the window. After reviewing the house multiple times, detectives and police were unable to find any signs of forced entry. Whoever the killer was, was allowed into the house, and the murder was unexpected. So who would be able to be in the house at that time, carrying around a large heavy object, undetected? Mary Maloney is a clear suspect. Mary and her husband were home together for a short time before she went to the grocery store. The grocer, Sam, had said that she told him she had a leg of lamb in the freezer. Earlier when the police questioned her, she had said she put it in the oven before she left. While this may be a minor detail, possibly caused by miscommunication, it does raise suspicion considering Mary is the only suspect. The DNA and fingerprints found at the crime scene were Patrick and Mary’s. If the murderer had thoroughly cleaned the crime scene, then even Mary’s DNA wouldn’t have been left behind. There was some other DNA

Patrick Maloney, a devoted detective, was found dead at about 6 o’clock on Thursday. His wife, Mary, had called the police after she discovered his body coming home from the grocery store. She claimed that earlier that night, he came home from work as usual. Normally on Thursday nights, they would go out to dinner, but he had said he was too tired to go out. Mary went to the grocery store to buy some vegetables for dinner. She had had a frozen leg of lamb at the house that she was cooking for dinner. Mary’s alibi seems to check out, however, looking into the finer details of that night, it is clear that she murdered her husband.

Patrick was killed by a hard blow to the back of the head with a large heavy object. There was no murder weapon found, but it would be hard to carry something so large around without being detected. Before he died, he was facing towards the window. After reviewing the house multiple times, detectives and police were unable to find any signs of forced entry. Whoever the killer was, was allowed into the house, and the murder was unexpected. So who would be able to be in the house at that time, carrying around a large heavy object, undetected? Mary Maloney is a clear suspect.

Mary and her husband were home together for a short time before she went to the grocery store. The grocer, Sam, had said that she told him she had a leg of lamb in the freezer. Earlier when the police questioned her, she had said she put it in the oven before she left. While this may be a minor detail, possibly caused by miscommunication, it does raise suspicion considering Mary is the only suspect.

The DNA and fingerprints found at the crime scene were Patrick and Mary’s. If the murderer had thoroughly cleaned the crime scene, then even Mary’s DNA wouldn’t have been left behind. There was some other DNA left behind. On the back of the victims head, there was lamb blood. The leg of lamb was fed to the police, so it isn’t possible to inspect whether the DNA matched with that particular lamb. Mary was persistent in getting them to stay and eat. When one of the men said, “Probably (the weapon) right under our very noses,” one of the men thought they heard Mary chuckle in the other room.

Looking into Mary and Patrick’s marriage, nothing seemed to be wrong. However, further digging found that Patrick was having an affair. The woman was interrogated, and it was discovered that Patrick planned to tell Mary about it that very night.

Mary exhibited suspicious behavior, had a proper motive, and clear forensically proved evidence. It is unknown whether the murderer was premeditated or not, but it is known, Mary is guilty in the murder of her husband, Patrick.