BILLINGS — A Billings family is still searching for answers from investigators 13 years after their daughter's death, which they believe should be ruled a homicide.
Brooke Cady, 28, was described by her parents as a hard worker who loved sports. Growing up in Laurel, her parents said she was everyone's friend.
She gave birth to a son in December 2009 and lived with the father of her child in Lockwood, whom she met on a blind date and dated for two years.
In March 2010, Brooke was found by her boyfriend dead in their home. The cause of her death is still undetermined.
“You know you always think you tuck your kids in a night, they’re safe. She wasn’t safe," Brooke's mother, Mary Cady, said. “About three weeks before she died, she came to me and she said, if anything ever happens to me will you please take care of (my son), and I’m like, what are you talking about?”
Brooke's father, Mark Cady, was a senior lieutenant at the Billings Police Department at the time of his daughter's death. He said he wasn't able to help with the case because "she was killed out in Lockwood, which is the jurisdiction of Yellowstone County sheriff’s department.”
Brooke’s autopsy hasn’t been publicly released because the case is still open, but her family said it lists the cause of death as undetermined and states Brooke had an unknown chemical in her system. Mark says that the chemical was related to her boyfriend’s work.
“The autopsy came out that Brooke had a high level of a chemical that’s used in the oil field in her system. And his job, well, he always told us his job was that he worked in a lab mixing chemicals for the Bakken,” Mark said.
MTN News is not identifying the boyfriend because he has not been charged with a crime.
Mark also said he remains frustrated with the investigation and the lack of updates coming from the sheriff's department. He said he felt especially defeated when he knew firsthand how to investigate similar cases but didn't see the detectives handling the case how he would have.
“I talked to them frequently, made suggestions, watched as they didn’t do things they should do,” Mark said.
MTN News first requested a formal interview with the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office about two months ago, but the agency declined. The agency also declined multiple other requests for an interview, most recently Monday.
When MTN News reached Sheriff Mike Linder by phone Monday, he said "investigators have and continue to do their due diligence on this case."
