The Unexplained Death of Shawn O’Brien
If you have any information about the Shawn O’Brien case, please call Detective Santagata (Cranston Police Dept) at (401) 942-2211 or text anonymously at (401) 284-9555.
Natalia faces a difficult truth
“I’m waiting for the miracle to happen now—for you to open your eyes and be okay. For all of us to snap awake and say ‘oh, it was only a bad dream.’ But the doctors are telling us otherwise. It’s hard, Dad. Jen keeps telling me that they need a roofer in Heaven. But why does God have to take my roofer?! There’s too much that you haven’t seen yet. It’s just not fair. I’M NOT READY TO SAY GOODBYE… But I know you wouldn’t wanna live like this. Through tubes!”
13-year-old Natalia Kaya wrote that under the hum of fluorescent lights at Rhode Island Hospital. Just one day prior, she was sharing a sandwich with her father, but today she was sitting next to his gurney, where he lay brain-dead, and in a coma. Her life had changed forever—she also wrote a promise: “I swear to you, Daddy, that I will find out what happened to you.”
Shawn’s relationship with his daughter was… complicated
He only knew his daughter, Natalia, for four years, but her memories are still so visceral, and personal. She met him for the first time when she was 9-years-old and lost him when she was 13.
Shawn was 21 years-old when he and his girlfriend, Amy, had their daughter in 1992.
Amy later wrote:
“Shawn and I broke up due to his drinking and cocaine use. We were polar opposites in that aspect. It wasn't a lifestyle I wanted my daughter to be exposed to any more than she had already been.
Despite that, we had many good times together as a family. He was the person everybody came to when you needed something. He would literally give you the shirt off his back and was generous to a fault with friends and family. He called me every day before work at 6am, except the day he didn't.”
His life wasn’t without struggle. But Shawn loved his family.
Life of the party
He grew up in the Providence, Rhode Island area, going to public schools, but dropped out in 8th grade to join the work force. He was close with his mother, Ellen, who Natalia calls “a saint of a woman”. From what I gather, Shawn and his siblings were quite the handful growing up.
He was quick-witted, sharp, and a bit of a jokester—and he loved to see people to crack a smile. Natalia said he would do things like ask a restaurant waiter, “do you care who pays for the bill?” and when they replied no, tell them to pick up the tab.
She remembers being a part of his pranks at Oakland Beach, a scrubby little beach with an iconic food landmark: Iggy’s Doughboys and Chowder Shop. Once they got their doughboys, clam cakes, and clam chowder, they would park and roll down the windows. Shawn would yell, “Heyyy!” to random passersby and people would turn and look at him like he was a nut while the girls in the back were dying laughing.
Shawn would dance in the car to the radio and, well, pretty much dance any chance he got. He liked the attention, and it probably earned him a few phone numbers here and there.
Total foodie
Shawn loved a good family get together because he knew that meant a big, hearty meal would accompany it. Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter were days he couldn’t miss. If you are somebody who likes to wear your stretchy pants on Thanksgiving, you were in good company with Shawn. He was known to grab a big plate of food, and go watch a movie in the quiet of his room... AFTER he was done with the first plate, of course.
If the meal really rocked his socks, he would sometimes even write thank you notes.
Luck of the Irish
Natalia is transparent about Shawn’s struggles. They’re part of his story, and they’re what makes him human along with the fun stories and memories she has. Shawn liked to live in the moment—partying and having a good time—and unfortunately that would sometimes get him in trouble. He had some DUI’s, he got in trouble for fighting (especially growing up), he had a drug possession charge for cocaine, but Natalia said that he had the luck of the Irish and often got off with a slap on the wrist.
Shawn’s good fortune got him out of some pretty sticky situations… One time he was at a convenience store, and, as Natalia said, “something took over and he made one of his great choices”, and got into the running car of another patron who was in the store. He stole it. Somehow Amy found out and it was a huge deal; nearby towns and cities had the car’s description and were on the lookout. Amy and Natalia and other family went to Shawn’s house and waited for him to return, figuring that he would have to return to home-base. He turned the corner and walked up. Everyone confronted him, “Where’s the car, Shawn?” After playing dumb for a minute he eventually admitted it… But he said that the cops had just pulled him over a couple of streets over. He said they let him off since the owner of the vehicle didn’t want to pursue charges, and they just let him walk home. His family was stunned. “There’s no way. THERE’S NO WAY! It’s not possible that the police find someone in a stolen car, and them be like, ‘We’re just gonna let this one slide’.” But that’s what happened. And he just walked home like nothing had happened.
It also worked out in his favor while he was, quote, “away at college” when Natalia was young, culminating in a Christmas miracle. He was in jail at the time, and the odds of getting out for a holiday were slim to none. But sure enough, Shawn arrived for Christmas dinner, clean cut with a fresh outfit on.
Despite having the tendency of sounding like a sailor, getting into fights, and being a “guy’s guy”, Shawn had a big heart, and a soft spot for his baby girl. One night when he was drunk, he called up Amy and asked her how to spell their daughter’s name. Shawn went to bed that night sporting a brand-new colorful tattoo of flowers with a banner positioned in front of them that read, “Natalia”.
Shawn and Natalia’s budding relationship
When she was 2, Shawn and Amy split, and Natalia lived with her mother and grandmother. It wasn’t until Natalia was 9 that she recalled meeting him for the first time.
Natalia recalled that it was a little awkward at first—she was getting to know him for the first time. They would do projects around the house together, go to Home Depot together, and they developed a friendship bond. Their love grew into a father-daughter relationship, but as Natalia got older she recognized some of the issues he was dealing with that would sometimes get in the way.
Natalia remembered her dad showing her how to play baseball, and what a good teacher he was. He was also a big Red Sox fan, and they would watch the games together on tv. They went to the haunted Halloween corn maze for her birthday in the fall, where Shawn made sure to keep a ten-foot distance between young Natalia and her boyfriend.
