Michael Hunter killed with lidocaine by Joseph Mannino

Joseph Mannino injected Michael Hunter with a lethal dose of lidocaine late on the night of April 29, 1992. Michael was only 23 and becoming established at his career as a computer programmer. My good friend Jeff is a programmer in the Raleigh area, and nearly Michael's age – it's realistic they'd be contemporaries in the business world today. But sadly, Mannino's jealously took Michael from the world far too soon.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

The need for programmers has evolved in the three decades since Michael's murder. There are many newer programming languages and processes than existed back then. I'm curious what Michael's expertise was in 1992. Is it possible he was a C++ developer for business software? Maybe an older high-performance language such as FORTRAN? Or might he have been developing in a lower-level assembly language? Perhaps he specialized in database development or another form of information architecture, and his misunderstood role was simply labelled "computer programmer".

Michael Hunter's family

Michael's mother Pat supplied some thought-provoking statements in her interview for this episode. With a last name of "Karnes", it seemed Pat had remarried after the death of Michael's father Jim. One of her statements included, "We [she and Michael] had been through a lot together." I wondered what she might've been alluding to. Pat and Jim's marriage seemed to have spanned over twenty years. Butt had there been dysfunction in the marriage before Jim's demise? Maybe trouble with one or more of Michael's siblings? Perhaps Michael himself had persevered through a trial with drugs or alcohol?

Soon after Michael's death, the details of his living situation, polygamous relationship, and sexual orientation became known to his parents. Combining this with Michael's homicide proved to be a bridge too far for his father Jim. Pat explained, "[he] could not accept the fact that somebody could kill his son and he could do nothing about it." One wonders: If the only revelation in the spring of 1992 had been his son's death, would Jim have spared his own life? Or did the news of his son's homosexuality, sometimes reprehensible to a parent, play a role.

Same-gender relationships (and computers) through the ages

It took until 1973 for the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to finally acknowledge that homosexuality is not a mental illness. Removing "Ego-syntonic Homosexuality" from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) was pivotal to members of the LGBTQ community beginning to acquire the same rights and accesses others take for granted. Fifty years later, there are still rampant swaths of intolerance, but as Dr. King told us, "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

In 1992, I was glad to start seeing more acceptance of LGBTQ people. Many narrower-minded folks would still have to wait for Jill Sobule's "I Kissed a Girl", Ellen's "The Puppy Episode", and Will and Grace in the mid-to-late-1990s. I had the advantage of a confident sister coming out to our welcoming family years prior. Michael was merely one year older than my beloved sister. He'd obviously been continuing to hide his sexual orientation – a burden I can only imagine for a young man who seemed to value his family. I'll never know the strife nor bravery it takes to embrace one's same-gender attraction. Sadly in the latter half of the 2010s, intolerance is becoming renormalized and even accepted. I can't tolerate intolerance...

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

The 1990s were also apparent in this episode while viewing the operation of the ALIAS computer program. A PC of the era would've likely run ALIAS on Windows 3.0 or older. Given the episode's air date in 2005, the video showing the program's functionality is likely operating on Windows XP, 2000, or ME (all versions of Windows 5). These OSs could be reverted to look like the interface shown, which is from Windows 98. But it's also possible the computer shown is actually still running Windows 98.

ALIAS, or its successor software versions and competitors, gives investigators another valuable tool to analyze abstract evidence. With machine-learning tools like ChatGPT becoming available, it seems the field of forensic linguistics will continue to evolve.

The different people in Michael Hunter's world

When Forensic Files interviewed Garry Walston, it'd been well over ten years since Joe murdered his partner Michael. Mannino was sentenced in 1994, but he only served three years of his seven-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter. Walston mentioned he didn't have the same issues with Joe Mannino that it seemed Michael did, but ultimately, Garry and Michael decided to force Joe out. Walston undoubtedly testified at Joseph Mannino's trial – afterwards knowing his partner's killer is walking the streets again just three years later must've been troubling.

Considering his crime, many find Mannino's manslaughter conviction and seven-year sentence less than adequate. I'd expect Michael Hunter's only surviving parent to be the most indignant. But despite Mannino's actions leading to the deaths of both her son and husband, Pat Karnes revealed her stoicism: "It was over. Nothing they could do to Joe would bring Michael back. And I just wanted to get on with our lives."

Sarah Avery reported on many of the events in this case as they unfolded, and several of her interview statements were used in this episode. But while constructing the episode, not all of her accounts were captured in a single interview. Avery is seen with multiple backgrounds and wearing different clothing and jewelry. This is fairly infrequent in Forensic Files; I last discussed it in the case of Ronald Porter's attacks on women in the San Diego area. It's as if the segment producer didn't capture the entirety of what the episode demanded in one session.

Joe Mannino: Carried drugs in his bag?

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

Rather than the lethal dosage of lidocaine needed to kill Michael, Joseph Mannino delivered a cocktail of drugs in his injection. Both diphenhydramine and hydroxyzine were found in Hunter's system, though the episode never talked about the victim having symptoms of a cold. So, what was the purpose behind the additional medications? Even back in the early 1990s, the benefits of antihistamines for migraine sufferers were anecdotal at best. Even today, it seems diphenhydramine (Benadryl) only assists NSAIDs for migraines, and that's when these are taken in combination within minutes of the symptoms. Hydroxyzine is not available over the counter. Did Mannino mix all of these in a single "cocktail" injection? How did these other drugs play into Joe's defense that the lidocaine overdosage was merely an accident?

