Saturday, September 01, 2007
Who was Mary Anderson and why did she die? - Seattle P-I
A neatly groomed woman calling herself Mary Anderson ended her life in a luxury boutique hotel in downtown Seattle on an unseasonably hot October day in 1996. At first it looked like a simple case of suicide.
But police soon learned that Mary Anderson was an enigma. Her name was an alias. Her address didn't exist. Her phone contact was a wrong number. Nine years later, her file is the coldest of cold cases - one with low odds of being solved. And yet her death still raises questions: How can a person live to middle age without leaving any ties to the world? What about her drycleaner? The cosmetics counter sales lady? Did they wonder about a troubled woman in their midst? Somewhere, someone must realize she doesn't come around anymore. Even in her death, Mary Anderson has traction, a pull on certain strangers.
...
What we do know is this: She made no phone calls. Ordered nothing from room service. Instead, in some unknown sequence, she put out the "Do Not Disturb" sign, applied pink Estée Lauder lipstick and combed her short auburn hair. She wrote a note on hotel stationery, opened her Bible to the 23rd Psalm and mixed some cyanide into a glass of Metamucil.
Then she drank it.
People who choose cyanide are trying for a clean getaway from this life. With cyanide, there is no question about outcome, or intent.
Her note, its corner tucked under the bottle of Metamucil to keep it from slipping off the hotel desk, read:
"To whom it may concern: I have decided to end my life and no one is responsible for my death. Mary Anderson.
"P.S. I have no relatives. You can use my body as you choose."
A neatly groomed woman calling herself Mary Anderson ended her life in a luxury boutique hotel in downtown Seattle on an unseasonably hot October day in 1996. At first it looked like a simple case of suicide.
But police soon learned that Mary Anderson was an enigma. Her name was an alias. Her address didn't exist. Her phone contact was a wrong number. Nine years later, her file is the coldest of cold cases - one with low odds of being solved. And yet her death still raises questions: How can a person live to middle age without leaving any ties to the world? What about her drycleaner? The cosmetics counter sales lady? Did they wonder about a troubled woman in their midst? Somewhere, someone must realize she doesn't come around anymore. Even in her death, Mary Anderson has traction, a pull on certain strangers.
...
What we do know is this: She made no phone calls. Ordered nothing from room service. Instead, in some unknown sequence, she put out the "Do Not Disturb" sign, applied pink Estée Lauder lipstick and combed her short auburn hair. She wrote a note on hotel stationery, opened her Bible to the 23rd Psalm and mixed some cyanide into a glass of Metamucil.
Then she drank it.
People who choose cyanide are trying for a clean getaway from this life. With cyanide, there is no question about outcome, or intent.
Her note, its corner tucked under the bottle of Metamucil to keep it from slipping off the hotel desk, read:
"To whom it may concern: I have decided to end my life and no one is responsible for my death. Mary Anderson.
"P.S. I have no relatives. You can use my body as you choose."
Labels: suicide
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Suicide exposes squalor in Texas prison - A.P.
After months alone in his cell, Scot Noble Payne finished 20 pages of letters, describing to loved ones the decrepit conditions of the prison where he was serving time for molesting a child. Then Payne used a razor blade to slice two 3-inch gashes in his throat. Guards found his body in the cell's shower, with the water still running.
"Try to comfort my mum too and try to get her to see that I am truly happy again," he wrote his uncle. "I tell you, it sure beats having water on the floor 24/7, a smelly pillow case, sheets with blood stains on them and a stinky towel that hasn't been changed since they caught me."
...
Elsewhere in Texas, a female inmate's family sued [prison operator] GEO in 2006 after she committed suicide at the Val Verde County Jail near the Mexican border. LeTisha Tapia alleged she was raped by another inmate and sexually humiliated by a GEO guard after reporting to the warden that guards allowed male and female inmates to have sex. ...
After months alone in his cell, Scot Noble Payne finished 20 pages of letters, describing to loved ones the decrepit conditions of the prison where he was serving time for molesting a child. Then Payne used a razor blade to slice two 3-inch gashes in his throat. Guards found his body in the cell's shower, with the water still running.
