The Suspicious Death of Leslie Buck (Connecticut)

From the moment investigators stepped foot into the home of Leslie and Charlie Buck in the spring of 2002 following a 9-1-1 call, there was something off about the circumstances of Leslie’s untimely death. Leslie had just survived a violent kidnapping two days earlier, and autopsy findings left the manner of her death anything but clear cut. 

This episode is a continuation of Leslie’s story. Be sure to listen to The Kidnapping of Leslie Buck (Connecticut) first so you’re caught up on everything that’s happened so far. 

I’m going to take you through the suspicious death case and all of the evidence that amounted to probable cause for an arrest…As well as the bombshell report and supporting expert testimony that attributed Leslie’s death to something that had nothing to do with the prime suspect

Leslie’s Story So Far

In the final days of 57-year old Leslie Buck’s life she survived the unimaginable. A man once considered a friend of the Buck family, Russell Kirby, attacked Leslie as she got out of her car on the night of May 2, 2002, incapacitating her with a stun gun and violently assaulting her before he tied her limbs and kidnapped her in her own car. Leslie’s own quick thinking and courage are to thank for her escape that night; when Russell loosened the restraints for a brief moment and stepped out of the car to check on some car trouble, she used a spare key to speed away from her assailant and to what she believed would be the safety of her own home. 

But Leslie’s home was not the sanctuary it should have been. Whether by accident or by someone else’s hand or some other unexplained cause, Leslie died less than 48 hours after her kidnapping. The wounds on her head were indicative of some kind of blunt trauma…But lacking evidence on the stairwell where she was found, Dr. Malka Shah could not conclusively determine a manner of death. 

As the investigation into Leslie’s death got underway, a jury found Russell Kirby guilty of kidnapping and assault. But the verdict did not clear up why he attacked Leslie Buck. The motivation behind Russell’s attack on Leslie remained a major question mark, and answering that question might shed light on the true nature of Leslie’s subsequent death: Was Russell’s attack on Leslie the misunderstanding Russell claimed it to be? Did he truly act in self-defense? Or did he do it for money? Did he plan to hold her for ransom or did someone offer him money to frighten Leslie, or worse?

As of Russell’s conviction and sentencing, Leslie’s manner of death was still undetermined and it remained under investigation for years and her husband, Charlie Buck, remained under tremendous suspicion for Leslie’s death. 

The Investigation Continues

The “undetermined” ruling of Leslie’s manner of death presented the biggest hurdles for investigators. Without a determination – whether it was an accident or homicide – they really couldn’t progress the case to the point of an arrest or closure. So, investigators sought new opinions from experts out of state to see what they thought about the autopsy and evidence at the scene of Leslie’s death. 

On July 15, 2004, Dr. Michael Baden reviewed Leslie’s autopsy report and photos of Leslie’s body, the crime scene, and videos from inside the Buck home. Dr. Baden was the director of the Medicolegal Investigations Unit for the New York State Police. In his professional opinion, Leslie’s manner of death was homicide…But not blunt force trauma. Dr. Baden was quote-unquote “concerned” about the minimal brain injuries despite Leslie’s skull fracture, and he believed that the injuries to Leslie’s neck were due to asphyxiation. In his view, that’s what ultimately caused her death.

This new opinion from an outside expert didn’t push the case in one direction or another. So by May of 2006, four years after Leslie’s death, her family decided to take the only action afforded to them in this situation. They filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Charlie.

According to reporting by Alaine Griffin for The Hartford Courant and Ethan Rouen for The Day, Leslie’s estate argued that Charlie was having an extramarital affair at the time of Leslie’s death and that he solicited someone (that someone being Russell Kirby) to take Leslie’s life.

A forensic pathologist named Dr. Barbara C. Wolf, who was employed as a medical examiner in the state of Florida, provided another opinion of Leslie’s death as part of the civil wrongful death suit. Fun fact, Dr. Wolf was part of the defense team that helped secure an acquittal for O.J. Simpson.

Dr. Wolf stated in an affidavit that in her professional opinion, and in terms of a reasonable degree of medical certainty, Leslie’s injuries were not consistent with an accidental fall in the staircase where she was found. Dr. Wolf found that there was no existing condition or prior injury that contributed to Leslie’s death and her death was in fact caused by blunt head trauma and asphyxia due to neck compression. The manner of death, in Dr. Wolf’s opinion, was homicide.

The civil wrongful death suit wasn’t the only case making its way through the court system in 2006. While the investigation into Leslie’s suspicious death continued, Russell Kirby managed to successfully get his conviction thrown out.

The Connecticut Supreme Court overturned Russell Kirby’s conviction in October of 2006, finding that Leslie’s statements identifying Russell as her attacker that she made to a dispatcher and an officer should not have been admitted into evidence because it violated his constitutional right to confront the witness against him. These were some of the precise statements Russell tried to have thrown out pre-trial, but they were eventually allowed by the trial judge.

The other statements that Leslie made to medical personnel would remain as evidence, as would Russell’s own statements to police about kidnapping Leslie for money.

In January of 2007, the state announced their intention to seek a new trial for Russell Kirby but later that year, they also offered a plea deal: 12 years in prison if he entered a guilty plea. He’d already served 5 years of his previous sentence before the conviction was overturned. Russell rejected the plea deal and opted to go to trial. 

By this time, Leslie’s case had changed hands and now had the eyes of the Chief State’s Attorney’s Office Cold Case Unit, though her case was not technically considered cold. The unit simply had more resources and would bring a fresh perspective to the evidence. Maybe that team of detectives and prosecutors could make sense of the conflicting opinions and inconclusive evidence. 

It didn’t happen overnight, but it seems that the fresh perspective was exactly what the case needed after all, because on January 22nd, 2009, Charlie Buck was pulling up to the Tim Horton’s in downtown Mystic, as he did every day, when police intercepted his morning coffee run and put him in handcuffs. He was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner still had not changed the ruling about how Leslie sustained the head injuries that caused her death. Her death was not and had never been ruled a homicide at that point, yet the investigation had uncovered enough probable cause to secure his arrest.

The evidence against Charlie was largely circumstantial: He made several inconsistent statements regarding his whereabouts on the day of her death, May 4, 2002. You’ll remember there was that piece of wire that could have been similar to a possible murder weapon, and Charlie’s comments to witnesses about using such a wire to hit someone in the head. Not least of all was Charlie’s relationship with Carol Perez and denial of such a relationship that looked a lot like motive to want his wife gone.

Leslie Buck’s story continues on Dark Downeast. Press play to hear the full episode wherever you get your podcasts.