The death certificate is completed, but Gwinnett police say they are no closer to determining how a Lawrenceville mother’s body ended up under a pile of leaves last summer near her home and who is responsible for putting it there.
Police, however, continue to treat the case of Dominique Leili, a mother of three, as a homicide.
Matthew John Leili, the woman's estranged husband, also remains a suspect, police spokesman Cpl. Jake Smith told the AJC on Wednesday.
Smith, however, would not identify or discuss any other possible suspects in the case.
“He is still a suspect among suspects,” Smith said. “Beyond that I can’t really say.”
The death certificate released Tuesday said the cause was inconclusive but that the medical examiner could not rule out homicide by strangulation or asphyxiation.
“That does not tell us anything that we didn’t know, and it doesn’t bring us any closer to any charge against anyone,” Smith said.
Despite the autopsy results, police said the investigation into the 44-year-old woman's death continues.
“It is active,” Smith said of the case. “It has not been moved to cold case. The lead detective still works that case every day.”
Smith also said that “from time to time” family members are questioned, but there is no effort to keep track of Matthew Leili’s whereabouts.
“He’s not under surveillance,” Smith said. “He’s not under house arrest. We don’t watch him or cover his movements or anything like that.”
The AJC's efforts to reach Matthew Leili and his attorney, Sumner Riddick, were unsuccessful Wednesday.
Amy Elk of Loganville, Dominique Leili’s sister, said a judge this week granted their parents visitation rights to see the Leilis’ two youngest daughters.
Elk, however, said it was her understanding that the father and two children were planning to move to Vermont, where Matthew Leili has family.
Leili became a suspect in the case after police found out he had filed for divorce five days after he last saw his wife, according to documents filed in Gwinnett County Superior Court.
Leili, 43, filed for divorce July 13, court records show. Two days earlier, he called his wife's family to say she had left the couple's Sidneys Cove home two days before and hadn't been seen since. Only his wife’s toothbrush was missing, Matthew Leili told the family.
Gwinnett police confirmed that Matthew Leili reported his wife missing July 11, telling investigators he had last seen her July 9. The couple has two daughters, ages 12 and 9 at the time of their mother's death, and Dominique Leili has a 19-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, police said.
The couple had been married for at least 15 years and had lived in the Gwinnett subdivision for at least a dozen years, her family said.
Her family said Dominique Leili worked in finance and payroll as a controller. The Leilis also ran a business, M&N Communications, from their Lawrenceville home, according to the Georgia Secretary of State's Office.
Family and friends set out to search for the missing mother early on July 16. Shortly after the search began, one of Dominique Leili’s co-workers found her body under a pile of leaves.
Elk said it is still a hard time for her family, especially since they now will be separated from her sister's two youngest daughters.
“This is the worse we’ve had to go through,” Elk said Wednesday. “We are leaning on each other as much as we can.”
About the Author