One time they went to a water park as a family. Natalia remembered the free cookies at the Holiday Inn, and going to a freshwater park in Rhode Island. At the park, Shawn came out of the water and Natalia ran after, teasing him with a glossy magazine, and he was freaking out because he had this bizarre fear of his wet and pruny hands touching any kind of paper. Natalia remembered him running around dripping wet and screaming “like a little girl.”
Shawn had a clever way of diffusing tense situations.
It was a Sunday night and Natalia and her mom were fighting back and forth; Shawn stepped in and said, “OK. That’s it. I’m taking her out for a drive.” He ended up taking her to Dave and Busters and Natalia couldn’t believe it. She said, “Mom is going to kill us!” It ended up working out though, and they ended up calling it “Code D&B” and it as their special inside joke. They ended up doing it every week on Sunday nights for about an hour, and no one else went with them. They pretended like it was this sneaky father-daughter outing, but of course Amy knew the whole time.
A special memory
Natalia grew up for much of her childhood without a dad. Despite getting a late start to their relationship, their love grew and they were always in one another’s thoughts.
One memory was particularly poignant to Natalia—it was the first time she was able to bring her dad—not her uncle, or grandpa, or another relative—but her dad, to what was then called the Daddy-Daughter Dance. In years past she had taking other relatives in her life—an uncle or her grandfather. But in 5th grade, she could take her dad. He had a Lincoln, a big boat of a car, and her best friend Becky went with her. Natalia remembers it fondly.
In another story, Natalia remembered her father saving the day. She felt protected and safe.
Becky and she loved going to nearby Warwick Mall. They were of the age to just go and do laps and see their friends. Amy and Shawn would drop them off and would often just hang out and sit in the parking lot. One time, a fight broke out and there were 40 teenagers that were brawling and she was in the middle of it. Natalia called her parents, panicked, and said, “I am not safe. You need to come get me.” They flew in, and Shawn came charging down the corridor like a bull with his fists balled up, ready to confront any danger that threatened his daughter. He and Amy got them out of there quickly and safely and it made quite an impression on young Natalia.
In the back of her mind, she knew her dad was fighting against his demons; fighting an uphill battle to not fall into old habits, and trying to be a better father for her. It wasn’t easy, but she saw the efforts he was making, and it gave her hope for the future.
One of the last things that happened before his death was a short visit to a nearby freshwater lake. His routine was that he would pack their lunches and grab a 6-pack of beer before they would go. This one time, though, he skipped the alcohol; “I’m getting clean. I’m serious this time.” Natalia thought he was turning a new leaf and had a bright future—making the impending tragedy all the more painful.
The last time Natalia saw her father (Friday, 7/21/2006)
It was a typical New England summer day: mid 80’s, overcast, humid, with the occasional light shower to release some moisture from the air. For Shawn, the rain was a welcome respite from the heat radiating from the dark asphalt shingles at his feet. The roofing crew got an early start, knocking out most of the work in the cool morning air, but things were heating up when he clocked out around 3:00PM. It was Friday, July 21st, 2006, and it was a payday. He hung up his hammer, picked up a check, and went to the bank. After getting some cash, he headed home, where he called Amy at about 3:30PM. He was hungry, and she offered to pick him up a sandwich, so she and Natalia went by one of his favorite spots: Carmine’s Sub Shop on Atwood Ave, about a 10-minute drive away.
He met them outside, in the parking lot of his duplex, and they dropped off his sandwich. Shawn gave Amy $160 to help support her and his daughter. They talked about making some plans for that evening, but first Shawn wanted to clean up. After eating his sub, he hopped in the shower and got changed. Meanwhile, Amy and Natalia picked up Shawn’s 3-year-old niece, Gianna. There was a big town summer festival going on—put on by a religious organization called St. Mary’s Feast—and everyone wanted to go. The three of them made it back over to Shawn’s around 6:45PM, and when they arrived, they noticed that his roommate and his girlfriend’s cars were both in the driveway.
Shawn, again, met them outside, and Amy told him that they wouldn’t be able to head to the festival because Natalia’s head had been hurting—they were gonna head home. Shawn didn’t want to be home because of the ongoing conflict with Armand and Lynne, so he asked Amy if she could drop him off at a local bar called Billy’s Frosted Mug. He had recently quit drinking, so he promised not to, and explained that he just wanted to play some keno. The pub was only a half mile away, and on the way over, Shawn gave Amy another $200 to “hold onto”, leaving Shawn with about $180 on him. Amy said, “Be good… and call for a ride if you need one.” Before going, he tried his sister, Erin, on Amy’s cell phone, but couldn’t get her, so he waved goodbye and walked in the back door of the bar at 7:00PM. He had to work early the next morning, and he said he wouldn’t be out late.
Amy and Natalia ended up going to bed early that night—around 9:00PM—Amy had work in the morning, too, and she was a very early riser—around 4:30AM most days.
While they were resting, Shawn was partying. He had succumbed to the temptations that had haunted him throughout his adult life and took a few different kinds of recreational drugs.
Shawn’s unconscious body discovered
We don’t know if he made it to work the next day, but we do know that Amy was a little concerned in the morning. She was accustomed to his early AM calls—she would often talk on the phone with him around 6:30AM before she headed off to work. Amy worked from that Saturday from 7:00AM until noon. He would often get picked up from his home by his crew, but it’s not clear if they got him that Saturday morning.
Amy and Natalia were planning to hit that local festival with Shawn in the afternoon, but they hadn’t heard from him.
At an emergency dispatch center, the phone rang at 5:51PM. An operator picked up, “What’s your emergency?” Karen, Shawn’s sister, spoke. “It’s a rescue please.” In the back you could hear her yelling her brother’s name, “Shawney! Shawn!” They transferred the call to fire dispatch. She explained, “my brother had a seizure and he’s been in it for quite a bit.” They sent an ambulance right away.
Shawn’s sister, Karen was with him in his basement apartment. He was lying face down on the floor of his tiny wood-paneled bedroom with a pool of blood and spit under his head. He was wearing only his boxers.
When she had arrived with her nephew, who was 16 years old, Armand (Shawn’s roommate) approached them outside and said, “You’ve got to come in; Shawn’s been having seizures for like an hour.”