"Try to comfort my mum too and try to get her to see that I am truly happy again," he wrote his uncle. "I tell you, it sure beats having water on the floor 24/7, a smelly pillow case, sheets with blood stains on them and a stinky towel that hasn't been changed since they caught me."
...
Elsewhere in Texas, a female inmate's family sued [prison operator] GEO in 2006 after she committed suicide at the Val Verde County Jail near the Mexican border. LeTisha Tapia alleged she was raped by another inmate and sexually humiliated by a GEO guard after reporting to the warden that guards allowed male and female inmates to have sex. ...
Labels: suicide
Friday, July 06, 2007
The Wages of Hate - Newsweek
David Ritcheson was brutally beaten and sexually assaulted in 2006. This spring, he testified before Congress in favor of stiffer hate-crimes laws, and seemed to be putting his life back together. He didn't quite make it. David's story.
...
Then Tuck and his sidekick, Keith Robert Turner, spent the next several hours beating and torturing Ritcheson while shouting “White power!” according to court testimony. They stripped him, burned his skin with cigarettes, poured bleach on his wounds, rammed the end of a patio umbrella into his anus and kicked it with steel-toed boots deep enough to rupture his internal organs, according to witness testimony. They started to carve a swastika in his chest, but some of the onlookers thought that was going too far. Ritcheson told members of Congress that God had spared him the memory of what happened that night, but “today I still bear that scar on my chest like a scarlet letter.” Tuck and Turner, who pleaded not guilty, were convicted of aggravated sexual assault; Tuck received a life sentence, while Turner received a 90-year sentence.
...
Yet Ritcheson did seem to be slowly mending himself. Though he refused counseling, his family and friends didn’t insist on it because he appeared to be recovering so well, both physically and mentally, says Leon, the family attorney, who grew close to Ritcheson in the last year. “David was very upbeat, in spite of everything that happened to him,” says Leon. “He was a very caring guy, and he wanted everyone around him to think that he was happy.”
...
Though he hated people associating him with the violence unleashed on him and “he didn’t want anyone feeling sorry for him,” says Leon, he chose to make such a public appearance because of his commitment to strengthening state and federal hate-crime laws. His own case was never tried as a hate crime, since it didn’t fit the federal statutes and under Texas criminal law, first-degree felonies are exempt from hate-crimes provisions. ...
David Ritcheson was brutally beaten and sexually assaulted in 2006. This spring, he testified before Congress in favor of stiffer hate-crimes laws, and seemed to be putting his life back together. He didn't quite make it. David's story.
...
Then Tuck and his sidekick, Keith Robert Turner, spent the next several hours beating and torturing Ritcheson while shouting “White power!” according to court testimony. They stripped him, burned his skin with cigarettes, poured bleach on his wounds, rammed the end of a patio umbrella into his anus and kicked it with steel-toed boots deep enough to rupture his internal organs, according to witness testimony. They started to carve a swastika in his chest, but some of the onlookers thought that was going too far. Ritcheson told members of Congress that God had spared him the memory of what happened that night, but “today I still bear that scar on my chest like a scarlet letter.” Tuck and Turner, who pleaded not guilty, were convicted of aggravated sexual assault; Tuck received a life sentence, while Turner received a 90-year sentence.
...
Yet Ritcheson did seem to be slowly mending himself. Though he refused counseling, his family and friends didn’t insist on it because he appeared to be recovering so well, both physically and mentally, says Leon, the family attorney, who grew close to Ritcheson in the last year. “David was very upbeat, in spite of everything that happened to him,” says Leon. “He was a very caring guy, and he wanted everyone around him to think that he was happy.”
...
Though he hated people associating him with the violence unleashed on him and “he didn’t want anyone feeling sorry for him,” says Leon, he chose to make such a public appearance because of his commitment to strengthening state and federal hate-crime laws. His own case was never tried as a hate crime, since it didn’t fit the federal statutes and under Texas criminal law, first-degree felonies are exempt from hate-crimes provisions. ...
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Chris Benoit's World - Newsweek
What made the professional wrestler snap? Authorities search for clues into the murders of his wife and child and Benoit's grisly suicide.
