Family of nursing home resident who choked on disinfectant wipe demands DNA test of single hair stuck to it that police missed

June 22, 2024

The results of a DNA test on a strand of black hair could help solve the mystery surrounding the death of a 50-year-old Philadelphia woman who apparently suffocated on a disinfectant wipe in a care facility for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

On January 26, 2022, Cheryl Yewdall was found face down on the floor in a pool of urine, suffocating on a large disinfectant wipe in Merakey Woodhaven. She died five days later.

The coroner’s office could not determine how the cloth became lodged in her windpipe, leaving the question of whether her death was an accident or homicide open. No one has been arrested in connection with Yewdall’s death, but her family’s lawyers filed a wrongful death lawsuit in August 2022.

But on an enlarged photo of the cloth, a clue was discovered that could serve as crucial evidence to solve the mystery: a strand of hair.

More than two years after Yewdall’s tragic death, lawyers for her family asked the court on Friday to order DNA analysis of the hair, the Associated Press reported.

They are looking for answers to the question “whether the hair on the cloth or the cloth itself contains DNA that does not belong to Cheryl Yewdall,” according to the file, which is available to the outlet.

The lawyers attached photographs and pointed out that Yewdall’s hair was predominantly grey.

“Cheryl’s mother hired me to seek justice for Cheryl,” attorney James Pepper told the outlet. “DNA analysis of this previously unaccounted single strand of hair promises to bring that justice for Cheryl.”

The 2022 lawsuit says Yewdall requires round-the-clock care because she suffers from “severe intellectual disability and cerebral palsy.” Attorneys wrote that Yewdall has “no history of dysphagia or difficulty swallowing.”

“She was just so sweet and innocent and helpless and she depended on them to take care of her and love her and keep her safe,” Yewdall’s mother, Christine Civatte, told The Associated Press after the lawsuit was filed. “I just thought they were protecting her.”

Merakey has denied any responsibility for her death.