Gwinnett Police Charge Husband with 2011 Murder of Wife

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Updated

Gwinnett County Police said Matthew Leili was a suspect in the 2011 death of his wife from the start.

This week, they say they have evidence to charge him with murder.

Police said in a news release Leili, 47, was arrested and charged Wednesday, March 4, for allegedly killing Dominique “Nique” Leili, 44, who was found dead July 16, 2011 in a wooded area near her Sidney Cove home in unincorporated Lawrenceville. She was a mother of three.

Matthew Leili, who has been living in Vermont since late 2011, faces three counts of unlawful eavesdropping and one count of malice murder, police said. He is being held without bond in the Gwinnett County jail.

According to police, Leili reported his wife was missing on July 11, 2011, saying he had had no contact with her since July 9. But police also said he rose suspicions because he was uncooperative during the missing persons investigation.

Nique was found on July 16 minutes after friends and family began searching the wooded area around the couple’s home.

“The official ruling from the Medical Examiner’s Office was undetermined for both cause of death and manner of death,” Gwinnett Cpl. Jake Smith said in the news release. “However, the Medical Examiner’s Office report and the circumstances surrounding the autopsy findings were highly suspicious for homicidal violence.”

Police searched Leili’s home and seized several computers, but no charges were filed.

“Matthew Leili was never eliminated from suspicion,” Smith said in the release.

Leili moved to Vermont by the end of 2011, and the investigation slowed, “but never stopped,” Smith said.

In late 2014, Smith said a new forensic investigation of the computers was held and new evidence was found linking Leili to the murder.

“GCPD detectives and the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office carefully reviewed all evidence from the entire investigation and determined that there was probable cause to charge Matthew Leili with unlawful eavesdropping and malice murder.”

Details of the new evidence were not released.

(Photo: Matthew Leili. Gwinnett jail mug shot)

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