By all appearances, professional wrestler Chris Benoit and his 7-year-old son, Daniel, shared a loving bond. The boy’s room in Fayetteville, Ga., was filled with posters and action figures of his father ...
Authorities believe Benoit, 40, strangled his son and his wife, Nancy, before committing suicide at the family’s new 7,500-square-foot home in a tony neighborhood south of Atlanta. All the more disturbing: police say the killings appear to have been drawn out over the course of the weekend—first Nancy, sometime Friday night, then Daniel on Saturday, and finally Benoit himself in the wee hours on Sunday. ...
What made the professional wrestler snap? Authorities search for clues into the murders of his wife and child and Benoit's grisly suicide.
By all appearances, professional wrestler Chris Benoit and his 7-year-old son, Daniel, shared a loving bond. The boy’s room in Fayetteville, Ga., was filled with posters and action figures of his father ...
Authorities believe Benoit, 40, strangled his son and his wife, Nancy, before committing suicide at the family’s new 7,500-square-foot home in a tony neighborhood south of Atlanta. All the more disturbing: police say the killings appear to have been drawn out over the course of the weekend—first Nancy, sometime Friday night, then Daniel on Saturday, and finally Benoit himself in the wee hours on Sunday. ...
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
Survivor of hate-crime attack jumps from cruise ship, dies - International Herald Tribune
A teenager who survived a brutal pipe beating and later testified before the U.S. Congress in support of a hate crimes bill died after jumping from a cruise ship into the Gulf of Mexico, his father said Monday.
...
Ritcheson, a Mexican-American, was beaten unconscious and sodomized with a plastic pole by two men shouting "White Power!" during a drug-fueled party in April 2006. He was hospitalized for more than three months and endured more than 20 painful surgeries in the months following the attack. ...
A teenager who survived a brutal pipe beating and later testified before the U.S. Congress in support of a hate crimes bill died after jumping from a cruise ship into the Gulf of Mexico, his father said Monday.
...
Ritcheson, a Mexican-American, was beaten unconscious and sodomized with a plastic pole by two men shouting "White Power!" during a drug-fueled party in April 2006. He was hospitalized for more than three months and endured more than 20 painful surgeries in the months following the attack. ...
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Suicide Sparks Poison Scare - Der Spiegel
A 48-year-old man has killed himself by spreading a powerful communist-era pesticide in his flat and breathing in the fumes. However he may unwittingly have poisoned his neighbors and several emergency workers too.
...
The 48-year-old man used an old granulated phospate-based pesticide, manufactured in East Germany during the communist era for forestry purposes, to kill himself in his flat in a multi-story apartment block in the eastern town of Marienberg.
A 48-year-old man has killed himself by spreading a powerful communist-era pesticide in his flat and breathing in the fumes. However he may unwittingly have poisoned his neighbors and several emergency workers too.
...
The 48-year-old man used an old granulated phospate-based pesticide, manufactured in East Germany during the communist era for forestry purposes, to kill himself in his flat in a multi-story apartment block in the eastern town of Marienberg.
Labels: suicide
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Rural China's suicide problem - BBC News
China has one of the highest rates of female suicide in the world. And the problem is most acute in poor rural areas.
In his small home, deep in the poor mountainous north of China, Sun Jiangbao slowly lifts himself from his bed into his wheelchair. A recent mining accident left him paralysed from the waist down.
That alone would be hard enough to live with. But just a few years before the accident his wife killed herself by drinking poison after they got into an argument.
Now every day is a struggle to survive. The only person left to care for him is his 60-year-old mother.
"I never believed my wife would kill herself," Mr Sun said. "I'm paralysed and I can't do anything, not even look after my own 12-year-old son."
Mr Sun and his wife had no money, so he went to the city to find work. That pushed their relationship to breaking point.
His story is a common one in rural China. ...
China has one of the highest rates of female suicide in the world. And the problem is most acute in poor rural areas.
In his small home, deep in the poor mountainous north of China, Sun Jiangbao slowly lifts himself from his bed into his wheelchair. A recent mining accident left him paralysed from the waist down.
That alone would be hard enough to live with. But just a few years before the accident his wife killed herself by drinking poison after they got into an argument.