Shawn had a history of seizures brought on by drug and alcohol use. They wouldn’t happen right away, but shortly after his partying. He was very aware of it, too, and would prepare a soft area to lay down to endure the violent shaking while he was unconscious. If he was standing when he blacked out, there was a strong possibility of hurting himself in a fall. Once he was on the ground, the clenching of his jaw could cause him to bite his tongue or chip his teeth. Another common sign of seizures is loss of bladder control. Seizures that last more than a few minutes are considered a medical emergency. If Shawn had been seizing for an hour, it was an emergency and a life-threatening situation.
After calling 9-1-1, Karen left before the medics arrived. Shawn’s nephew stayed with him, though, and so did Shawn’s roommate.
Within just a few minutes, both a fire department engine and an ambulance arrived. The neighbors on the other side of the duplex were out in the driveway and they directed the crew to the right door. Armand met them and directed them downstairs to Shawn’s basement apartment. They found him unconscious, still laying face down, breathing with a snoring sound. His skin was very clammy and sweaty. Armand kept repeating he had no idea what was going on. He said, “I don’t know, I haven’t seen him in an hour. I thought he was watching the baseball game.”
First responders arrive on the scene
His breathing was partially obstructed so they turned him on his side to try and clear his airway. One member headed back to the ambulance to get a portable suction machine to help. Shawn had his jaw clenched so tightly from the seizure that they couldn’t open his mouth enough to insert the tube from the machine to help clear his airway, so they did their best to clear the front of his mouth. There was a small amount of vomit on the ground—about enough to fill a coffee cup lid, mixed with a small amount of blood. They noticed the smell of urine and discovered that his boxers were soaked. In between Shawn’s toes there was a fresh wound that was oozing blood, and there was dried crusty blood that went between his mouth and his right ear—they weren’t sure the origin of the blood. One of the techs thought that the amount of blood on and around Shawn was unusual for a typical seizure victim. The sheets of the bed were almost entirely removed, revealing the bare mattress, which had some large red stains on it, one which was about 15 inches in diameter.
One of the members on the ambulance team had been to the house twice before—both times for Shawn and both times for seizures, and both of the previous times Shawn was transported to Rhode Island Hospital.
The three men were tightly squeezed into the narrow walkway by his bed. The room itself could only contain a mattress and an end table. One of the medics picked up the end table and moved it out of the room in order to get into position. Another medic moved a pile of clothes. After installing a cervical collar to brace his neck, the three of them rolled him onto a rigid backboard and then carried him up the stairs.
Police arrive on scene
As they were removing Shawn from the house, making their way up the narrow stairs, two cops (Officer Gallagher and Officer Sean Parker with the Cranston Police Department) showed up. Officer Parker later wrote a narrative in a police report about that afternoon which said that Shawn was conscious and combative… had no marks or injuries on him… and that his bedroom was neat and orderly.
They asked some questions. Armand and Shawn’s nephew told both them and the first responders that Shawn had a history of alcohol and drug use and associated seizure activity. They asked the neighbors if they had heard anything. The walls were paper thin, and you could even make out the words of conversations that one another were having, and they said they’d heard nothing in the past few hours.
They asked about Shawn’s history of drug use. His nephew said that although Shawn had used drugs in the past, he said that he didn’t know what he had done on Friday night.
Emergency medicine can’t save Shawn
Once in the ambulance they dried to install an oropharyngeal airway (which is a tube that extends down into the throat and provides and unobstructed airway). Suspecting a possible drug overdose, they administered Narcan, but Shawn did not respond to it.
They called into Rhode Island Hospital’s Emergency Department to let them know that they were coming in with a patient in need of urgent care. Meanwhile, Amy first learned of Shawn’s condition—she got a call from Karen with the scary news—that Shawn was unconscious and being rushed to the ER.
The hospital did some imaging of his head and they determined that he had a large amount of blood pooling in his brain caused by blunt force trauma. It was a major impact and it was in an unusual place for a seizure victim—usually a seizure victim will fall forward or backward and the injury will be to the front or the back of the skull, but this injury was on the side of his skull, over his right ear, a more fragile part of the cranium’s anatomy. The blood was about 4” X 1.5” in area and an inch and a half thick, underneath the skull, which was creating a lot of pressure on his brain matter, causing what is medically known as a midline shift—squishing his brain so much that the center of the brain was no longer in the center of his skull cavity. Surgery was immediately necessary.
An on-call brain surgeon came in and operated Saturday evening and performed a craniectomy—a major surgery that involves peeling the skin back from the scalp, cutting a large access panel into the bone of the skull, and then suctioning out the pooled blood. Unsure if the bleeding would continue, they installed a port to drain additional blood without additional surgery necessary, should it be required. The procedure was a success, and his vitals were stabilized, but his brain damage was irreversible.
Concurrently, they were doing rapid blood testing and the toxicology screen came back positive for cocaine, opiates and barbiturates.
That evening, Amy’s sister, Jennifer, called the Cranston Police and asked them to send someone to talk to Armand. She already had her suspicions that Shawn’s injury to his head was not a result of a seizure. Sean Parker later wrote that he went to Rhode Island Hospital to check on Shawn’s condition, and he stated that he was in “stable condition,” according to a hospital employee, and was admitted due to a blood clot in his brain that could have been caused by the seizure.
Amy stayed with Shawn at the hospital until 2:00AM, when she went home and tried to get a little rest.
Sunday comes, suspicions grow
At 7:30AM, she returned to the hospital and noticed some other injuries on Shawn’s body. He had a deep scratch and bruising on his upper chest, bruising on his knees, cuts or rug burns on his nose and forehead and right knuckles, and was missing part of a tooth. All of these injuries, along with the cut between his toes, made her suspicious. She thought he might have been struck in the head, fallen, and been dragged. She spoke to a nurse and she told Amy, “there was no way his injuries were consistent with a fall… somebody hit him.” The CT scan indicated head trauma. Even the neurosurgeon asked the family at the hospital, “What happened to him? Does anyone know if he could have been in a fight?”—at which point 13-year-old Natalia became very suspicious. He also explained that the wounds may not have been sustained on Saturday afternoon, but perhaps Friday night.
