Independent forensic consultation has been conducted in this matter. This website does not solicit tips or conduct investigations.
On October 2, 2016, Tara Lynn Klimez was found deceased in her home. She had sustained a gunshot wound involving the non-dominant side of her head. The responding coroner initially recorded the cause of death as pending, indicating the need for toxicology results before any final determination could be made.
Despite this, and after the coroner departed the scene, Southaven Police Department officers closed the case as a suicide the same day. The case was marked “closed and cleared exceptionally” within approximately four hours of being opened. Images of the official documentation reflecting this closure are available on this site.
No autopsy was performed. No toxicology testing was completed prior to cremation. No gunshot residue testing, trajectory analysis, scene reconstruction, or victimology assessment was conducted. Physical evidence was not preserved, and the decedent’s electronic devices were not forensically examined. The spouse’s stated alibi was not documented as verified in the investigative record.
In the days following Tara’s death, we provided information we believed to be confidential to the assigned detective. We later became aware that details from those conversations were repeated back to us by the spouse, raising serious concerns about investigative integrity. Certain remarks made by law-enforcement personnel during this period were deeply troubling and inconsistent with a case officially ruled a suicide.
We waited for toxicology and pathology results that we were told were pending, only to later learn that no such testing had been completed. Against our wishes, Tara’s body was cremated shortly thereafter, eliminating the possibility of further post-mortem examination.
When we contacted law enforcement in early 2017 to inquire about investigative findings, we were informed that no investigation was underway and that the case was considered closed. Requests for clarification and records were repeatedly denied or ignored.
Over time, multiple independent forensic professionals reviewed available materials and identified findings inconsistent with the official suicide determination. These professional opinions were formally communicated to authorities but were rejected without substantive engagement.
Several individuals involved in the original response or supervisory chain subsequently left their positions. Despite leadership changes, requests for transparency and review have continued to be denied.
Since 2017, Tara’s family has contacted numerous state, federal, and international agencies, as well as journalists, seeking accountability and records access. During this period, we were repeatedly told that our concerns should be disregarded.
WHAT ARE THEY HIDING?
We have a legal right to the EMS report from the night our daughter Tara was found deceased.
That report documents what paramedics saw, touched, and recorded at the scene, even before the police photographer arrived (Officer Roy Hurst only took TEN (10) images of the death scene!)
Yet Captain Samantha Watts of the Southaven Fire Department has ignored our formal request.
No explanation.
No denial.
Just silence.
When public officials refuse to release basic death-scene records, it raises one question:
What are they afraid of us seeing?
Transparency is not optional when a young woman dies under suspicious circumstances.
We will not stop asking.
Additional unresolved issues include post-death use of Tara’s identity and credit, matters that have never been adequately explained.
Taken together, these facts raise serious concerns regarding investigative failures, denial of access to records, and the foreclosure of meaningful review. Our family continues to seek transparency, accountability, and an independent examination of the circumstances surrounding Tara Lynn Klimez’s death.
IT’S APPARENT NONE OF THESE AGENCIES ARE FAMILIAR WITH
THE MISSISSIPPI PUBLIC RECORDS ACT