Now every day is a struggle to survive. The only person left to care for him is his 60-year-old mother.
"I never believed my wife would kill herself," Mr Sun said. "I'm paralysed and I can't do anything, not even look after my own 12-year-old son."
Mr Sun and his wife had no money, so he went to the city to find work. That pushed their relationship to breaking point.
His story is a common one in rural China. ...
Labels: suicide
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Laws Limit Options When a Student Is Mentally Ill - N.Y. Times
... Universities can find themselves in a double bind. On the one hand, they may be liable if they fail to prevent a suicide or murder. After the death in 2000 of Elizabeth H. Shin, a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who had written several suicide notes and used the university counseling service before setting herself on fire, the Massachusetts Superior Court allowed her parents, who had not been told of her deterioration, to sue administrators for $27.7 million. The case was settled for an undisclosed amount.
On the other hand, universities may be held liable if they do take action to remove a potentially suicidal student. In August, the City University of New York agreed to pay $65,000 to a student who sued after being barred from her dormitory room at Hunter College because she was hospitalized after a suicide attempt.
Also last year, George Washington University reached a confidential settlement in a case charging that it had violated antidiscrimination laws by suspending Jordan Nott, a student who had sought hospitalization for depression. ...
... Universities can find themselves in a double bind. On the one hand, they may be liable if they fail to prevent a suicide or murder. After the death in 2000 of Elizabeth H. Shin, a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who had written several suicide notes and used the university counseling service before setting herself on fire, the Massachusetts Superior Court allowed her parents, who had not been told of her deterioration, to sue administrators for $27.7 million. The case was settled for an undisclosed amount.
On the other hand, universities may be held liable if they do take action to remove a potentially suicidal student. In August, the City University of New York agreed to pay $65,000 to a student who sued after being barred from her dormitory room at Hunter College because she was hospitalized after a suicide attempt.
Also last year, George Washington University reached a confidential settlement in a case charging that it had violated antidiscrimination laws by suspending Jordan Nott, a student who had sought hospitalization for depression. ...
Labels: mental illness, suicide
Monday, April 02, 2007
Two people shot at UW - Seattle P-I
A woman shot to death on the University of Washington campus Monday morning had lived in mortal fear for weeks about a man who was stalking her, her friends and co-workers said.
Her attacker killed himself after killing the woman, police said. The woman... had recently taken out a court order against her ex-boyfriend who would ultimately shoot her to death.
Jonathan Rowan, 41, had repeatedly threatened her. On March 7 -- a day after Griego sought court protection from him -- and again on March 14, he called her at work and threatend to kill her...
Griego had, at times, worked from home because she was afraid to come to work. She also had considered riding her bike to work so she could vary her route ...
Griego had changed her telephone numbers, moved a couple of times and e-mailed to co-workers in the UW's real estate program a description and photograph of her stalker ...
She described him as a suicidal alcoholic who had tackled and punched her when they lived together.
"I forgave him because he was drunk, but now I see that was wrong, and he has threatened to hurt me again."
She said he had also threatened her dog and her family. ...
A woman shot to death on the University of Washington campus Monday morning had lived in mortal fear for weeks about a man who was stalking her, her friends and co-workers said.
Her attacker killed himself after killing the woman, police said. The woman... had recently taken out a court order against her ex-boyfriend who would ultimately shoot her to death.
Jonathan Rowan, 41, had repeatedly threatened her. On March 7 -- a day after Griego sought court protection from him -- and again on March 14, he called her at work and threatend to kill her...
Griego had, at times, worked from home because she was afraid to come to work. She also had considered riding her bike to work so she could vary her route ...
Griego had changed her telephone numbers, moved a couple of times and e-mailed to co-workers in the UW's real estate program a description and photograph of her stalker ...
She described him as a suicidal alcoholic who had tackled and punched her when they lived together.
"I forgave him because he was drunk, but now I see that was wrong, and he has threatened to hurt me again."
She said he had also threatened her dog and her family. ...
Labels: attachment, murder, suicide
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Guest workers' Gulf Coast dream unmet - L.A. Times
Mexican and Indians say housing and pay for post-Katrina labor was not as billed, but employers cite a lack of skills.