Erin, another one of Shawn’s sisters, went to the duplex and questioned Armand about the timeline leading up to discovering Shawn unconscious. He said, quote, “Amy dropped off Shawn” Friday night and he came in “by himself.” Armand said he worked on Saturday and thought that Shawn had gone to work too. He worked for the post office, and his days would start very early as well. Armand said after he got home, he went downstairs to use the washer/dryer to do some laundry (his bed linens), and he noticed Shawn lying down on the floor. He then checked on him an hour later—around the time that Karen had arrived. Armand also said that he had taken the cash that was on Shawn’s table, and Erin asked for it back. Armand, after making a show of looking for it, eventually came out with $70 from his bedroom, and gave it to her.
That night, both Erin and a lawyer (Carl Levin), who was connected to the family, called the Cranston Police to encourage them to treat Shawn’s case as a criminal matter. His apartment was not yet considered a crime scene.
Shawn’s hope for recovery is nil
Around 4:00PM the next day, the hospital staff gathered the family to tell them the grim news. Shawn was in a coma, and he was only being kept alive by the machinery in the hospital. He had virtually no chance at ever waking up, and even if he did, he would be completely brain-dead. They asked the family if it would be alright to take him off of life support, and with a heavy heart, his mom, Ellen, agreed. By 4:30PM, they extubated him, and he continued to breathe on his own.
The hospital asked one of their chaplains to speak with the family to start the planning process for Shawn’s inevitable death.
A family member of Amy’s, who was a registered nurse at the hospital, went to the caseworker on the floor with her concerns and suspicions. It had been two days, and still the police had taken no action.
Shawn’s death
On Tuesday, July 25th, 2006, at 1:24PM, 34-year-old Shawn Patrick O’Brien passed away.
He had been unconscious since he was discovered on Saturday afternoon, and medical experts would later tell Natalia and the family that he had no chance of survival from the condition in which he was found. The trauma to his head was too severe for any hope of recovery.
His mom contacted the Russell Boyle Funeral Home to begin making arrangements, but she got a call later that day, to the relief of the family, that the medical examiner’s office had claimed Shawn’s body for an autopsy. They hoped that they would get answers.
Amy and Erin’s head to Shawn’s apartment
After Shawn’s death on Tuesday afternoon, Amy and Erin (Shawn’s sister) went by the Frosted Mug and had a beer in Shawn’s honor. They asked the owner if he remembered Shawn coming in on Friday, and he said that he had, but he didn’t recall what time Shawn had left.
Around 6:00PM, they left the bar and went to Shawn’s apartment. Armand met them outside with his golden retriever, Floyd. Amy & Erin broke the news to him that Shawn had passed. Amy asked, “Did you see or hear anything that night?” Armand said, quote, “YOU dropped him off…” but Amy cut him off, saying that she dropped him at Billy’s Frosted Mug at 7:00PM, and that was the last time she saw him. Armand, a little shaken, tried to recall other details from Friday night.
He said, “Shawn walked around the corner—had to be about 8:00PM—he had a bag of beers under his arm… or did he? He had the white hat on. Right? We were sitting in the yard.”
Amy pressed, “Was anyone with him? Did he go back out? Did anyone else come in?”
Armand said that he was alone, that nobody came in, and he didn’t think Shawn went back out.
Amy found Armand’s behavior unsettling. She thought he was nervous. He couldn’t maintain eye contact. She noticed four cuts on his face—two on each side—and a band aid on his finger. The dog, Floyd, had a shaved patch on his tail that made it look like it was “missing”.
Amy bent down and spoke to the dog. “Floyd, where were you? Why didn’t you bark?” Even though Floyd was Armand’s dog, he was protective of Shawn and loyal to him. In the past, if Shawn had suffered a seizure, the dog would bark until someone came to help. Sometimes family would come over and knock on Shawn’s basement windows, and the dog would bark—he spent most of his time downstairs with Shawn. It seemed to Amy that if Shawn had gone into a seizure at any point on Saturday, that the dog would have made quite a racket—certainly enough to disturb the neighbors.
Erin told Armand that Ellen, Shawn’s mom, had come by on Saturday during the day and knocked on the window, but the dog didn’t bark. Armand said that Floyd was in the bathroom with him, quote, “I was scrubbing the tub… like I do every Saturday.”
They left it at that and told Armand that they needed to retrieve a few of Shawn’s belongings downstairs. They wanted a shirt or a hat of his, and they explained that they’d be back another time to clean out the apartment. This was the first time that Amy had seen Shawn’s apartment since the Saturday incident.
Impressions of the basement
Amy and Erin descended the stairs to the basement.
They found blood stains in a number of places: on the carpet near the door, on the door itself, on the bedroom carpet, and on the wood-paneled wall at the head of the bed. There was a bloody balled-up sheet that was beneath the comforter and a blood-stained loose pillowcase. The long green-colored body pillow had blood stains and there were three large blood stains on the bare mattress. There was a white T-shirt with blood stains that looked like it was used to wipe something.
The furniture had spots as well: the bottom of Shawn’s wooden bureau in his bedroom, and the kitchen chair. The door to the half-bathroom on his floor had a blood stain as well.
The shorts that Shawn had worn Friday night looked untouched and had his ID in the pocket. They were left near his sneakers. His belt and hammer-holder were left on the kitchen table, which was consistent with Shawn preparing for work.
Amy described Shawn as very modest about his dress. He would never walk around or lounge bare-chested in his boxers, so she believed that whatever had happened, happened while he was in bed.
Erin took some photos with her camera phone, which, though they are very low resolution and poor quality, documented some of the things that they had discovered. Some of the clearest images, which we have now, show the large stains on the mattress.
They noticed a few things that were missing: a faux-brass lamp (the kind you tap the base to turn on), his hammer, an alarm clock, and a dumbbell set.
They found a piece of paper with some writing on it. It had Armand and John’s phone numbers, and a license plate number that belonged to Lynne’s best friend, Chicki.
