The family of a young woman who was crushed to death by a hotel wardrobe say they’re still haunted by the tragedy, three years after her life was cut short.
Chloe Haynes, just 21 years old, was discovered dead in her room at Liverpool’s Adelphi Hotel in September 2022. Her sudden and horrifying death—now known widely as the hotel wardrobe death—remains unresolved.
Despite early police arrests and an ongoing council investigation, her family is still waiting for answers.
Chloe had travelled to Liverpool from North Wales, where she worked at Haven Holiday Park. She was sharing a hotel room with a colleague during a night out in the city.
Her mum, Nicola Williams, said the pair returned to the hotel after Chloe had had too much to drink. The colleague left her to sleep it off. When he came back, he found Chloe crushed beneath a wardrobe.
At first, police arrested three men on suspicion of murder. But soon after, the incident was ruled accidental. The theory? Chloe may have mistaken the wardrobe for a toilet or exit in her disoriented state and opened it, triggering it to fall.
“It was a big, old, heavy wardrobe and it’s fallen on her and crushed her windpipe,” Nicola told the Liverpool Echo.
Although police closed their investigation, Liverpool City Council’s environmental health team launched its own probe, stating criminal charges had not been ruled out.
That investigation has yet to conclude, three years later. A pre-inquest hearing scheduled for this week has also been delayed, leaving the family in continued limbo.
Nicola Williams remains desperate for closure. “She had been drinking shots and so on, and she was a bit drunk, so her friend had taken her back to the hotel to sleep it of,f and then he’s gone back out,” Nicola explained.
“It seems she has got up out of the bed confused… maybe thinking [the wardrobe] is the toilet or the door to go back out.”
Despite efforts to save her, two other hotel guests helped lift the wardrobe off Chloe—she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Nicola remembers her daughter with heart-wrenching clarity: “My little nickname for her was Birdy. She was so petite and little, and when she ate, she was like a little bird. She was quiet; she was somebody who didn’t speak unless it needed saying.
But in the last 12 months, she was coming out of her shell. She was gaining her confidence, and she had a wide circle of friends. She was kind and caring.”
The case has sparked wider calls for furniture safety standards in hotels, especially older establishments with heavy, unsecured items.
The hotel wardrobe death has become a symbol of both personal tragedy and institutional inaction. Families, legal experts, and public safety advocates are urging that lessons be learned to prevent another such incident.
Questions That Still Need Answers
- Why wasn’t the wardrobe secured?
- Was the furniture suitable for a guest room?
- Why has the investigation taken so long?
The hotel wardrobe death continues to raise these critical questions, with no official explanation provided to date. As Nicola and her family mark another year without answers, their pain only deepens. “She didn’t deserve this. We just want the truth.”