When Sabulal Vijayan saw the advertisement in a newspaper in his native state of Kerala in southwestern India, he thought he had found the solution to his family's financial problems. The ad offered laborers job opportunities in the U.S. Gulf Coast region after Hurricane Katrina under a guest worker program. Vijayan said the ads... promised welders and pipe fitters a 10-month work visa, followed by permanent U.S. residency. ... So he used his life savings and money borrowed from relatives to pay $15,000 to people who identified themselves as Signal's recruiters. ... But when Vijayan arrived in Pascagoula, Miss., in December, his living quarters were cramped bunk houses where two dozen laborers shared two bathrooms. Then the company cut the workers' wages from $1,850 a week to $1,350 or $950, depending on the position, Vijayan said. When he and other workers complained, they were fired without notice. ..."I cannot go back to India because I cannot pay my debt," Vijayan said ... He was so distraught that he recently slashed his wrist in a suicide attempt. His left arm is still bandaged. ...
Mexican and Indians say housing and pay for post-Katrina labor was not as billed, but employers cite a lack of skills.
When Sabulal Vijayan saw the advertisement in a newspaper in his native state of Kerala in southwestern India, he thought he had found the solution to his family's financial problems. The ad offered laborers job opportunities in the U.S. Gulf Coast region after Hurricane Katrina under a guest worker program. Vijayan said the ads... promised welders and pipe fitters a 10-month work visa, followed by permanent U.S. residency. ... So he used his life savings and money borrowed from relatives to pay $15,000 to people who identified themselves as Signal's recruiters. ... But when Vijayan arrived in Pascagoula, Miss., in December, his living quarters were cramped bunk houses where two dozen laborers shared two bathrooms. Then the company cut the workers' wages from $1,850 a week to $1,350 or $950, depending on the position, Vijayan said. When he and other workers complained, they were fired without notice. ..."I cannot go back to India because I cannot pay my debt," Vijayan said ... He was so distraught that he recently slashed his wrist in a suicide attempt. His left arm is still bandaged. ...
Saturday, March 17, 2007
Pain of Afghan suicide women - BBC News
Gulsoom is 17-years-old and married. Last year she tried to commit suicide - she failed.
She set fire to herself but, against the odds, survived with appalling injuries.
Her plight reflects that of a growing number of young Afghan women, campaigners say.
Driven to desperation by forced marriages and abusive husbands, more and more are seeking release through self-immolation.
Gulsoom was engaged at the age of 12. Three years later her family married her to a man aged 40 who she says was addicted to drugs. ...
Gulsoom is 17-years-old and married. Last year she tried to commit suicide - she failed.
She set fire to herself but, against the odds, survived with appalling injuries.
Her plight reflects that of a growing number of young Afghan women, campaigners say.
Driven to desperation by forced marriages and abusive husbands, more and more are seeking release through self-immolation.
Gulsoom was engaged at the age of 12. Three years later her family married her to a man aged 40 who she says was addicted to drugs. ...
Labels: suicide
Friday, March 16, 2007
Indian brides pay a high price - International Herald Tribune
Once the wedding guests were all assembled, the father of the bride brought out a large metal tray on which he had piled up 51,000 rupees (in notes of 10 and 50 rupees, to make the heap look larger) and handed it to the groom.
A new television and sofa were conspicuously displayed in the same room, so that every member of the party could see what was being offered from the bride's family to the groom as a dowry. ...
Unfortunately for Kamlesh, the 18-year-old bride, who uses only one name, the payment from her father, Misrilal, was insufficient. Her new husband had expected a scooter; his parents had wanted more than the 51,000 rupees - about $1,100 - that they got. During three years of marriage, the requests for an extended dowry settlement began to be accompanied by worsening bouts of violence - until in August, he beat her over the head with a wooden stick, tied her up and locked her in the cow shed as she bled profusely.
Violent dowry harassment is an increasingly visible phenomenon in India.
...
The burden both of dowry payments and lavish weddings is one of the main reasons why female feticide - the practice of aborting female fetuses - remains widespread in India. Earlier this year a report in The Lancet, a British medical journal, indicated that as many as 10 million female fetuses may have been aborted in India over the past 20 years by families trying to avoid the expense of having a daughter and hoping to secure themselves a male heir.