I have a history of tension headaches, and over the years, a few unconventional therapies have been recommended. Hearing what migraine sufferers go through, I can understand their desire to try anything to relieve the debilitating symptoms. Botox (Botulinum toxin) is now an FDA-approved therapy for chronic migraine headaches. Anticonvulsants (anti-seizure medications) are also prescribed to treat or prevent migraines. Each of these unconventional remedies were discussed when my battle with tension headaches was at its worst, around 2008. Thankfully, adjustments in my lifestyle choices ultimately yielded the best results.

So it makes sense that Michael Hunter, a life-long victim of the agonies of migraines, might've been open to trying alternative means to get relief. But when offered injection treatments in the past – a therapy Joe Mannino as merely a medical student violated ethics and the law to offer – Hunter's friends all stated he consistently refused. Yet, despite this behavior pattern, the jury believed that on the night of his murder, he may've finally allowed Mannino give him the lethal "cocktail" injection.

Joe Mannino got away with murder

Mannino certainly had all of these necessary components connected to nearly every murder. The means by which Joe killed his ex-partner and roommate came easily. In his education, he'd been giving injections for years. He was aware of the effects of potentially deadly drugs like lidocaine, and he had easy access to it. Joe Mannino certainly had a motive to murder Michael Hunter. Joe had recently been ousted from the men's love triangle with Garry Walston, and Michael seemed to be the instigator. As for opportunity, Mannino was clever to wait for Garry to be out of town on business before executing his selfish scheme.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

It seemed Joe Mannino never thoroughly considered a plan to get away with Michael Hunter's murder. A healthy, young man such as Mike typically doesn't just die in his sleep – nearly always, an underlying physiological explanation is found. This led the chief medical examiner of North Carolina to recommend additional toxicology testing. But Mannino must have believed Hunter's cause of death would remain unknown, despite there being no intrinsic medical conditions to explain it.

Once the lidocaine and antihistamines were found in Hunter's system, Joseph Mannino came up with the ludicrous suicide scenario. Even though Mannino knew the rapid effects of such a lethal dose of lidocaine would've rendered Michael incapable of hiding the tools of suicide, he still wrote the fake drafts of the absurd suicide note. "I will use some medications I found in Joe's black bag." and "Please, don't blame him." are unlikely and unnecessary remarks in a suicide note, but make perfect sense in a forgery.

When the forensic linguistic examination of the suicide note clearly indicated it was not written by Michael Hunter, its author needed to be identified. Since the drugs in Michael's system were invariably from Joe's stock, and the suicide note deemed fake, Joe Mannino finally admitted to injecting Michael with the drug cocktail. But he now claimed it was by Michael's request, in hopes of finding relief from a particularly fearsome migraine. Joe had simply miscalculated the dosage of lidocaine.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

Members of the jury was not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Joseph Mannino intentionally killed his Michael. There was enough potential belief in Mannino's new lie about the accidental overdosing that the jury couldn't agree on a first- nor second-degree murder conviction. Since Hunter's death may have been an accident, they were only comfortable returning a guilty verdict for manslaughter. But given the circumstances of the case, the sentence of only seven years was appallingly short.

Did Joe Mannino ever admit to writing the fake suicide note in an attempt to misdirect investigators? If so (or even if not), why weren't the charges updated to include evidence tampering (spoliation) or interfering with an investigation (obstruction)? It seems these additional felony charges could've stuck, and Mannino could've spent a much more appropriate stint in prison for his crimes.

The investigation: Lots of work with little payoff

The autopsy and toxicology reports made up the bulk of the physical evidence in the case of Michael Hunter's murder. The forensic linguistics showed the suicide note was fake (scenario exclusion), but it couldn't ascribe authorship to Joe Mannino – it only suggested it. Dealing with a mostly circumstantial case was already going to make it difficult to secure a murder conviction against Joe. The fact that Joe waiting for Garry to be out of town is what pointed investigators to Mannino as a prime suspect, but it also spoke of the attack's premeditation.

Image credit: Episode screen capture from Forensic Files

When questioned, Joe Mannino fairly readily surrendered the fact that he'd given Mike Hunter an injection on the night of his murder. But he claimed it'd only been the antihistamines – he likely wasn't made aware that the toxicology report had already identified the lethal dose of lidocaine. Joseph Mannino must've thought this partial admission was his best strategy, because it immediately jeopardized his career hopes as a doctor. By injecting Michael with any medication, he had violated the ethical laws of UNC's medical program, and the state law of North Carolina.

Where is Joseph Mannino now in 2024?

Joseph Mannino was sentenced to seven years in Central Prison, North Carolina for involuntary manslaughter on July 29, 1994. He was paroled after serving just three years. Ten years later in 2007, Mannino applied for an RN job at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Pennsylvania. He lied on his application when asked about prior felony convictions. Joseph claimed to have stopped revealing this essential information "out of frustration" and that he felt it was "no longer relevant".

A background check failed to notice the omission, and Mannino got the job. Thankfully, the hospital fired Joe Mannino in November 2008 when his fabrication was revealed. The fact that this same omission allowed Mannino to earn his degree from St. Luke's School of Nursing and receive a state license revealed frightening holes in Pennsylvania's background-checking processes.