The Body in Room 348

Greg Fleniken was no stranger to travel—so much so that he had a routine. He travelled light and lived tidily. He would leave his rolling suitcase open on the floor of his hotel room and use it as a drawer. Dirty clothes christened the closet floor. Shirts he wanted to keep uncreased hung above.

Most evenings, he never left the sanctuary of his hotel room. Why would he? His air conditioner was cranked up to the max, he had his cigarettes, a candy bar, and a film—what more could he want after a long day at work?

This is where Greg Fleniken was on the evening of Wednesday, September 15, 2010. He was in Room 348 of the MCM Elegante Hotel—smoking, lounging, snacking on a Reese’s Crispy Crunchy bar, and watching Iron Man 2.

But he missed the ending.

At some point during the loud showdown that Robert Downey Jr. would win while forsaking parts of his humanity, Greg was struck out of nowhere with a blow. A blow so violent it would blind a man with pain. He managed to get off the bed and move toward the door before he fell—legs splayed, face first. He was probably dead by the time he hit the rug.

What happened to Greg Fleniken?

Greg Fleniken

There was no sign of a break-in in Room 348, no blood or obvious wounds. The only thing signalling that anything was wrong was Greg’s body on the floor.

His death was initially considered natural causes. He didn’t exercise, he had chain-smoked his entire adult life, and he had a nagging cough to prove it. He didn’t drink or eat to excess, but he did both freely. It was easy to conclude that his choices may have simply caught up with him.

But why, during his autopsy, when the front of his torso had been opened up, did it look like he had been beaten or crushed to death? There was extensive internal damage: small lacerations on his stomach and liver, two broken ribs, and a hole in the right atrium of his heart.

The Elegante Hotel in Beaumont

Murders were a rarity in Beaumont—especially mysterious ones. And the physical evidence just didn’t add up. Unless Greg had been beaten to death elsewhere and his body carefully placed back on the rug, nothing about the scene suggested a crime. How does a man sustain injuries so severe—cracked ribs, torn organs, a ruptured heart—without significant damage to his torso? Other than some bruising and a cut near his crotch, Fleniken’s outer body showed no signs of a beating. And how could this have happened without disturbing the other hotel guests?

Rather than natural causes, his death was ultimately ruled a homicide.

Greg had no enemies. His wife adored him so much that she married him twice. His brother and co-workers said he was universally liked in their company. His life at the Elegante rarely intersected with anyone else's—he was never seen at the bar, he didn’t socialize, and he didn’t chat up women. He was a simple man who didn’t get into trouble, not the sort of man one would typically murder.

But someone did.

If you want to find out more about what happened to Greg Fleniken that fateful night in Room 348, please check out my book: How to Solve True Crime: Occam’s Razor and the Limitations of Simplicity Within Investigations.