A single strand of black hair could help bring clarity to the mysterious death of a 50-year-old Philadelphia woman who choked on a large disinfectant wipe at a nursing home for people with developmental disabilities.
The team found Cheryl Yewdall face down on the floor, her lips blue and in a pool of urine. She was taken to a hospital but died five days later. The medical examiner’s office later said it could not determine how the 7-by-10-inch handkerchief entered his airway — leaving unresolved whether Yewdall’s death was accidental or a homicide. No charges were filed.
On Friday, lawyers for the victim’s family asked a judge to order DNA testing on a strand of hair that was stuck to the end of the scarf — potentially important evidence that homicide investigators missed, according to the lawsuit. Cool. A family pathologist detected the hair by enlarging photos of police evidence of the cleanup.
“Cheryl’s mother hired me to get justice for Cheryl,” attorney James Pepper told The Associated Press in an email. “The DNA analysis of this single previously unaccounted hair holds the promise of achieving justice for Cheryl.”
A wrongful death lawsuit filed by Yewdall’s mother in 2022 casts suspicion on an unidentified staff member at Philadelphia’s Merakey Woodhaven facility. The motion introduced Friday included a photo of Yewdall with mostly gray hair and some darker strands. The hair Pepper wants to test is black.
“Plaintiff’s attorney needs to verify whether the hair located on the scarf or the scarf itself contains any DNA that does not belong to Cheryl Yewdall,” Pepper and another attorney, Joseph Cullen Jr., wrote in their motion, which also included two enlarged photos. hair and scarf. One of the photos shows a blue-gloved hand holding the scarf – the strand of hair clearly visible against the white material.
Pepper contacted the homicide detective assigned to Yewdall’s case as well as the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office last week, but “neither of them…indicated a willingness to perform additional testing on the scarf or any testing of the clearly observed black hair.” on the handkerchief,” the attorneys wrote in their motion.
Philadelphia police declined to comment Friday. A message was sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office requesting comment.
The lawsuit accuses a Woodhaven staff member of stuffing the wad into Yewdall’s trachea. Merakey, a large provider of developmental, behavioral health and education services with more than 8,000 employees in a dozen states, previously denied any responsibility for Yewdall’s death, which he called “a serious and tragic incident.”
Yewdall, who had cerebral palsy and profound intellectual disability, lived in Woodhaven for four decades. Evidence previously uncovered by the family shows Yewdall suffered an undiagnosed leg fracture and other injuries in Woodhaven in the year leading up to his death on January 31, 2022.
Yewdall, who had limited verbal skills, frequently repeated words and phrases he heard other people say, a condition called echolalia. In a conversation recorded by Yewdall’s sister, the lawsuit notes, Yewdall blurted out: “Listen to me, um———. Calm down, dear. I’ll kill you if you don’t calm down. I’m going to kill you, um———.”
Pepper said that Yewdall’s outburst implied that she had heard these threats in Woodhaven.
Merakey declined to comment on the family’s request for DNA testing.
The Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania-based company plans to close Woodhaven in January 2025 and relocate dozens of residents to smaller community housing. It said the closure is in line with state policy and a long-term national move away from larger institutions.
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