Emily Noble: Woman of the Woods // 611

Summary

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Emily Noble: Woman of the Woods // Going West True Crime, episode 611

Podcast: Going West: True Crime
Released: May 26, 2026
Hosts: Daphne Woolsoncroft & Heath Merryman

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Episode Overview

This episode delves deep into the haunting and controversial disappearance and death of Emily Noble, a beloved and resilient woman from Westerville, Ohio. Daphne and Heath walk through Emily’s personal history, her string of heartbreaking losses, the circumstances of her May 2020 disappearance, and the messy, inconclusive investigation that ultimately led to her husband Matt Moore’s acquittal. The case stirs strong public opinions because of ambiguous forensic evidence, disputed expert testimony, and unsettling behavioral red flags, prompting listeners to weigh in on whether justice was truly served.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Emily Noble’s Tragic Backstory & Character

• Emily was known for her love of nature, foraging, photography, and as a "freestyle spirit" and "fairy-like" friend. (03:00–05:30)
• She suffered immense loss before her disappearance: her first husband, Mark, died by suicide in 2011, and both her parents died in separate accidents within a year of each other (2015–2016). Emily turned to nature and volunteering for comfort and healing.
• “She was kind of witchy. Her friends described her as a fairy and a freestyle spirit.” — Daphne (03:47)

2. The Moore Family’s Troubled Past

• Emily met Matt Moore online in 2015, both having endured significant personal tragedy.
• Matt had a complex history: a previous domestic violence charge (later dropped), the heartbreaking deaths of both his sons, and mental health struggles following a brain injury. (06:24–08:48)
• Matt’s second son, Joey, struggled with severe mental illness and also died by suicide in July 2019, meaning Emily experienced another deeply traumatic loss just a year before she disappeared.

3. Emily’s Disappearance: Conflicting Behaviors & Timelines

• The day after celebrating Emily’s 52nd birthday (May 24, 2020), Matt awakes to find Emily gone, but her personal items (phone, wallet, keys, car) remain at home. (12:28–19:06)
• Matt makes little attempt to find her, instead waiting at home. He only calls police at the suggestion of Emily’s best friend, Celeste. (14:46–18:11)
  • “So there doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency whatsoever.” — Heath (17:52)
  • “That was Celeste’s idea. Like, hey, I think you should probably call the police.” — Daphne (18:03)

4. The Confusing Crime Scene & Lack of Immediate Evidence

• Police note Emily's house is in perfect order, as she kept a very clean home; her bed is made.
• Scent-tracking dogs indicate a nearby driveway, but police don’t follow up with the residents in any meaningful way. (19:06–20:27)
• Matt’s behavior during questioning appears odd. He emphasizes the absence of defensive wounds unprompted, does a voice stress analysis (suggests possible deception), and claims Emily was suicidal. (22:47–24:04)
  • "He even removed his shirt to show the absence of defensive wounds and scratches on his own body, which, to me, feels pretty suspicious..." — Daphne (22:47)
• Friends and records provide contrasting stories: while Matt claims Emily was suicidal and had anger issues, her friends describe her as healing-focused and claim Matt was possessive and possibly controlling.

Notable Quote:

“She would say that she was going to do it... She was going to do it where she would be easily fixed, found.” — Matt, quoting Emily (23:39)

5. Discovery of Emily’s Body and the Staging Mystery

• Four months after she vanished, in September 2020, her body is discovered hanging by a USB cord from a honeysuckle tree, only a 90-second walk from her home—an area she loved to forage (24:53–35:43).

  • "The women who found her initially thought she was a little girl sitting on her knees, facing away from them... as they approached, they realized it was Emily." — Heath (35:00)

• Multiple search parties had combed that same section but never found her before; speculation arises that the body may have been staged postmortem or moved during search efforts.

6. Forensic Controversies & Divided Expert Testimony

• Autopsy reveals fractures to Emily’s face and hands, possibly defensive wounds, and damage to her hyoid bone and laryngeal cartilage. Differentiating between manual strangulation and suicide by hanging proves difficult (36:53–41:52).
  • Prosecution’s expert, Dr. Bill Smock, asserts homicide via strangulation, citing her injuries as inconsistent with suicide by hanging.
  • Three forensic anthropologists counter his certainty, warning not to overstate findings: “He makes firm, authoritative statements which I do not think you can support with any evidence.” — Nicholas Pasaloqua (40:00)
  • “It is critically important to not overstate findings and to stick within the realms of scientific findings.” — Maren Pillowd (41:38)
  • Dr. Smock defends his analysis: “As far as I’m concerned, Emily Noble’s hyoid bone fracture did not come from her hanging. It came from strangulation.” (42:48)