Armand’s nephew, John, came down and asked them what had happened. After sharing the bad news, they asked him if he was visiting Armand on Friday evening and he said no. He then said, quote, “Shawn had no problems with my uncle.” Erin & Amy left shortly thereafter.
They shared what they learned with the rest of the family and one detail stood out: why was the dog’s tail shaved? They thought that perhaps Floyd had gone downstairs while Shawn was seizing and laying unconscious in a pool of blood, and gotten blood on his tail. They thought perhaps Armand or Lynne shaved the dog’s tail in order to remove the blood evidence.
Going to the Cranston Police Department
The next morning, at 9:30AM, Amy and her sister went to the Cranston Police Department to explain their story. It was the 4th day since Shawn had been found, and this was the first time that they took action to investigate. They met with a detective in the station, and shortly thereafter, the police went to the house and sealed it off as a crime scene.
A sergeant with Cranston PD was quick to blame Rhode Island Hospital for not letting them know that it looked as though Shawn had been a victim of a crime.
That same morning, assistant medical examiner Alexander Chirkhov conducted an autopsy. He said that the cause of death was blunt for trauma to the head, but because he didn’t have a clear story of how the injury was sustained from the police, he ruled manner of death as “undetermined.” He later clarified to Natalia that the skull fracture was likely from a single blow and would have rendered him unconscious instantly.
Cranston PD immediately prepared a search warrant application and brought it to a judge for approval. Detective Sergeant Michael Gates wrote in the supporting affidavit, “When police consulted with the Medical Examiner’s office, Dr. Chirkov concluded that the magnitude and extent of the trauma to [Shawn’s] head was inconsistent with a fall caused by a seizure. [Furthermore], police found blood evidence inconsistent with a fall. Blood residue and spatter [was found] in areas of the dwelling away from where [Shawn] was discovered at the time of rescue.”
If Shawn didn’t die from an accidental fall, what could explain his death?
Cranston PD questions Lynne and Armand
They brought Armand and Lynne into the station for questioning, and they later told Natalia that Armand was so shaken up that they allowed Lynne to write his statement for him, which he dutifully signed. Natalia later found it strange that they were interviewed together and that she was allowed to write his account for him.
After they wrapped up at the station, three detectives followed Armand and Lynne back to the house where another officer was already present and had secured the scene. Two of the detectives, Armand, and Lynne, sat in the backyard together. Armand had invoked his right to counsel, so the discussion was between the detectives and Lynne. Natalia later learned that Lynne didn’t say much and said she “failed to recall” many of the details that they were inquiring about. Armand kept trying to interject, but they reminded him that he couldn’t speak to them without a lawyer present.
After this went on for a while, Armand grew impatient and insisted that he be allowed to talk. He filled out some paperwork waiving his right to counsel, and they continued the interview. The detectives asked him about the scratches on his face, and both he and Lynne said they were from a fight on Friday, and that it was Lynne who had scratched him.
While other members of the force were processing the crime, Detective Hall returned to the station and informed his sergeant what he had learned. The sergeant told him to track down Lynne and bring her in for domestic assault. By the time he returned, she had disappeared, so Hall went canvassing up and down Pleasant Street.
That same day, detectives admitted to Amy and her sister that they believed Armand and Lynne had coordinated their statements and had additional knowledge that they weren’t sharing. But they also said that they were hamstrung because key pieces of evidence were missing and the crime scene, after 4 days, had been contaminated.
Lynne was arrested for domestic violence charges against Armand.
Lynne and Armand’s story
According to what Natalia was later told by detectives, Lynne said that she had come by on Friday, the day before Shawn was found, in the late afternoon, which was when the violent confrontation between her and Armand had happened. She said that she later left and did not spend the night, but she had to be there at 7:00PM, because that is when Amy dropped off Shawn and noticed both her and Armand’s cars in the driveway. She said that she came back on Saturday afternoon and left again around 5:00PM, shortly before Karen arrived and discovered Shawn’s condition.
Another one of Shawn’s siblings, Charlene, said that she drove by the duplex on Saturday at 11:00AM and saw both Armand and Lynne’s cars in the driveway, directly contradicting this account.
Armand recounted the moments on Saturday afternoon leading to Karen’s discovery a couple of different ways. Karen recalled that when she arrived, Armand already knew about Shawn’s condition and ushered her in and downstairs. In the account written by Sean Parker, the first cop on the scene, Armand told him that Karen arrived and went downstairs by herself, then came back up and told him that Shawn was still on the floor and was having a seizure. He said he then went back downstairs, noticed some blood, and that it was he that called 9-1-1. Armand also said that he recalled Shawn watching a baseball game on TV “in his bedroom” that Saturday, but Shawn didn’t even have a TV in his bedroom. Could he have meant the living area downstairs? Because it was very unlikely that Shawn would have been in just his boxers in the living room. Furthermore, when would Armand have seen Shawn in the living room at all that day? He had been face-down in his bedroom for quite some time.
The truth is unclear—and not just about Saturday afternoon—but everything from when Shawn was dropped off at 7:00PM on Friday until he was discovered at about 6:00PM on Saturday.
On Thursday, the day after the police started investigating the crime, the Cranston Police Department processed Lynne’s car in front of the police station—looking for any forensic evidence.
Saying goodbye to Shawn
After Shawn’s death, his mom, Ellen, handled the arrangements for the funeral. It was held on Saturday, July 29th, 2006, four days after his death. His head was damaged so badly from the surgery and the autopsy that they almost decided on a closed-casket funeral, but the embalmers did a great job, and they decided to give everyone one last chance to see him.
He was dressed in crisp new sneakers, ironed jeans, a Red Sox jersey and a Red Sox baseball cap.
Armand and Lynne did not attend.
A neighbor of Shawn’s, many years later, remembered that some folks—likely Shawn’s family—left candles and some memorial writing in chalk on the pavement in front of the duplex. She confided in Natalia that right after the people left, Armand came out and washed the chalk away with water, and she was disgusted by it.
Lynne’s violent past
Lynne Hallal had a violent past, and though we don’t have Lynne’s full criminal background, we have learned a few things.