...
Kusum Hardina ... set fire to herself a few weeks ago because she felt so desperate at the constant pressure from her in-laws to extract a higher dowry payment from her family.
On Sept. 22, she fought with her mother-in-law and brother-in-law over the dowry and then in a fit of anger poured kerosene over herself and set it alight. As she lay dying in hospital, she gave a statement to the police saying she had done it because she was being harassed for a dowry ...
Once the wedding guests were all assembled, the father of the bride brought out a large metal tray on which he had piled up 51,000 rupees (in notes of 10 and 50 rupees, to make the heap look larger) and handed it to the groom.
A new television and sofa were conspicuously displayed in the same room, so that every member of the party could see what was being offered from the bride's family to the groom as a dowry. ...
Unfortunately for Kamlesh, the 18-year-old bride, who uses only one name, the payment from her father, Misrilal, was insufficient. Her new husband had expected a scooter; his parents had wanted more than the 51,000 rupees - about $1,100 - that they got. During three years of marriage, the requests for an extended dowry settlement began to be accompanied by worsening bouts of violence - until in August, he beat her over the head with a wooden stick, tied her up and locked her in the cow shed as she bled profusely.
Violent dowry harassment is an increasingly visible phenomenon in India.
...
The burden both of dowry payments and lavish weddings is one of the main reasons why female feticide - the practice of aborting female fetuses - remains widespread in India. Earlier this year a report in The Lancet, a British medical journal, indicated that as many as 10 million female fetuses may have been aborted in India over the past 20 years by families trying to avoid the expense of having a daughter and hoping to secure themselves a male heir.
...
Kusum Hardina ... set fire to herself a few weeks ago because she felt so desperate at the constant pressure from her in-laws to extract a higher dowry payment from her family.
On Sept. 22, she fought with her mother-in-law and brother-in-law over the dowry and then in a fit of anger poured kerosene over herself and set it alight. As she lay dying in hospital, she gave a statement to the police saying she had done it because she was being harassed for a dowry ...
Labels: anger, attachment, murder, suicide
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Man pulls girlfriend into elevator, sets off bomb - A.P.
A man pulled his estranged girlfriend into an elevator in the office building where she worked and set off a homemade bomb, killing them both ...
...
[The woman's young son] was left outside the elevator and survived
...
Court records showed a restraining order was issued against Echavarria on Jan. 8 after Robles alleged he kidnapped her at knifepoint. She had the restraining order lifted on Jan. 16. ...
A man pulled his estranged girlfriend into an elevator in the office building where she worked and set off a homemade bomb, killing them both ...
...
[The woman's young son] was left outside the elevator and survived
...
Court records showed a restraining order was issued against Echavarria on Jan. 8 after Robles alleged he kidnapped her at knifepoint. She had the restraining order lifted on Jan. 16. ...
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Richard Jeni's family speaks out - Monsters & Critics
[Comedian] Jeni was found in a West Hollywood home on Saturday, March 10, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the face, and sadly died later that morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Jeni's family released the following statement to "Extra" about his death:
... "The truth is: earlier this year Richard Jeni was diagnosed with severe clinical depression coupled with bouts of psychotic paranoia. One only needs to have a family member or friend with a mental illness to understand that there is nothing rational, predictable, or fair about these diseases. Mental illness is as serious as any physical affliction and can be just as devastating.
"He was not down or blue, he was ill. If you knew Richard, you could understand, this was as much a shock to those close to him, as it is to his fans and colleagues. Perhaps Richard's passing will encourage people to have sympathy, compassion and understanding for those who are afflicted with mental illness. As we are all trying to make sense of this, take time to remember the joy and laughter Richard brought to the countless people he touched during his much too short life."
[Comedian] Jeni was found in a West Hollywood home on Saturday, March 10, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the face, and sadly died later that morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Jeni's family released the following statement to "Extra" about his death:
... "The truth is: earlier this year Richard Jeni was diagnosed with severe clinical depression coupled with bouts of psychotic paranoia. One only needs to have a family member or friend with a mental illness to understand that there is nothing rational, predictable, or fair about these diseases. Mental illness is as serious as any physical affliction and can be just as devastating.
