HOUSTON – A world-renowned forensic pathologist is convinced a legendary Houston millionaire philanthropist was the victim of homicide.
Harold Farb, a wildly successful real estate developer, was found dead on the floor of his shower in 2006.
He was 83.
Members of his family, early on, concluded he was murdered, although they have never said, publicly, who they suspect committed the crime.
The Houston Police Department investigated the case, but never filed charges, and that agency has left the case open for more than a decade.
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But Monday, a new document came to light. Written in March 2015, it was written and signed by forensic pathologist, Vincent Di Maio.
Di Maio is well-known and respected in the field, having worked in dozens of high-profile cases.
Di Maio was hired by members of the Farb family to review the autopsy and other facts surrounding the case.
Di Maio wrote:
"Based on the aforementioned facts, it is my opinion that, in all medical probability, this is a homicide. There are two possibilities as to manner of death in this case, suicide or homicide. If this case was suicide, Mr. Farb would have had to cut the end of the catheter while clamping off the end that entered his body so that no blood sprayed out on the bathroom floor. He then would have had to place the cut end of the catheter in the garbage, disposed of the scissor or knife, gotten into the shower and released the clamped off end of the catheter. Since no clamping device was found, he would have had to clamp off the catheter with his hand. In my opinion, this scenario is not possible."
On Monday, a civilian representative with the Houston Police Department said the case of Farb's death was classified as "open but inactive."
The representative said that they encourage the family to contact HPD's Cold Case squad with any new information. The Farb family has previously said the Houston Police Department has not been receptive to evidence that points to murder.
