An investigation into the death of a Vermont man that local police ruled a suicide will be reopened following months of pressure from his daughter, who says the case was mishandled and that her father may have been killed.
Pedro Baez, 68, died suddenly on November 9, 2024, at his home in Northfield.
Daughter Alexandria Stanley, has long disputed the official finding that her father died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Now, investigators with the Vermont State Police major crime unit will work with the Washington County State’s Attorney’s Office, the Vermont Chief Medical Examiner’s Office, and the Northfield Police Department to reexamine Baez’s death.
“I’m hugely thankful that this will be looked at anew,” Stanley told VTDigger on Monday. “I’ve been asking for an unbiased, independent investigation into my father’s suspicious death since November.”
The daughter’s attorney, former U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan, said the family “has compiled a case file that they are ready to hand over to law enforcement.”
The complaints included that no autopsy was conducted and that officers relied heavily on statements by one person.
A separate review of the case by Berlin police in April, and obtained by VTDigger, found several shortcomings, including “inadequate” crime scene photographs, missing interviews, and a lack of financial, medical, and digital records. The report recommended further investigation — and now state police have taken it over.
“All they’re asking for is please investigate. We will accept the outcome if a real investigation is performed,” Nolan said.
The review will include interviewing witnesses, gathering new evidence, and reassessing findings from the original probe.
The case will then be turned over to the state’s attorney to determine whether or not criminal charges should be brought.
The family is hopeful the new probe will finally bring answers.
“My father lived the last 40 years of his life in the town of Northfield,” his daughter said. “He deserves the dignity of a competent police investigation.”
The reopening of the investigation comes after Pedro’s son, Peter Baez, 41, was recently indicted on federal charges of possessing and selling firearms that belonged to his late father.
Prosecutors say he sold some of the guns to local shops and kept the proceeds, despite being notified that his father’s estate left all of his estate to his sister Stanley, the DA’s office said in a press release on Thursday. Peter Baez pleaded not guilty during his arraignment last week.