7. Investigation Shortcomings & Legal Outcomes

• Police/prosecutorial missteps: failure to test Matt’s clothing, mishandling of evidence, and failing to seriously pursue leads like the driveway the scent dogs highlighted (46:10–47:10).
• At trial (August 2022), the defense brings in Dr. Heather Garvin, who argues the injuries could arise from either hanging or strangulation and points out Emily had a prior broken nose. No conclusive evidence links Matt to homicide.
  • “I am not saying that this is a hanging based on the fracture pattern. I’m refuting Dr. Smock’s claim that this fracture pattern cannot occur in a hanging.” — Dr. Garvin (48:30)
• Matt is acquitted due to lack of evidence, having spent 14 months in custody. (49:46)
  • “Although Matt’s behavior may have been sketchy at best... he also led police directly to the area of the woods where she liked to forage...” — Heath (49:46)
  • After his release, Matt passes a polygraph test about Emily’s death (confirmed by a retired FBI examiner), but public suspicion remains high. (51:14)

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On Matt’s Odd Behavior Post-Disappearance

  • “The one thing you could probably do, Matt, to make people think you’re less guilty: Show up. Go to the fuckin’ searches.” – Heath (24:53)
  • “It's not like they know that she is deceased and there would have been wounds... Why are you jumping to that?” — Daphne (22:47)

• The Discovery Scene

  • “They thought they saw a little girl... It's so unsettling. They're looking for Emily, so they think they see a little girl and it's her hanging from a tree.” — Daphne (35:28–35:52)

• On Forensic Impasse

  • “This kind of analysis is such a major point of this case. It's like, it's pretty much everything that we have.” — Daphne (39:56)
  • “They're saying it's important to just stick to the science here.” — Heath (41:49)

• On Legal Ambiguity & Frustration

  • “If there is not enough to convict someone, they should not be convicted. Sometimes we see people convicted on even less. But I can understand, of course, how devastating that was for her family. Like, why was there not more? Like, we don't have enough to paint either picture fully.” — Daphne (45:49–46:10)
  • “Even the defense is kind of saying, well, maybe she was killed and it was by somebody that wasn’t Matt.” — Daphne (46:18)
  • “We really don’t have a strong story on either side.” — Daphne (52:51)

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Significant Timestamps

• Emily’s background & relationships: 03:00–10:00
• The day of disappearance & Matt’s statements: 12:28–19:06
• Neighbors, search attempts & initial investigation: 18:11–24:53
• Forensic findings & expert arguments: 36:53–44:59
• Trial details, expert testimony, verdict: 44:59–49:46
• Matt’s post-acquittal actions & polygraph: 51:14–52:36

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Tone & Host Dynamics

Daphne and Heath maintain a genuine, empathetic, and at times incredulous tone, particularly when highlighting illogical actions, gaps in the investigation, or discussing the emotional weight of repeated tragedy. They also encourage listeners to seek out more information and share their perspectives, emphasizing the community-driven nature of their podcast.

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Final Thoughts

The case of Emily Noble remains deeply troubling and unresolved, haunted by contradictory forensic opinions, questionable investigative protocols, and persistent suspicions around Matt Moore despite his acquittal. The hosts underline that, tragically, neither a homicide nor suicide can be definitively proven, leaving Emily’s loved ones (and true crime enthusiasts) yearning for answers — and for justice that remains heartbreakingly out of reach.

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Want to see photos or add your thoughts? Check Going West Podcast on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

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Transcript

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[True Crime Fan/Listener]

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[Heath]

What is going on? True crime. Your host, he.

[Daphne]

And I'm your host, Daphne.

[Heath]

And you're listening to Going West.

[Daphne]

Hello everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in. Big shout out to Megan and Laura for putting this case on our radar. This is a very controversial story. It's a very tragic story. I think a lot of you guys are going to have opinions on what happened here and we would love to hear them. So please find photos and a comment section for this case over on our socials. We're on Instagram at Going west podcast. We're on Facebook, we're on TikTok. Sorry, I know we plug this every single episode, but we love hearing from you guys.

[Heath]

Absolutely. And yeah, I agree with you. This is one of those ones that's kind of confusing where I feel like a lot of people are split down the middle. Some believe this, others believe this.

[Daphne]

Yeah. So listen closely because there's a lot here today.

[Heath]

Well, all right, guys, without further ado, this is episode 611 of Going West. So let's get into it.

[Daphne]

Sam. In May of 2020, a 52 year old woman headed around Westerville, Ohio to celebrate her birthday. The next morning, her husband says he awoke to find her missing with no sign of her anywhere. When her body was eventually found by a honeysuckle tree in the woods that she loved to forage in, investigators were sent on a confounding journey to figure out what had happened to. This Is the story of Emily Noble. Emily Ann Noble was born on May 24, 1968, to parents Ruth and Lester in Ohio. And there she grew up alongside a brother named Andrew and a sister named Amy. At the time of her death, Emily was married to her second husband, Matt Moore, and was employed by the Ohio Department of Medicaid. According to friends, she was a beautiful person who loved life and was characterized by her resilience, her grace, and her strength. Emily really thrived in the outdoors as well. So she was also known for her love of nature, fitness and photography. I mean, she was even known to, like, forage for food and spices in the woods surrounding her midwestern home. She was kind of witchy. Her friends described her as a fairy and a freestyle spirit. But she was also an active volunteer with many organizations around Columbus, Ohio, and made friends wherever she went. Before her second husband came around, Emily married a man named Mark. And although they had a very loving relationship, he struggled with depression. And in 2011, he sadly took his own life. So she struggled very deeply with this loss. And life hit her hard again when just a few years later, her parents died in separate accidents almost exactly a year apart in 2015 and 2016. So in the depths of her grief, after losing her husband and both of her parents in the span of just a few years, Emily, who was 48 by the time she lost all of them, turned to her love of nature to heal herself and even find love again. So it was around the time that she lost her father, Lester, in 2015 that she met her soon to be second husband, Matthew or Matt Moore. Like Emily, Matt had been married before and was divorced from his first wife, Lisa Peterson. Also, like Emily, Matt's life had been marked with tragedy.