In Jan of 2005, a year and a half before Shawn’s death, she was arrested for domestic assault. Lynne was 45 years old at the time and was dating a 69-year-old man who lived on Pontiac Avenue in Cranston. In the report, she was described as his “live-in girlfriend”. He reported that she grabbed him by the throat, scratched his throat, and then threw a large measuring cup of hot water at him, and because he was over 60 years old, it was an automatic felony.
In early 2006, Natalia recalled that Lynn flipped over Shawn’s table, and told him that she was going to kill him while he was downstairs watching a game in his living room.
In May of 2006, Armand told Shawn that he had to move out, and Lynne moved in shortly thereafter. Shawn was scrambling—looking for a place to stay—when Armand changed his mind. He told Shawn, “forget it,” and allowed him to continue to rent the basement apartment.
Armand was renting the unit from the landlord for $800 a month. Lynne was living upstairs with Armand and not paying rent, and Shawn was paying $675/mo for just for basement unit, covering all but $125 of Armand’s rent. Perhaps the financial benefit of having Shawn there trumped Lynne’s objections.
In one strange incident, Armand approached Shawn and asked him, “Want a turn with the pig?” Shawn refused.
In late May of 2006, Amy went by the house to drop off a note for Shawn, and Lynne invited her in. She told her (in a way that Amy said, betrayed her delight), quote, “Shawn was up to no good. He was bringing black girls into the house, and he might be HIV positive.” (But it was Lynne that was the one involved with sex work and drugs.) Later that night, Amy relayed everything that Lynne had said to Shawn, and he was furious that she was making things up start trouble.
Shawn and his sister, Charlene, confronted Lynne about the lies, and Lynne struck Shawn in the face and threatened to kill him. The police were called. Shawn had a bench warrant for failing to appear at a previous court hearing and he was arrested. Armand threw Lynne out over the incident, and according to Natalia, obtained a restraining order against her.
But by late June, Lynne was coming around again, and Shawn was done living there. He had had enough and was looking for a new apartment.
It was in the midst of his search that his life came to a sudden end.
1 year later, NBC Special
A year later, a local TV news channel, NBC 10/WJAR, did a special report on Shawn’s case. They had three of Shawn’s sisters on the program, and they complained that the police response was subpar.
Investigative reporter Jim Taricani sat down with Cranston Police Chief McGrath.
Jim Taricani, NBC 10: Did Cranston Police secure Shawn’s apartment as a crime scene?
Cranston Police Chief McGrath: No.
Jim Taricani, NBC 10: Why not?
Cranston Police Chief McGrath: We weren’t treating it as a crime scene because at that point we were treating it as a rescue call for a seizure victim.
He also asked the chief about Armand and Lynne.
Jim Taricani, NBC 10: Did you interview Shawn’s landlord, Armand Rouleau, and his girlfriend?
Cranston Police Chief McGrath: Yes.
Jim Taricani, NBC 10: And… are they people of interest?
Cranston Police Chief McGrath: They are, yes.
He also said that they had a thick case file with, quote, “hours of surveillance of possible suspects and hundreds of interviews.”
Jim Taricani, NBC 10: Cranston Police are certain that Shawn O’Brien was murdered in that basement apartment a year ago. They also feel that someone out there might have knowledge of what happened, but so far that person is not coming forward. Cranston Police say, “They’re not giving up.”
Police told WJAR that they were certain that Shawn was murdered.
2 years later, Natalia’s reflections as a teenager
2 years after Shawn’s death, things on the investigation and in the family had quieted down and Natalia took to pen and paper as a 16-year-old to reflect.
“I always thought my dad would live forever. The idea that all little girls have—that their dad is invincible, can battle monsters under the bed, spiders, boyfriends, and college admissions.
Over two years ago, I stepped off an elevator into the intensive care unit at the hospital, and I expected to walk out alongside my father. But he was in a deep coma, and if by some chance a miracle happened, he would not talk, walk, or even recognize me.
That week was also the week that I developed depression, insomnia, and an anxiety disorder called PTSD. I have been battling these disorders for a full two years now.
I am left behind with no father—no father to see me graduate, to walk me down the aisle, or to watch me achieve my dreams.
I have no answers, just memories and pictures.
What my family and I really need is closure. This is where we need help. We are reaching out to anyone that is willing to give us any type of assistance. We need to know what took Shawn Patrick O’Brien away from us, because he was truly the most important person in my life.”
Despite Natalia’s pleas, her father’s case sat mostly dormant for another decade. In 2019, 13 years after Shawn’s death, as a 27-year-old woman, she decided it was time for her to do something about it.
Natalia’s modern efforts
First she asked the Cranston police for, quote, “everything”. She wanted the entire case file—anything that they had in their records about the death of her dad. The chief of Cranston PD wrote her a letter and provided a redacted version of a statement from one of the first responders, but other than that, said that they couldn’t release anything further to her.
In the letter, the chief said, quote, “Your father’s death has never been determined to be a homicide by the Medical Examiner’s Office, and the investigation has been closed (absent any new information coming to light).”
This redirected Natalia’s focus to the manner of death classification from the autopsy report. She ended up securing a meeting with the medical examiner who prepared the initial report—Alexander Chirkov. Alexander pulled out his file and went over it with Natalia. It didn’t take long—there were only 2 documents from the Cranston Police. The first was the statement written by their first responder, Sean Parker, and the second was a statement from Armand.
After their meeting, she wrote a letter to him to document their conversation. She wrote:
“Based on your expertise, the body presented and the ‘story’ did not match, resulting in an ‘undetermined’ manner of death. We reviewed the evidence provided to you by the Cranston Police Department, which was minimal at best. [It gave you] no clear story [and provided no] evidence of a perpetrator—[and absent a compelling] story, [there was insufficient reason] to rule the death a homicide.”
It was a case of both organizations pointing the finger at one another, and Natalia felt like she was being sent in circles. The ME said he needed more information from the police, and the police said that it was the ME that determined that there was insufficient evidence to rule it a homicide.
