While competing on Survivor in Fiji, Joe Hunter publicly mourned his sister Joanna, whose 2011 death in Vacaville, California, he believes was a homicide. Joanna was found hanging inside a bedroom closet on the night of Oct. 6, 2011. The coroner and later reviews ruled her death a suicide; her family disputes that finding.
Investigators described a scene that included a bathrobe sash used as the ligature, an open suitcase and a handwritten note that read ‘Take care of dogs.’ Joanna’s husband, Mark Lewis — a pastor at The Fellowship Baptist Church — was briefly handcuffed and questioned before being released. Deputies reported no signs of a struggle. An external autopsy described ligature marks consistent with suicide, toxicology results were negative, and the case was initially closed.
Joanna’s family long suspected foul play. Her mother, Patricia Hunter, and brother Joe say Joanna endured years of abuse by Lewis, including documented strangulation, multiple restraining orders and a 1996 domestic violence conviction. Joanna had attempted to leave Lewis repeatedly. Patricia has said the open suitcase and note suggested Joanna was planning to leave, not take her own life. Joe says the first name he thought of after hearing the news was Lewis.
The family criticizes the original investigation. Homicide detectives were not called, the bedroom was not treated as a crime scene, and items such as fingerprints, DNA samples and phones were not collected. Investigators later said records about Lewis’ past were not immediately available to deputies in the field. The family’s requests for additional review met resistance.
In 2014, media attention and a separate criminal case against Lewis prompted a reinvestigation. Lewis was arrested that year in connection with threats and hiring others to firebomb the home of a former girlfriend, Sarah Nottingham; in January 2014 a Molotov cocktail was thrown through her parents’ bedroom window. Nottingham said Lewis stalked and abused her after Joanna’s death. Lewis ultimately pleaded no contest to arson, conspiracy and stalking, received an eight-year sentence, and served five years before release on parole.
The renewed probe produced new details. Detectives reinterviewed a churchgoer who initially said he played basketball with Lewis for hours the night Joanna died; he later acknowledged gaps in that account and that he had left church property at times. The Solano County Sheriff’s Office pursued additional forensic reviews and again concluded suicide. A 2015 district attorney inquiry did, however, report DNA from Joanna and an unknown male on the bathrobe sash; the male profile did not match any record in CODIS, the national DNA database.
In 2023 the sheriff’s office engaged Dr. Bill Smock, a physician experienced in reviewing autopsies for law enforcement. Smock concluded Joanna had been murdered. He said photographs and evidence suggested two different ligature impressions on Joanna’s neck — one consistent with a braided marine rope and a second from the bathrobe sash. Smock told investigators he believed Joanna was strangled with the rope and then hung with the sash to stage a suicide. While under a nondisclosure agreement he could not share findings with the family; once free of the NDA he demonstrated on a mannequin how a marine rope could produce the observed imprint and how staging might occur.
Solano County officials and other forensic reviewers disputed Smock’s conclusions. County officials note that multiple forensic pathologists — including the original coroner; reviewers from the 2014 reinvestigation; and a 2024 review by Dr. Brian Peterson, a former president of the National Association of Medical Examiners — found no evidence of another person’s involvement. Captain Jackson Harris of the Solano County Sheriff’s Office has defended the department’s handling of the case, while acknowledging that, with the benefit of hindsight and fuller knowledge of Lewis’ history, investigators might have handled it differently. Harris also said he does not have the marine rope Smock referenced and that some items in the home were not examined at the time.
Advocates and family allies say the investigation missed warning signs. Casey Gwinn and Gael Strack of Alliance for HOPE International have called Joanna a ‘hidden homicide,’ arguing domestic violence homicides are sometimes staged to look like suicide. The group developed a checklist of 10 red flags — including prior domestic violence and prior strangulation — that they recommend law enforcement consider when responding to suicides, overdoses or accidental deaths. They contend Joanna’s case met all those factors.
The family has pushed for accountability through advocacy, public awareness and legal changes. Their efforts helped spur California Senate Bill 989, nicknamed ‘Joanna’s Law,’ which took effect Jan. 1, 2025. The law requires investigators responding to reported suicides, overdoses or fatal accidents to check for a history of domestic violence and, when such a history exists, to treat the death as potentially suspicious. The measure passed unanimously.
The California Department of Justice has agreed to review the Solano County district attorney’s decision not to bring criminal charges in Joanna’s death. Mark Lewis has not been charged in that matter; after serving time related to the Nottingham case, he was released on parole, moved to Arizona, remarried and works in plumbing. Requests for comment were declined.
Joe Hunter has kept his sister’s story in the public eye. His emotional tribute to Joanna on Survivor season 48 reached millions; he plans to compete again in season 50. Patricia and Joe continue to share Joanna’s story at events and through advocacy at the Sacramento Family Justice Center, hoping changes in how investigators respond to suspicious deaths will help other survivors. Domestic violence advocates say recognizing and acting on red flags in suspicious deaths can save lives.
Resources: If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or visit thehotline.org. Alliance for HOPE International operates domesticshelters.org.