[Heath]

Yeah, because Matt and his first wife, Lisa, had two sons, but both of them wound up passing away. So Lisa and Matt separated just three months into their marriage, but wound up working things out and staying together. Then their first son passed away suddenly from an unknown illness when he was just a toddler. And then horror struck again when on January 1st of 2001, Lisa and Matt got into an argument and Matt wrapped his hands around her neck and choked her. Now she was pregnant at the time with their second son, Joey. And Matt was arrested and he was charged with assault, but the charges against him were ultimately dropped. So by the time he met Emily Noble years later, this infraction was basically non existent. And as if this makes the situation okay, Lisa later explained that this was the only time that he had ever put his hands on her. So, you know, kind of wanted to at least note that. Now, in his earlier years, Matt had supposedly sustained a traumatic brain injury during a car crash, which those who know him have speculated may be the cause of his emotional outbursts and his mood swings that came to follow it. So by the time Matt met Emily Noble, he and his first wife were separated. He had lost one son already, but they were both looking for someone new because Matt and Emily met online in 2015 when he was working as a dealer for a casino in Vegas. Though two years into their relationship, they were on the outs, and he was more focused on caring for Joey, who's his ailing teenage son, or who was his ailing teenage son, because Joey had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and severe mental health issues in his youth, and he suffered from paranoid delusions, including hearing voices. And he was in and out of the hospital frequently. Now, according to Matt, Joey loved playing guitar. But by the time he had reached the end of his life, he couldn't even bring himself to do that. So while Matt was in the midst of navigating his son's diagnosis, he eventually reconnected with Emily and opened up about his struggles caring for his son. He told Emily very candidly that he needed help. So they got back together, and then they decided to get married.

[Daphne]

Thus, Matt and Joey packed up their car and moved across the country from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Westerville, Ohio, which is the northeast suburb of Columbus that Emily lived in. It's a charming, affluent, small city of less than 40,000 people. It's got, like, quaint brick shops and lots of trees, lots of collegiate gothic architecture. It's very cute. So Emily loved it. So Matt had received a sizable sum from his mother's estate when she passed away because he, too, had lost his mother and decided that he no longer wanted to work. He just wanted to live off of, you know, his mom's estate. And lucky for Matt, Emily offered them structure and discipline, which is something that they had lacked in their Vegas life. You know, back when it was just Matt and Joey living in Vegas. Now it's like we have an amazing woman in our lives who's gonna keep everything together.

[Heath]

Yeah, we're creating a bit of a family here.

[Daphne]

Yeah. Now it'll be the three of them. And Emily kept a very clean home. You know, this was a safe and welcoming place for them to land. So Emily and Matt married in 2018, and for a while, things seemed to be looking up. But on July 2, 2019. So a little over a year after they got married, Joey you know, Emily's new stepson, Matt's son, tragically lost his battle with his mental illness and took his own life, just as her first husband had eight years earlier, Joey was found hanging in a nearby park, having died by suicide. So, of course, both Emily and Matt struggled greatly with their grief in the aftermath of losing Joey. And although they had both been handed a monumental amount of loss, Emily tried her best to navigate it with grace. But according to her friends, there were problems between she and Matt. Prior to Emily Noble's disappearance, Matt had texted her asking if she wanted a divorce. But still, by her 52nd birthday in the spring of 2020, they were maintaining their relationship, you know, for the time being, probably figuring out behind the scenes what they wanted to do. They headed out to celebrate Emily's birthday on her birthday, again, her 52nd on May 24, 2020. This was a Sunday, starting by going out for a drive to the country and collecting spring water, which is very Emily. Matt remembered that something seemed to be weighing on her then explaining, I would say things because I'm a clown to try to make her laugh. And she didn't laugh at all. She just looked out the window. So although it was her birthday, Matt claims that she just wasn't having a great time and that something seemed to be wrong. But despite this, they went out to a few bars in downtown Westerville, Ohio, starting at Powell Bar and Grill, which is a sports bar, because although this obviously was a couple months into the COVID 19 pandemic restaurants in Westerville had mostly started to reopen in mid May with limited capacity and also new outdoor seating options, as we all remember.

