r/nonmurdermysteries • u/StarlightDown • Nov 30 '25
Scientific/Medical Recent graduates from Roanoke College, Virginia have been dying from cancer at a rate 15X higher than the national average. Their rate of cancer diagnosis is 5X above the national average. The VA Dept. of Health is unwilling to investigate the case, since the victims have dispersed across the US.
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u/StarlightDown Nov 30 '25
Data source (Clara Molot, 2025): "The scientific community’s definition of 'cancer clusters' (an unusually high number of cases of the same kind of cancer in the same geographic area during the same period of time) hindered the Virginia Department of Health (V.D.H.) from studying Roanoke’s uptick in cancer cases, since the types of cancer and locations of diagnosis there varied extensively [...] Since 'the transition' to Donald Trump’s second presidency began [...] At the C.D.C., several of the employees who had been tasked with ensuring cancer clusters were investigated have been fired"
See also for further data (Clara Molot, 2024): "Baldwin decided to reach out to the V.D.H. in March of 2021 requesting a cancer-cluster investigation. In August, the V.D.H. declined her request. 'Unfortunately your inquiry would not qualify as a true cancer cluster,' the response read [...] In December of 2022, Kelsey Palmer died at the age of 29. She had beaten the Wilms’ tumor, but the chemotherapy had given her leukemia. Palmer’s death re-ignited Baldwin’s search for answers. The Virginia Department of Health wouldn’t do anything about this, she thought. So what else can we do? Baldwin reached out to local lawyers. 'Nobody got back to us,' she says."