"He was not down or blue, he was ill. If you knew Richard, you could understand, this was as much a shock to those close to him, as it is to his fans and colleagues. Perhaps Richard's passing will encourage people to have sympathy, compassion and understanding for those who are afflicted with mental illness. As we are all trying to make sense of this, take time to remember the joy and laughter Richard brought to the countless people he touched during his much too short life."
Labels: mental illness, suicide
Friday, March 09, 2007
Woman survives jump off Aurora Bridge - Seattle P-I
A woman jumped off the Aurora Bridge on Friday morning and survived, a Seattle police spokesman said.
Officers received the call at 7:46 a.m. and the department's harbor patrol responded, said police spokesman Sean Whitcomb.
He said the harbor patrol's quick response time contributed to the woman receiving medical help.
The woman is believed to be in her 20s or 30s. ...
A woman jumped off the Aurora Bridge on Friday morning and survived, a Seattle police spokesman said.
Officers received the call at 7:46 a.m. and the department's harbor patrol responded, said police spokesman Sean Whitcomb.
He said the harbor patrol's quick response time contributed to the woman receiving medical help.
The woman is believed to be in her 20s or 30s. ...
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Needless goodbye: A young widow wants you to know about suicide prevention - Seattle Times
Ten years after my husband killed himself, I still remember certain moments from his last days that make me ache for another chance.
Like many suicide survivors, I struggle with feelings of guilt. I also have a growing understanding for what people can do to prevent suicide — warning signs we should know and steps we can take to help someone through a suicidal crisis. I learned these things too late, largely because the stigma surrounding suicide prevents us from talking about it. I'm sharing the story of Stu's death, along with advice from experts, as a way of breaching that silence. I want you to know more about suicide than I did before my husband died. ...
[includes a sidebar with useful tips]
Ten years after my husband killed himself, I still remember certain moments from his last days that make me ache for another chance.
Like many suicide survivors, I struggle with feelings of guilt. I also have a growing understanding for what people can do to prevent suicide — warning signs we should know and steps we can take to help someone through a suicidal crisis. I learned these things too late, largely because the stigma surrounding suicide prevents us from talking about it. I'm sharing the story of Stu's death, along with advice from experts, as a way of breaching that silence. I want you to know more about suicide than I did before my husband died. ...
[includes a sidebar with useful tips]
Labels: suicide
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Japan pupil in 'suicide warning' - BBC News
Japan's education ministry has published a letter purportedly from a school pupil threatening suicide on Saturday if he continues to be bullied.
...
"This is a matter of life and death," [said a cabinet secretary]. "We want him (the pupil) to treat as precious the life received from his parents and ancestors."
... the pupil - who is believed to be a boy - complains that he is been bullied and those responsible have not been punished.
"I am writing this letter because living is painful," the letter said.
"If nothing has changed by Wednesday, 8 November, I will commit suicide."
...
In a note to the bullies the boy asks why they are picking on him. Another note addressed to a teacher asks why they will not help him.
...
Bullying is a real problem in Japan. Three bullied teenagers have taken their own lives in Japan since August.
Japan's education ministry has published a letter purportedly from a school pupil threatening suicide on Saturday if he continues to be bullied.
...
"This is a matter of life and death," [said a cabinet secretary]. "We want him (the pupil) to treat as precious the life received from his parents and ancestors."
... the pupil - who is believed to be a boy - complains that he is been bullied and those responsible have not been punished.
"I am writing this letter because living is painful," the letter said.
"If nothing has changed by Wednesday, 8 November, I will commit suicide."
...
In a note to the bullies the boy asks why they are picking on him. Another note addressed to a teacher asks why they will not help him.
...
Bullying is a real problem in Japan. Three bullied teenagers have taken their own lives in Japan since August.
Labels: mental illness, suicide
Friday, October 06, 2006
City hopes to dissuade suicidal jumpers - Seattle P-I
Crisis information signs, call boxes will be installed along Aurora Bridge
About four times a year, they see it when they pull in to work -- a portion of the parking lot closed, an area yellow-taped. Emergency trucks idle, lights flashing. Sometimes, a tarp covers a small mound. The paramedics' lack of haste says volumes.