[Heath]

Oh yeah, that was a time.

[Daphne]

Yeah. So although she hadn't been having the best day, they popped in and out of a few places trying to make the best of it before heading home around 7pm and according to Matt, the evening was pleasant and uneventful and the pair returned home and went to bed together early.

[Heath]

Now, the following day, which was Monday, May 25, 2020, Matt called Emily's best friend Celeste around 2pm, wondering if she had seen his wife, Emily, and telling her that they were supposed to attend a party together that night. When Celeste asked when Matt had last seen Emily, he claimed that it actually hadn't been since the previous evening and that he assumed that she had gone out for a nature walk that morning, but that he wasn't sure. And now that it was almost the middle of the afternoon, he was getting a bit concerned that she had been MIA since he awoke. So alarmed by this, Celeste told him that he should call the police and she drove to the house to meet him. Matt then called 911 reporting his 52 year old wife missing and telling the responding officer that around 12am that morning he had gotten up to use the bathroom and strangely, not wanting to wake Emily by getting back into bed, he slept in Joey's old bedroom. According to Matt, Emily was a very light sleeper and was pretty particular about her sleep patterns so she wouldn't appreciate Matt coming back to bed and disturbing her. So, unable to fall back asleep, Matt says that he scrolled on his phone until around 6am and at some point that morning he heard her exit the home and go out onto the screened in porch which faced the street. Explaining. I said to myself there she is, she's fine. I figured I had awakened her and she couldn't get back to sleep and that this was her way of letting me know that she was upset. Normal behavior. So normal that I forgot about the door and went back to scrolling. Had it been Joey I would have gotten up to check, but it was m. She took care of me, I didn't take care of her. I just finished looking after Joey. I was weary and denial can be persuasive.

[Daphne]

It's a bit interesting that his first reaction is that she's upset with him and he's saying there she is, she's fine. When to apparently avoid upsetting her. He slept in Joey's room. Unless he, he thinks that she would also be upset if he did that. Like it's. I don't know, it's a little bit confusing because he also claimed that they had a happy rest of their evening before going to bed. So. I know kind of conflicting.

[Heath]

Yeah, it seems like something, something just feels a little weird here.

[Daphne]

So obviously he's just explained that Matt said she went out to their screened in porch that faced the street at some time that morning. He doesn't know exactly when but. So basically they lived in a private little suburban enclave. I want to try to paint the picture for those who can't go look at our socials. It's almost like a gated community but without a gate. Like it's one that Google Street View can't go into because it's a private community. It's right on State Route 3 which is a grass and tree lined highway with a one lane on each side. And their little private neighborhood is a long circle of houses. So they had neighbors on either side of them and across the street. But it's like a nice Intimate neighborhood of condos among the rest of the city of Westerville. It was a two bedroom, two bathroom, 1200 square foot home. And I'm saying this because I always picture condos as like big buildings, but it like from the outside it looks like a regular one story house, but it connects to the neighboring home via the garage. It's like the, their garages connect. So it's like house, garage, garage, house. And then there's a house connected to the back of them as well. So this neighborhood has 13 of these four home condos like sprinkled around a circle and then just across that narrow highway is a patch of woods and other communities and such.

[Heath]

Okay.

[Daphne]

Anyway, sorry, I, I like to be super visual about things. Maybe that made it more confusing.

[Heath]

Definitely. I think helped kind of paint the picture here.

[Daphne]

Good, good. But again, if you want to see a photo, look at our socials. So, picking up where Heath just left off, Matt said Emily got up and went out onto the screened in porch that morning. And he stayed awake in Joey's old bed on his phone until after 10am that Monday morning. When he finally got up, meaning he says he was just laying in bed from midnight to 10am Awake, which I'm sure a lot of people do. Doom scrolling is a thing. So he texted Emily asking where she was since he hadn't heard her in hours. And when she didn't answer, he checked his Find my friends app and saw that Emily was still at home. But when he actually got up at about 10ish, he noticed that Emily was not there, but her phone, wallet, keys and car had been left behind at the house. Now when police asked what, if any, measures he had taken to search for her, they couldn't understand why Matt hadn't even tried to find his wife or why he hadn't checked outside or checked the dense woods near their home, which she loved to walk through and forage in. And he is saying, yeah, I figured she went on a nature walk. But then he doesn't go out looking for her. Instead he waits around all day and then just says, I'll just call the police.

[Heath]

So there doesn't seem to be any sense of urgency whatsoever.

[Daphne]

Right, exactly. Other than him calling police. But again, even that feels not very urgent. It's just like, well, I don't know where she is.

[Heath]

Well, actually that wasn't even his idea. Right. That was Celeste's idea. Like, hey, I think you should probably call the police. And then he's like, oh, I guess so.

[Daphne]

Great point. Well, one of the Couple's neighbors, John Kramer, claimed to have been the last person to see her prior to her disappearance. By his account, the pair exchanged greetings between 9 and 10am that morning, which would make sense. But he later recanted that statement, claiming that he couldn't be sure if it had been the 24th or 25th May. So Sunday her birthday, or Monday, the day she vanished. And obviously that makes all the difference in the world.

