The family of an engineer found dead with “no neck” in a quaint Connecticut cottage he shared with his girlfriend is still searching for answers two years after his death.
Shane DeJongh, 53, was found dead in his Cheshire home on Oct. 6, 2023, from what investigators initially believed was brought on by a “heart attack,” the Hartford Courant reported.
However, when his sister Robyn van Ekelenburg and other family members flew out from his home state of California to view his body, they immediately “knew something was wrong.”
“He didn’t look like he had had a neck,” van Ekelenburg told the outlet. “And we didn’t know at that point, but we knew enough to know there’s something wrong with his neck. It was like he had no neck. I can’t even explain it.”
The grieving sister — who was named the administrator of her brother’s estate — suspected foul play was involved and started gathering evidence to prove DeJongh did not die of natural causes like authorities had said.
After DeJongh’s autopsy results were submitted, the family’s suspicions were confirmed.
DeJongh’s official cause of death was listed as “cardiac arrhythmia following physical altercation with blunt injuries of head and neck, complicating hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease,” the Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner confirmed, according to the Hartford Courant.
DeJongh also suffered bruising, a left ear abrasion, and a brain bleed, along with a neck hemorrhage and a perimortem fracture on his “left superior cornu of the thyroid cartilage,” according to the autopsy.
A spokesperson for the office then ruled his death a homicide.
However, since his death, the engineering manager’s family still has not gotten any answers to what happened.
“We knew at that point something really did happen that night,” van Ekelenburg told the outlet.
In March, the family sued DeJongh’s girlfriend, Natasha Vadasz, but withdrew the case last week to revise the complaint and add an additional defendant and plaintiff.
According to the withdrawn lawsuit, Vadasz, 51, listed her three-bedroom Cheshire home — located about 30 miles south of Hartford — for sale shortly before DeJongh’s death. The couple had been preparing to relocate to Georgia after he accepted a new job offer, according to the Hartford Courant.
The night DeJongh died, the couple went out to celebrate with their realtor before relocating. He would be found dead in his bed the next morning in the same clothes he had on the night before.
Cheshire Police Chief Frederick J. Jortner said officers responded to a report of an untimely death, after which detectives took over the case with help from state police major crimes investigators and the medical examiner.
Jortner revealed that the investigation has included multiple interviews and extensive forensic work and is being led under the direction of the New Haven State’s Attorney’s Office, but declined to release any additional details “to preserve the integrity of the investigation.”
Van Ekelenburg said the family has received few updates from investigators and has only pieced together limited information from Vadasz before she sold the cottage in March and relocated to North Carolina with her son.
DeJongh’s sister claims that the family has their suspicions of who was behind his death, but didn’t explicitly name the person.
“We don’t know what really happened that night,” van Ekelenburg told the outlet. “It’s like trying to put a puzzle together without all the pieces. But whatever the case is, Shane was the only one with injuries that night.”
The DeJongh family attorney, Kenneth Krayeske, confirmed that the suit was withdrawn so that DeJongh’s daughter, Zoey, could be added as a plaintiff. Another defendant was added to the suit, but Krayeske didn’t share their name.
As of late 2025, no arrests have been made, and the investigation remains active under the supervision of the New Haven State’s Attorney’s Office.
DeJongh grew up in San Jose and moved to Connecticut in 2020 after accepting a position with APCT, Inc., a circuit board manufacturer based in Wallingford.
He is remembered as having a “strong work ethic” and as “an accomplished musician, writing and composing many of his own songs of several different genres, and playing for many fundraiser events for the benefit of others,” according to an online obituary.
