Last year, Mary Todd traveled from her home in rural Montana to sit face-to-face with Frank Wolf, Republican Congressman representing Virginia, in his Washington, D.C., office. She was there to plead for help in the case of her son's death in Singapore just a few years earlier.
"Congressman, we have all the proof in the world that our son was murdered. Why won't someone help us?" Mary recalls saying.
"Are you not familiar with Benghazi?" he said.
Mary knew what his answer meant.
"We just want justice for Shane," Mary retorted - dejected for the moment, but not deterred. Never deterred.
HER SON'S MYSTERIOUS DEATH
It was June of 2012 when the body of Shane Todd, a 31-year-old American engineer, was found hanging from the back of the bathroom door inside his small Singapore apartment. He had just quit his job and it was June 24, his last day at work. He was scheduled to return home to the United States in one week.
But suddenly his girlfriend was frantically messaging his mother via Facebook, urging her to call immediately. The couple didn't live together but she was looking for Shane after repeatedly trying to reach him by phone. She did not have a key but Shane's apartment door was left open - something Mary Todd says was highly unusual.
"Shane had told me for months he was in fear for his life. Within 48 hours [June 26] my husband and two sons were in Singapore," Mary says. "Authorities in Singapore ruled Shane's death a suicide, but our family was not sure what happened to him, until we arrived in Singapore, and the evidence started building a clear case for murder, not suicide."
Shane had been working for the Institute of Microelectronics. He quit, Mary says, because he was allegedly asked to compromise state security by revealing U.S. secrets to another Chinese company called Huawei Technologies. Shane's decision was a good one. Huawei Technologies had been designated a threat to U.S. National Security by the House Intelligence agency.
"Shane said he was scared for his life, but he didn't know if he was overreacting," Mary says. "He said if he missed his weekly phone call home, I should call the American Embassy."
Mary says after Shane turned in his 60-day notice, he became increasingly anxious and told her he felt that his life was being threatened. "On several occasions, he told us going to Singapore was the worst mistake of his life. He would say 'If God gets me out of Singapore alive, I will give Him all the honor and glory.' He didn't think he would survive."
Shane never provided specifics beyond that ominous statement, but not a day goes by that Mary doesn't wish he had - especially since both Chinese companies deny their discussions with Shane involved any requests for classified military information.
Nevertheless, after four months of Skype conversations with Singapore authorities, her husband and two sons, Mary learned the details about her son's mysterious death.
In July of 2013, the state coroner in Singapore ruled that Shane's death was a suicide - "asphyxia due to hanging," was how the documentation read. And then the authorities promptly closed the case.
But by that point Mary's personal investigation was well underway.
"I had provided so much proof for murder we thought it would be a slam dunk case. We had no idea what we were up against," Mary says.
A MOTHER TAKES OVER
Mary Todd never bought the suicide explanation. She claims Shane was not depressed and would have had no reason to take his own life. She had a hunch the suicide notes found on his computer were not authentic - and she wanted to test the noose and towel that were found around Shane's neck for DNA evidence.
In fact, Singapore authorities conducted DNA tests and found both items contained DNA belonging to two unknown persons. But authorities never investigated further. In their minds, the case ended there. Shane's girlfriend says she found him with a wire around his neck, but the Singapore police say he was found with a towel and a strap. There was no DNA on the knot or the buckle and there was Chinese and Malay DNA on the towel and the strap. But the DNA was never put through the database.
Mary hired a Singapore attorney, but after a lengthy legal battle, the court ordered the towel and strap to be destroyed.
THE BOOK
Unsatisfied that she would ever get justice for her son, Mary Todd has written a book about her son's death and what she believes to be a cover-up of his death, and now she has embarked on a quest to reveal all.
"I needed people to know I thought Shane was a pawn in this scheme," Mary says. "Our government knows he was murdered. For them to fight for justice for Shane would have put them in a precarious position with Singapore and China."
In her book "Hard Drive: A Family's Fight Against Three Countries" ($14; Morgan James Publishing, 2014), Mary and co-author Christina Villegas provide the shocking findings of two experts who claim the suicide notes were not written by Shane - but rather by a non-American speaking person. The book's proceeds are going to help fund "The Dr. Shane Truman Todd Science Center" built in Shane's honor in California where he was raised, and for science scholarships in Shane's name.
"Those experts were unequivocal: the suicide notes were not suicide notes," Mary says. "Our desire is for this book to take off, and we hope it embarrasses our government enough to re-open this investigation. We want a congressional investigation, and we want the public to know how far our government has gone to cover this up."
Mary believes cyber-espionage and the dark underworld of government secrets led to her son's death. She believes Shane died trying to protect the secrets - and for that he should be hailed as a hero.
"If I could talk to him now I would tell him I am so proud of him for doing the right thing and for being an American hero," Mary says, more to her absent son than to this reporter.
"I will see you in eternity one day," she says aloud to the room - to Shane. "And I know our relationship hasn't ended. It's in a different form."
For now, the government is staying quiet.
POSTSCRIPT
If you want to urge the government to take action, log onto www.facebook.com/Justice4ShaneTodd.
If you know anything about what happened to Shane Todd, you're urged to go to justice4shanetodd.com and the information will be passed along to investigators.
Jon Leiberman is an Emmy award-winning investigative correspondent, host, producer, victim advocate and author. He recently wrote the book "Whitey On Trial," about the mob. In addition to contributing to HNGN, he is a contributor to "Snapped" on Oxygen and various other television shows. Leiberman is a former correspondent for "America's Most Wanted." Follow him on Twitter @reporterjon.