[Heath]

Yeah, that's a huge, huge difference in this case.

[Daphne]

Well, that morning, Emily's sister Amy had sent her a text which had been marked as red, but to which Emily never responded. So we can't even be sure if Emily was the one that opened it. Or perhaps Matt saw that she had a text and opened it for her because her phone was left at the

[Heath]

house now to kind of paint the scene of what the house looked like that morning. It apparently was in perfect order when police arrived, which was a staple of Emily's. You know, obviously she kept the house very clean, and she had even made her bed that morning. The next day, the first search was underway, and detectives even brought out scent tracking dogs. Now, twice the dogs led to a driveway near the couple's home. And the residents of that home were questioned, but claimed to have no knowledge of Emily or her disappearance. So the police were later criticized for declining to follow up with these residents of that home in case there was something more to, like, ascertain from the bloodhound's indication, because they sort of just took their word for it and then they kind of just moved on. Matt was brought in for questioning two days after Emily vanished. And though he informed the interrogating officer that their relationship was mostly healthy and happy, he was confronted with the possibility that Emily may not have felt the same way, especially regarding his drinking. Now, because he didn't work, Emily claimed that he would often start drinking in the middle of the day. She once even texted him saying that it was difficult to talk to him when he had, quote, vodka brain.

[Daphne]

I mean, even the fact that he had said, she takes care of me, I don't take care of her, I think says a lot. And that he's kind of laying in bed, scrolling all the time and drinking while she's out doing more enriching activities and keeping a nice home, like, feels like he's kind of lost his way.

[Heath]

Yeah. Maybe giving up.

[Daphne]

Yeah. So that I feel like that contention feels very on point, but he is

[Heath]

kind of pointing it at her and saying that there had been warning signs to what he described as Emily's declining mental state and that they both grieved Joey's loss deeply. So she sought therapy for anxiety and depression after his death, And Matt claimed that she even admitted to him that she herself was suicidal. But her friends knew that she was always focused on healing, not wallowing in her grief. And some of her friends even reported feeling that Matt was controlling of her. And though he may not have been physically abusive, her friends worried that the relationship just wasn't healthy for Emily and that she deserved more from a partner. They even told police that he would sometimes refuse to let her see her friends and family and would become irrationally possessive of her. So Emily's phone was searched, and police surmised that the two had been fighting back and forth quite a bit, you know, prior to her disappearance. In one instance, she even texted a friend of hers, saying, quote, this is not the kind of relationship I want. And also, quote, matt picked a fight with me yesterday and said some awful things. I'm not wearing my wedding ring. But Matt continued to turn their issues back on Emily, saying, quote, she would be like that at times because of her anger issues. It always swung back. But one of her friends reported having seen Emily with bruises prior to her death and worried that he was hurting her, Though, of course, Matt maintained that he hadn't and never would harm his wife. He even removed his shirt to show the absence of defensive wounds and scratches on his own body, which, to me, feels pretty, like, suspicious, because it's like they weren't even asking him about anything like that. And he's like, look, see, I don't have any scratches on me.

[Daphne]

That's actually a good point, because it's not like they know that she is deceased and that there would have been wounds on his body that he would have sustained from a fight. It's like they don't even know where she is. So why are you jumping to that?

[Heath]

Yeah, like, he's the one that brought it up.

[Daphne]

Yeah, that's actually a really good thing to notice. Well, while being questioned by the police, Matt consented to a voice stress analysis test, which was designed to indicate stress in his voice, you know, if he was lying. And though the results are officially unreliable, like a polygraph, it was a decent start because deception was indicated in his results.

[Heath]

So they're like, are you telling us the truth here?

[Daphne]

But again, it's like. Or are you just distressed because your wife is missing and that's why your voice is being weird?

[Heath]

Right? Do you just have anxiety because of this, or are you Lying.

[Daphne]

So when police were like, oh, your test showed deception, he claimed that this was surprising to him. And when asked what he thought happened to his wife, Matt said, quote, and remember this? He said, quote, I would be guessing, but I think she hurt herself. She would say that she was going to do it, she was going to commit suicide, she was going to do it where she would be easily fixed, found.

[Heath]

I. It feels like he almost has, like a play by play, like he's. He has too much knowledge of what maybe might have happened.

[Daphne]

Yes. Like, I think she did this, and I think she did it in this type of place. So just remember that. Well. After being accused of murdering his wife by the interrogating officers, who of course still had yet to find her, Matt refused to speak with them again. A Facebook group started by her friends organized dozens of searches in the early days of Emily's disappearance. And again organized by her friends because notably, not only did Matt not set up these searches, but he was also absent from the searches, though he claims that he was avoiding her friends and supporters because they felt that he was guilty.

[Heath]

You know, the one thing that you could probably do, Matt, that would make people think, think that you're less guilty. Show up, go to the fucking searches

[Daphne]

and say, I love her. I had nothing to do with her disappearance. Let's find her together.

