An Emmy-award winning NBC news anchor in Connecticut has revealed the “painful secret” that she and her family had kept for months: Her mother’s February death was not a medical incident as first thought, but a cold-blooded murder.
Heidi Voight posted the shattering news on Aug. 1, revealing she kept the secret in order to protect the police investigation into the matter.
“She should still be here,” she wrote. “My mother’s death was not natural, nor peaceful. My mother was murdered, violently, in the place she should have felt safest. Our silence was necessary to protect the early stages of the intense criminal investigation.”
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“For the last 161 days, the world around us has moved on. But my family and I have been living February 21st on repeat. There is an emotional purgatory that comes when you must silence what you want to scream from the rooftops. How could we write her obituary or plan her service until the world understood the true magnitude of this senseless loss? But our silence was necessary to protect the early stages of the intense criminal investigation.”
Vermont State Police announced July 31 that it is investigating the homicide of 73-year-old Claudia M. Voight, who was killed in her home in Windham.
The cause of death was initially reported to be the result of an apparent medical event and “did not appear suspicious,” cops said.
However, several days later the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington contradicted that assessment, deeming the death as suspicious after performing an autopsy.
“Voight had sustained injuries that were detectable only during autopsy,” the police statement this week read. “Final autopsy findings in April confirmed that Ms. Voight’s cause of death was neck compression, and the manner of death was homicide. Due to the sensitive nature of the case from the early stages of the investigation, VSP opted to wait to disclose the incident to the public. The investigation has now progressed to a point where VSP is able to release information without jeopardizing the case.”
Police now believe Voight’s death “was not random,” but say no one is currently in custody.
The investigation remains active and ongoing and involves members of the Major Crime Unit, Bureau of Criminal Investigations, and Victim Services Unit.
In her post, Heidi Voight thanked friends for their support in the months since her mother’s brutal death. She has been on leave from her morning show ever since.
On Feb. 27, she announced her mother had passed away on Instagram, describing it as “sudden and unexpected, and there are many questions and challenges. If you can, please just call your mom today and tell her you love her.”
She added on Monday: “Claudia Voight was stolen form this world. She was stolen from her family, from her children and from my precious daughters who now ask me almost everyday, ‘why did grandma go to heaven?’”
“‘She went to be with God,’ is all I can muster, because I still don’t have the words yet to begin to explain to such innocent minds that such evil exists in this world. That she never would have willingly left them, her cherished grandbabies. It wrenches my broken heart to know that someday they will have to learn the truth of how they were robbed of so many years with their ‘Grandma CC,’ the one who held their little hands as they took their first steps, the one who now visits as butterflies in the garden, the one who exists in memories and photos and stories that I must now keep alive.”
Voight’s NBC co-anchor, Ted Koppy, posted his support on Facebook on Tuesday. “Many people have reached out asking about Heidi Voight,” he wrote, sharing her post describing the latest news. “She is finally able to reveal what she’s had to keep quiet for the past several months, and the heartbreaking reason why.”
Voight finished by thanking the Vermont State Police “who are working tirelessly to bring our family justice, and the victim advocates holding us safely through this overwhelming process.”
She also thanked her “other family, NBC Connecticut, for their continued love and support. I’m taking this time to be present for the many processes ongoing related to my mom’s case, and to make sure I’m getting the help I need to be mentally and physically okay for the long haul. This has broken me and changed me. But I am my mother’s daughter, and I will come back stronger. I will fight for her.”
