A prominent Connecticut news anchor who has been absent from the local news reappeared on social media to reveal the “painful secret” that her mother was murdered in February. Heidi Voight, a former Miss America pageant contestant and current morning NBC Connecticut Today news anchor, shared in an emotional Facebook post on July 31 that Vermont State Police are conducting a homicide investigation into the death of her mother, Claudia Voight, 73.
“There is something I’ve been wanting to tell you, but up until now, couldn’t,” Voight wrote in the emotional post. “I have been carrying this painful secret: My mother’s death was not natural, nor peaceful. My mother was murdered, violently, in the place she should have felt safest – her own home. Claudia Voight was stolen from this world. She was stolen from her family, from her children, and from my precious daughters who now ask me almost every day, ‘Why did Grandma go to Heaven?’”
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Claudia died in her Windham, Vermont home on Feb. 20. Although her death was initially believed to be “the result of an apparent medical event and did not appear suspicious,” according to police, an autopsy days later “indicated the death was suspicious… Final autopsy findings in April confirmed that Ms. Voight’s cause of death was neck compression, and the manner of death was homicide.” The Vermont State Police said they delayed releasing the information to the public out of fear it could jeopardize their investigation, adding that they believe the murder “was not random, and there is no identified threat to the community.”
“For the last 161 days, the world around us has moved on. But my family and I have been living February 21st on repeat,” Voight wrote. “There is an emotional purgatory that comes when you must silence what you want to scream from the rooftops. How could we write her obituary or plan her service until the world understood the true magnitude of this senseless loss? But our silence was necessary to protect the early stages of the intense criminal investigation.”
Vought went on to thank “the many dedicated law enforcement professionals… working tirelessly to bring our family justice,” as well as “the victim advocates holding us safely through this overwhelming process.” She added that she is “taking this time to be present for the many processes ongoing related to my mom’s case, and to make sure I’m getting the help I need to be mentally and physically okay for the long haul. This has broken me and changed me. But I am my mother’s daughter, and I will come back stronger. I will fight for her. As we often say in the news, there will be more details to unfold. But for now, I just wanted you to know why you haven’t seen me. And I wanted the world to know: She should still be here.”
According to the Vermont State Police, no arrests have been made in connection to Claudia’s murder. The investigation “remains active and ongoing.”