[Heath]

Right.

[Daphne]

Well, Matt maintains that he was still actively looking for her and that he had even brought in a friend and his brother. In some cases, his brother is referred to as his cousin from out of town to assist him in his own private searches. He just wasn't a part of the larger groups in September of 2020. So a few months later, Matt actually made an appearance on the Vanished podcast, pleading with the public for help in finding his missing wife. But what was supposed to help him backfired when one of the producers of the show came to the belief that he was guilty while interviewing him about his missing wife. And then on September 16, 2020, a shocking development arose when a group of three women whose names were listed in the press as simply Lisa, sue and Sherry came upon a body in the woods. Their search party trio was out in the woods looking for Emily. They were in the woods that were adjacent to, you know, her private community that I described earlier. Just a 90 second walk from her home. That's how close it was. And there, horrifically, hanging from a honeysuckle branch in a densely wooded pocket of the open space, were Emily's decomposed remains with a black USB cord strung around her neck and near her feet was an empty water bottle that had contained alcohol. As routines shift and summer plans begin, it's easy for learning to take a back seat. IXL makes it simple to stay sharp and keep skills fresh in just a few minutes a day.

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[Daphne]

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[Daphne]

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[Heath]

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[Daphne]

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[Heath]

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[Daphne]

going in there, a 90 second walk from her house.

[Heath]

That's crazy.

[Daphne]

Yeah.

[Heath]

Now, the women who found her initially thought that she was a little girl sitting on her knees, facing away from them. And in their surprise, one of them reportedly exclaimed, hi there. In hopes that the girl would respond. But as the woman approached more closely, she could see that instead the figure was that of a petite and fully clothed adult woman, hanging upright and still.

[Daphne]

Oh my God, that is so chilling.

[Heath]

Yeah, just, just the parts where they thought that she was. This little girl is so sitting There. Yeah. And this, you know, densely in this dense forest patch.

[Daphne]

And they're looking for Emily, so they think they see a little girl and it's her hanging from a tree. Like not at all what they are expecting to find.

[Heath]

It's just so unsettling. Well, due to the elements, potential animal activity, and the amount of decay that took place over those four months, police could not confirm how long Emily's body had spent in those woods. But she was estimated to have been there for the past 115 days. So since her disappearance. And this would make it exceedingly difficult to determine what actually happened to her based on the fact that she was practically mummified after an entire summer spent out in the Midwestern heat. But strangely, many searches had been focused on that particular area and none had come across Emily's body prior to that. So some have speculated that Matt killed her inside their home following an altercation and then hid her body somewhere until he finally staged it where it was later found. Or that perhaps he had moved it around in accordance with the searches so as to not be discovered.

[Daphne]

However, the prosecutor feels that the fight most likely took place in the woods. Like maybe she went there to cool off after a fight inside the house and even followed her, killed her, and then staged her body to look like a suicide by hanging in the very woods where his son hung himself. You know, at least that is what the prosecution is thinking. Well, the autopsy concluded that Emily had sustained multiple fractures to her face and hands in addition to the fractures to her neck, which were believed to to be defensive wounds. In addition to the wounds that appeared as if she had been involved in some kind of physical altercation. Emily's autopsy results concluded that she suffered trauma to her neck called paramortem trauma, which is defined as like a traumatic event to the neck around the time of death. That of course, could happen from a hanging, but it could also happen from manual strangulation by aggressive choking. So when Matt's ex wife, Lisa Peterson was reached out for comment, she said, ever since I found out the details, I mean, I didn't know the details. Once the details were made clear to me, I started to lean toward his guilt. Although this case was originally believed to be a suicide, the scene was too strange to ignore, which I gotta say is kinda rare. Usually we have to fight for them to think of a suspicious suicide as anything other than that.

[Heath]

Exactly.

[Daphne]

But here they're like, no, this is really weird. It was hard to ignore that her body hadn't been found there earlier, that Matt's story was so weird that nobody else believed her to be suicidal, and it would take a significant amount of time to build a case against him. But Matt was eventually arrested the following June in 2021 for the murder of his wife, Emily Noble, Mostly due to the testimony of a well known strangulation expert named Dr. Bill Smock. Dr. Smock concluded that Emily's death had been staged to look like a suicide and that her manner of death should actually be homicide. He believed that she had been choked to death and that the damage to her neck proved as much because her hyoid bone and laryngeal cartilage were damaged and her nasal bones were fractured around the time she died, the latter of which Dr. Smock believed was the result of a struggle with her attacker.

[Heath]

So to Dr. Smock, he doesn't feel like she had just hung herself. He feels that there was possibly some sort of altercation prior to her death.

[Daphne]

Right. Because he's noticing other injuries and he's using that as fuel to say, well, how do you explain this and this and this?

[Heath]

Right?

