Medical Examiner: Nique Leili Appeared To Have Been Strangled

LAWRENCEVILLE, GA -- Gwinnett County’s chief medical examiner testified Monday that Nique Leili appeared to have been strangled to death.

But, speaking in the murder trial of Nique’s husband, Matthew Leili, Dr. Carol A. Terry said decomposition and other issues made it impossible to be 100% sure.

In the end, instead of ruling Nique Leili’s death a homicide, Terry ruled it “highly suspicious for homicidal violence.”

“The manner of death is an opinion. I could’ve written a homicide down as an opinion,” Terry said, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post. “The circumstances are what make this case suspicious for homicidal violence.”

Monday was the fourth day of testimony in the trial of Matthew Leili.

Nique Leili’s body was found on July 16, 2011, under a pile of leaves near the entrance to the Sidney Cove subdivision where she had lived.

From the start, police suspected her husband. But murder charges against him didn’t come until last year, after authorities say they reexamined evidence from a seized computer.

Terry, who as the Daily Post reports has done more than 4,300 autopsies, said she saw “some consistencies” with strangulation and that Leili, 44, showed no signs of having died from natural causes or other means, such as a drug overdose or suicide.

“It would be my opinion that she did not bury herself in leaves,” Terry said.

Also Monday, a friend of Nique’s testified that she planned to leave Matthew shortly before her death.

Michele Nickel said she got a Facebook message from Nique saying, “I’m leaving him finally.”

The state also played a taped interview police conducted with Matthew Leili in which he gave his version of Nique’s disappearance -- that she had gone crazy and abandoned her family.

In it, the Post reports, Matthew claims that Nique became angry during an argument, exposed her breasts and said maybe she should have sex with her father-in-law.

The trial is expected to last about another week.