Fighting on multiple fronts, Natalia continued to push for Cranston PD to release more information to her. Instead of the broad request she made initially, she submitted a series of very specific requests. Like clockwork, Cranston PD would deny the requests, and then, later, release information after Natalia appealed the decision to the attorney general’s office and won the appeal.
Natalia even managed to get a meeting with the chief of the criminal division of the attorney general’s office to discuss Shawn’s case.
The same NBC 10 that did the initial story on Shawn did a follow-up news story with Natalia 14 years later—this time, with investigative reporter Parker Gavigan. After speaking with Natalia, he tried to get interviews with Armand and Lynne.
Parker tracked down Lynne and knocked on her door, but she yelled from the inside of her apartment that she wasn’t interested to speak to him. He also went to see Armand, who lived in the same home where Shawn had died. He, too, refused to speak.
They brought on Dr. Timothy Gallagher, an independent forensic pathologist, and asked him to review the autopsy report.
Parker: In your expert opinion, were these injuries to Shawn O’Brien caused by a fall to the ground?
Tim: Most likely not. So this is the classic signs of somebody being assaulted. But again, there is that outside possibility that it could’ve been the result of an accident.
Parker got a meeting with the current chief of the Cranston Police, who said, “We re-interviewed some of the people that were involved, but unfortunately—at this point—we haven’t gotten any more answers for her or more information helpful to our investigation.”
He said that detectives tracked down a lead about a missing love seat and lamp from Shawn’s apartment and followed it all the way to the state landfill, but it was a dead end. The reason they were looking for the lamp is because Shawn’s niece, who came by with Shawn’s sister the day he was found, said she saw Lynne getting into her car with a gold lamp under her arm.
Natalia: It’s tough because I think they [Cranston PD] put a lot of stock in that gold lamp thing, and they went to the dump, and they looked for the gold lamp. [Cranston PD looked at the] gold lamp as, like, the smoking gun.
But, the niece that talked about it… I always question did she make it up? Did she actually see it? Did Lynne actually have anything under her arm? Because, yeah, the lamp was missing, but so was a radio, so was a hammer, so were barbells. There was lot missing from the house. So, the gold lamp thing, it’s kind of like a gray area for me.
The chief said that Shawn’s case is suspended, not closed. They are open to reviewing new information on the case and there is a detective assigned to it.
Natalia was very complimentary of the work that Parker Gavigan did in his special on Shawn’s case. She even gathered friends to have a watch party to see her dad’s name resurrected and broadcast on the 5PM and 11PM news. From there she reached out to other media outlets, getting coverage from other podcasts and popular YouTuber Danelle Hallan. With the help of her husband, she started a website (justiceforshawnobrien.com) where she announced a reward of $1,000. She heard all kinds of misinformation about the case, and she used it as a place to set the record straight. She also has an anonymous tip line. She also tries to share stories and personalize Shawn.
She also started a Facebook group “Justice for Shawn O’Brien”. She prints flyers, about once a month or so, and puts them up on utility poles around the area. If she’s feeling spicy, she’ll even put one on Armand’s or Lynne’s cars.
In the summer of last year, Natalia was listening to true crime podcasts and got hooked. Any time that she learned something that she could apply to her dad’s case, she wrote it down to work on it herself.
She ended up finding an association of forensic pathologists and sent out an email blast to all of them with some cliff-notes about her dad’s case along with the autopsy report. 5 or 6 responded and said that it, quote, “looked like a homicide,” but the rates that they charged were significant and it wasn’t something she was financially prepared to pursue.
Natalia was in Trader Joe’s when Dr. Shiping Bao called her and told her, “It was medically impossible for these wounds to have happened in any other way than a homicide; don’t leave this alone.” He believed that the injury was caused in a single devastating blow, immediately knocking Shawn unconscious. He explained that the multiple brain injuries noted in the autopsy were likely caused by the brain ricocheting within the cranium. He said that the blow could not have been made with a hammer or any other narrow metal object, but more likely from something like a baseball bat. He was adamant, but he was unwilling to put it in writing for her.
Natalia got all of Shawn’s medical records from Rhode Island Hospital. She got the statements from the initial fire department and rescue personnel. She got the 9-1-1 audio and transcript from Karen’s initial call for help. She got the photos that her aunt took on her flip phone back from police and forwarded them to the medical examiner’s office.
As time went on, she stayed in touch Dr. Bao, and eventually he sent her his opinion in writing: “It is my opinion that the manner of death of Shawn O’Brien [is] homicide.”
I asked Natalia why she thinks that Cranston PD and the Medical Examiner are resistant to ruling it a homicide. Though she admits it is speculation, she believes it may be a statistics issue. Who wants another unsolved homicide on their record? She also thinks it open them up to being scrutinized and would open the possibility of the state police getting involved.
Lamenting lost time in the early hours
Natalia continues to advocate for her dad, demanding transparency in a criminal justice system that operates in secrecy. The findings in the medical examiner’s autopsy report were the spark that ignited the efforts of the police, and Natalia often wonders if the case would’ve been solved if Shawn had died at the scene.
Natalia: It’s one of the things that I’ve always said… That my dad’s biggest mistake was not dying at the house. It’s terrible that I say that, but if he had been found dead at the house, it would have been sealed immediately, the police would’ve taken it way more seriously, and the medical examiner would’ve seen his injuries fresh.
Natalia hears stories of passionate detectives whose doggedness have made the difference in cold cases, and she can’t help but yearn for that.
Natalia: You listen to these cases. Nothing gets solved by accident. Nothing gets solved because someone suddenly has a conscience. It’s always a detective that wouldn’t give up. Unfortunately, I don’t have that. I don’t have someone who is going to comb through it, tooth and nail, to consider it from every possible angle.
Theory of what happened
I asked Natalia what she and her mom thought happened to Shawn, and she said that she thought that Shawn got home from the bar on Friday night, went to sleep, and at some point during the night was struck in the head while he was in bed. She believes he was left all day downstairs suffering, which would explain why he was found in just his boxer shorts.
Natalia’s tenacity
Natalia, in her writing, emphasizes her tirelessness and tenacity in pursuing her father’s case. She is his next of kin, and she feels the weight on her shoulders to advocate for her father. She asks herself, “If not her, then who?”