[Daphne]

It's not aligning with her hanging herself only, but this kind of analysis is such a major point of this case. It's like, it's pretty much everything that we have. So ahead of their coverage of Emily's case on dateline NBC retained three anthropologists to review Dr. Smock's findings. The first, Nicholas Pasaloqua, concluded, quote, he makes firm, authoritative statements which I do not think you can support with any evidence. The second, Natalie Langley, who is actually the president of the American Board of Forensic Anthropologists, added, quote, my biggest concern is that the opinion of someone who is not a pathologist and who is not board certified in forensic pathology has been given this amount of weight in a court of law. And the third, Maren Pillowd, concluded, I think this case highlights the importance of scientific standards in the forensic sciences Insofar that misinterpretations of the data and hyperbolic statements can have serious repercussions. It is critically important to not overstate findings and to stick within the realms of scientific findings. So they're all basically saying, like, they're not saying, no, what Dr. Smock is concluding is incorrect. They're just saying it's not based on fact. And him saying, I think this happened because of this. There's no evidence to support it. We don't have injuries on met. We don't have other proof of an actual physical altercation. There's no neighbors saying, you know, so, right. They're just Saying it's important to not get ahead of ourselves here.

[Heath]

Yeah, they're saying it's important to just stick to the science here.

[Daphne]

Yeah, but, you know, that's what makes this so hard, is so many different experts are looking at and going to look at the autopsy and come up with different ideas of what happened. So when his findings were called into question, Dr. Smock maintained that he had been studying strangulation and asphyxiation for almost 40 years and that he stood by his determination. He said, matter of factly, quote, as far as I'm concerned, Emily Noble's hyoid bone fracture did not come from her hanging. It came from strangulation. And to be fair, all these people that I'm talking about have different backgrounds. So he's saying, well, I've studied strangulation for 40 years. You may be a pathologist and an anthropologist, but you have been. You have not been studying what I've been studying. And what I've been studying is coming up in this autopsy.

[Heath]

Yeah, I'm seeing that there's something funky going on with the hyoid bone.

[Daphne]

So it's tough.

[Heath]

Well, according to Matt, the court of public opinion had already convicted him. He claimed that he found himself estranged even from his own family, who seemed to be doubting his innocence.

[Daphne]

Interesting that his family is doubting his innocence, though.

[Heath]

Yeah, kind of. Does not look good.

[Daphne]

Yeah.

[Heath]

Well, in the months prior to his arrest, the police were constantly following him around so that he wouldn't flee the area. But then Dr. Smock's conclusion, coupled with Matt's prior domestic violence arrest, was enough to secure a Warrant. So on June 17, 2021, Matt was arrested in his vehicle, surrounded with armed officers holding their guns at him, and charged with one count each of purposeful murder, felony murder, and felonious assault. He entered a plea of not guilty and was held on a $2.5 million bond. Emily's best friend, Celeste, said, I would suspect that Emily might have gotten a little snippy, because sometimes she does. You know, we're all human, and it probably just kind of backfired.

[Daphne]

So this is Celeste agreeing that she was murdered by Matt?

[Heath]

Yes. Matt's trial commenced on August 15th of 2022. And in addition to the damning forensic evidence, the jury heard that Matt wrote out two checks in the aftermath of Emily's death. One to his brother, or again, his cousin, depending on the source, Paul Pulver, and another to his friend, Arturo ruggaroli, each for $5,000.

[Daphne]

So that's a little weird.

[Heath]

Well, they supposedly came in to support him in the aftermath of Emily's death. And Matt claims that these checks were just thanking them for their support and offering financial assistance.

[Daphne]

I don't know.

[Heath]

5,000 bucks, though, each.

[Daphne]

Like, that's a lot of money. Your. Your family. That's what family and friends are for. They're here to support you and. And be there for you. So, I don't know. I cannot look at this from that point of view.

[Heath]

This just feels too transactional for me. Well, as expected, Dr. Smock was the prosecution's star witness. He was asked in court if he had ever seen the same fracture pattern in a person of Emily's size who had hanged themselves or been hanged. And Dr. Smock maintained that he had not. Emily was not believed to have weighed enough to break her own hyoid bone by leaning into the cord that she was found with. But unfortunately for Emily's loved ones, who truly believed that Matt was responsible, the jury sided with the defense, concluding that there was simply just not enough evidence to secure a conviction.

[Daphne]

Which I do understand, as devastating as it is. And personal theories aside, like that is what we want to see.

[Heath]

That's just how the justice system works.

[Daphne]

Yes. If there is not enough to convict someone, they should not be convicted. Sometimes we see people convicted on even less. But I can understand, of course, how devastating that was for her family. Like, why was there not more? Like, we don't have enough to paint either picture fully.

[Heath]

Yeah. And is this some sort of oversight in the case? And possibly there was more, and it just was overlooked. Like, we don't know.

[Daphne]

Well, it does seem like that was the case, because even Matt's defense attorney, Diane Menasha, claimed that the police and the prosecutors erred in many ways, including failing to test or examine the clothing that Matt had been wearing that day and failing to follow up on the lead of the driveway that the scent dogs indicated to. She also alleged that key evidence, including Emily's remains, had been badly mishandled. Her bones were apparently shuffled between the morgue and multiple different coolers and labs in the span of their time in the custody of law enforcement. So even though this is the defense saying it, even the defense is kind of saying, well, maybe she was killed and it was by somebody that wasn't Matt. Maybe something had happened with those neighbors who said what? I don't know what you're talking about.

[Heath]

Yeah.

[Daphne]

Like, they just didn't really do their due diligence. Here to find that out and to counter Dr. Smock's claims, Diane brought in a forensic anthropologist, Dr. Heather Garvin, who had also examined Emily's remains and argued that there was no sign of Emily having been punched in the face before her murder, but instead that her injuries were most likely due to a prior broken nose, which she had sustained after an accident in 1983. She concluded that there were no paramortem injuries to the face and also challenged Dr. Smock's conclusion that a USB cord could not have caused the fractures. Telling the court, in Emily Noble's case, the two fractures on either side appear to occur from some source of compression, but you're going to get that same compression whether there's a ligature there or manual strangulation. You can't differentiate between them. But again, his defense attorney wasn't saying, Dr. Smock is wrong, she wasn't murdered. He's saying, I don't agree with his conclusion, but she still could have been murdered. Like she went as far as to say, I am not saying that this is a hanging based on the fracture pattern. I am refuting Dr. Smock's claim that this fracture pattern cannot occur in a hanging. And I do so using the scientific literature. So it's. Again, they're saying it doesn't mean it wasn't a hanging. It means it. It maybe wasn't. So Dr. Smock is saying she definitely was murdered and she definitely was strangled, and everybody else is saying she might have been strangled and she might have been hanged. We just don't know. However, Delaware county prosecutor Mark sleeper maintained that Dr. Smock's testimony was the strongest evidence they had and alleged that Dr. Garvin did not possess the same amount of expertise or experience that Dr. Smock could offer. So ultimately, like this is, it's such a he said, she said, she said, he said on which pathologist is correct. And nobody can figure out who is right, which is why the jury sided with the defense, because we just don't know. And sadly, we may never know. But there is reasonable argument for both sides.

[Heath]

Yeah, because although Matt's behavior may have been sketchy at best, in the aftermath of his missing wife, he also led police directly to the area of the woods where she liked to forage and the area where her body was later found, as though he didn't know that she was there, or perhaps he wanted them to find her. But either way, on August 26th of 2022, he was acquitted and released from police custody after having served 14 months. Celeste, again, this is Emily's best friend, claimed that she was dumbfounded, saying how did this happen? In an interview with Dateline, Matt concluded, she had enough. I had never been more in love with a person in my entire life. I feel awful that I didn't spend more time thinking about how she felt that she would do something like this. But she wasn't sick like Joey. It was Emily. When asked if he loved her, he repeated twice to death. Well, in the aftermath of his acquittal, he wrote and self published an ebook called A Staged Suicide in Ohio, all about his journey as a murder suspect. Matt concluded, it's something you have to get used to, I guess. It's not fun. I like Westerville. It was really nice living there. I care what the people there think. I don't know. I hope they read my book.

[Daphne]

Very interesting. Well, Matt claims that he lost his money and his reputation and left the area to return to Las Vegas. Following his trial in 2022, Matt took a polygraph test about his wife's death, and he passed. His results were even looked over by a former FBI polygraph examiner. The questions included confronting him about whether or not he had a fight with Emily before her death and whether he had hung her up from the honeysuckle branch, both of which he denied he was found to be truthful. While, again, this is not conclusive evidence by any means, Matt hoped that this would allay some of the public suspicion about him. But for now, it seems Emily's case is unlikely to see a different outcome or conclusion, despite the best efforts of prosecutors and the dogged determination of her friends and community. But to this day, her friends and family still hold out hope for a different outcome, truly believing that there's more to the story. Thank you so much, everybody, for listening to this episode of Going West.

[Heath]

Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode of. I hope that one day we'll have some better conclusions, some better idea of what actually happened to Emily, because so far, it doesn't seem like this case has had any justice.

[Daphne]

We really don't have a strong story on either side.

[Heath]

Yeah, like a strong determination.

[Daphne]

And I think, honestly, the fact that even Matt's defense admitted that, like, they're saying, we're not saying that she was. Wasn't murdered. We're just saying that Matt didn't murder her, which is also their job to say that. But, like, I don't know, that says a lot to me as well that they're not even fully putting murder off the table because they just cannot tell, which is so devastating. So thank you again to Matt and Matt no. Thank you again to Megan and Laura for recommending this case. Please let us know what you guys think. Follow us on socials, send us a comment, send us a message.

[Heath]

Yeah. And again, if you want to see photos of Emily and everybody else associated with today's case, like Daphne said, head on over to our socials. We're on Instagram @goingwestpodcast. We're on TikTok as well as Facebook.

[Daphne]

All right, guys, we will see you on Friday.

[Heath]

So for everybody out there in the

[Daphne]

world, don't be a stranger.

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