She had shirts made and she wears them every weekend when she’s out running errands. She lives and breathes her father’s case, and it’s making an impact.
She got the current detective, Robert Santagata, to go out and knock on some doors, with the hope of reinterviewing some of the people involved in the case.
She said to us, “I’m not done, and I won’t stop—I’m not giving up until the story is over.”
How has her life changed?
I asked her how it affected her life.
Natalia: “After his death I spiraled a little bit, but come senior year of high school, I was like, ‘I need to make all of the best possible choices I can.’ If I was going to do something, I was going to do it with my full effort, and I was going to be great at it, because I always thought, if it [an unexpected tragedy] happens to me, I want to be able to say I did the best that I could, with everything that I had. Because you don’t know about tomorrow.
In her writing, she talks about the things that were stolen from her.
“My dad had demons he fought every day. Would I have cut ties with him? Would I have asked him to walk me down the aisle? Saved him a seat at my graduation? It doesn't matter what would have happened - someone took those choices away from me. Someone took the chance for my dad and I to build a relationship. Someone took my dad’s life and in turn took so much of mine. They took my peace, my ability to sleep through the night. They took my immaturity that I was owed and made me grow up way too soon.”
Despite this heavy burden, Natalia maintained focus achieving her own goals. She finished college and went on to get a masters degree and is now a school administrator.
What now?
I asked her what her goals were in her father’s case.
Natalia: I posted on Reddit, and all the people from Rhode Island (or Cranston) were like, “OH my god! I can’t believe this happened! I’ve never heard of this case!” And that was so frustrating to me because somebody was killed, but nobody knows about it. Rhode Island is so small, and people think this stuff doesn’t happen here. So I want people to talk about it… because I have looked at it from every possible angle, but I think a fresh pair of eyes—a citizen detective—might prompt the police to open up a new can of worms.
I want his name out there. I want people to know that he wasn’t just this guy from Cranston who had his struggles. No. He was murdered.
If you have any information about the Shawn O’Brien case, please call Detective Santagata (Cranston Police Dept) at (401) 942-2211 or text anonymously at (401) 284-9555.
Visit her website, Justice for Shawn O’Brien.
Donate some money to support her efforts, here.
Connect with Murder, She Told on instagram @MurderSheToldPodcast
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Shawn O’Brien (age 21) with Natalia
Shawn O’Brien (age 21) with infant daughter, Natalia
Shawn O’Brien (age 21) with his daughter’s mother, Amy Kaya
Shawn O’Brien with daughter, Natalia
Amy Kaya, Natalia Kaya, Shawn O’Brien
Shawn and his sister, Shannon
145 Pleasant Ave, Cranston, RI (circa 2007)
145 Pleasant Ave, Cranston, RI (circa 2021)
Lynne Hallal
Armand Rouleau
Shawn’s last meal came from Carmine’s on Friday, 7/21/2006
Sketch of Shawn’s bedroom by first responder
Sketch of Shawn’s bedroom by first responder
Sketch of the upstairs living room by first responder
Shawn’s surgery was in the temporal region
Shawn’s burial plot, St. Ann Cemetery, Cranston, RI
Shawn’s sisters, meeting with Jim Taricani, NBC 10, 2007
Graphic used by NBC 10 in 2007
Parker Gavigan, NBC 10, knocking on the door of Lynne Hallal, 2021
Parker Gavigan, NBC 10, knocking on the door of Armand Rouleau
Jim Taricani, NBC 10, requesting a comment from Armand Rouleau, 2007
Chief Michael Winquist, Cranston Police Dept, interviewed by NBC 10, 2021
Natalia (Kaya) St. Louis
Sources For This Episode
Official Documentation
Arrest Report, Lynne Hallal, Domestic Violence, 1/16/2005
Arrest Report, Shawn O’Brien, Bench warrant for failure to appear, 6/8/2006
First responder narrative, Responder #1, 7/26/2006
First responder narrative, Responder #2, 7/26/2006
First responder narrative, Responder #3, 7/26/2006
First responder narrative, Responder #4, 7/27/2006
Photos of 145 Pleasant Ave, 7/22/2006
Police narrative, Officer Sean Parker, 7/22/2006
Police narrative, Detective Allen Hall, 7/26/2006
Search Warrant Application, Detective Sergeant Michael Gates, 7/26/2006
Autopsy report, Shawn O’Brien, prepared by Alexander Chirkov, 7/26/2006
Medical documentation, Shawn O’Brien, from Rhode Island Hospital, 7/22/2006-7/26/2006
Arrest Report, Lynne Hallal, Violation of Restraining Order, 11/4/2006
Call for Service Log, Cranston Police Department, originated from 145 Pleasant, 2005-2007
Call for Service Log, Cranston Police Department, originated from 144 Pleasant, 2005-2007
News sources
NBC 10 WJAR, 8/1/2007 “I-Team: Women Critical Of Murder Investigation”, Jim Taricani
NBC 10 WJAR, 9/23/2021, “I-Team: Was it a seizure or murder?”, Parker Gavigan, which include video footage from original story and new footage from 2021.
Other written sources
Natalia (Kaya) St. Louis, personal writings
Amy Kaya, personal writings
Natalia (Kaya) St. Louis, conversations with neighbors and with bartender
Letter to Dr. Alexander Chirkov, 2/28/2022, written by Natalia (Kaya) St. Louis
Expert opinion, Forensic Pathologist, Dr. Shiping Bao, 6/23/2022
Audio records
9-1-1 call audio, 7/22/2006
NBC 10 audio, 8/1/2007
NBC 10 audio, 9/23/2021
Meeting audio with Alexander Chirkov, 2022
Interviews
Natalia (Kaya) St. Louis
Photos
Photos from Google Maps, NBC 10/WJAR, and from Natalia (Kaya) St. Louis.
Credits
Research, writing, vocal performance and audio editing by Kristen Seavey
Writing, research, photo editing by Byron Willis
Murder, She Told is created by Kristen Seavey