...
For Person and other people who live and work under the Aurora and the Interstate 5 Ship Canal bridges, theirs is a deeply personal and instantaneously detached view of suicide. By virtue of geography, they bear witness to the landing zone of strangers who jump.
This year, seven people have stepped off the Aurora Bridge and into memory. The most recent: A 20-year-old man wearing a gray sweat shirt, maroon sweat pants and black shoes climbed one way over the 4-foot-high rail in September. His body went unidentified for more than a week, prompting the King County Medical Examiner's Office to make a rare public plea for information. He left no note.
Some bodies hit the water. Many don't, landing in the Adobe parking lot or in neighborhoods. A crew team witnessed a jump just 50 feet away. A falling body struck an SUV earlier this year while the driver was inside, heading home from work. The body struck the passenger side, above the door. The driver wasn't hurt.
"But someone might be," Person said. "If (the body) had hit the roof of his car, he might not be walking around today."
Parking lots have been painted to remove stains and memorials. In the Adobe lot, workers partially blacked out a memorial to a 15-year girl who jumped in May. It still faintly reads: "We (heart) U."
One man moved his small business away from inside a houseboat under the bridge after seeing the aftermath of one jumper too many.
"You don't want to deal with it anymore," said the man, who like some neighborhood residents feels conflicted between sympathy and anger and asked to not be identified. "We were concerned -- for our safety, too. I don't want to sound unsympathetic, but it gets to you."
...
[Assistant Police Chief Nicholas] Metz, a former hostage negotiator who has talked two jumpers down from the Space Needle, wondered if the issue moved to the forefront because there are more witnesses now than ever before.
Added one longtime under-Aurora dweller: "They are not lethal before they jump. Then they are, after, to themselves and to us. I'm not sure they realize that."
...
She told the story of a co-worker who saw something one morning in the parking lot. He moved toward it, thinking first it was junk, then a pile of carpet, then when he got closer, a dog.
Only when he walked right up did he see a face.
Crisis information signs, call boxes will be installed along Aurora Bridge
About four times a year, they see it when they pull in to work -- a portion of the parking lot closed, an area yellow-taped. Emergency trucks idle, lights flashing. Sometimes, a tarp covers a small mound. The paramedics' lack of haste says volumes.
...
For Person and other people who live and work under the Aurora and the Interstate 5 Ship Canal bridges, theirs is a deeply personal and instantaneously detached view of suicide. By virtue of geography, they bear witness to the landing zone of strangers who jump.
This year, seven people have stepped off the Aurora Bridge and into memory. The most recent: A 20-year-old man wearing a gray sweat shirt, maroon sweat pants and black shoes climbed one way over the 4-foot-high rail in September. His body went unidentified for more than a week, prompting the King County Medical Examiner's Office to make a rare public plea for information. He left no note.
Some bodies hit the water. Many don't, landing in the Adobe parking lot or in neighborhoods. A crew team witnessed a jump just 50 feet away. A falling body struck an SUV earlier this year while the driver was inside, heading home from work. The body struck the passenger side, above the door. The driver wasn't hurt.
"But someone might be," Person said. "If (the body) had hit the roof of his car, he might not be walking around today."
Parking lots have been painted to remove stains and memorials. In the Adobe lot, workers partially blacked out a memorial to a 15-year girl who jumped in May. It still faintly reads: "We (heart) U."
One man moved his small business away from inside a houseboat under the bridge after seeing the aftermath of one jumper too many.
"You don't want to deal with it anymore," said the man, who like some neighborhood residents feels conflicted between sympathy and anger and asked to not be identified. "We were concerned -- for our safety, too. I don't want to sound unsympathetic, but it gets to you."
...
[Assistant Police Chief Nicholas] Metz, a former hostage negotiator who has talked two jumpers down from the Space Needle, wondered if the issue moved to the forefront because there are more witnesses now than ever before.
Added one longtime under-Aurora dweller: "They are not lethal before they jump. Then they are, after, to themselves and to us. I'm not sure they realize that."
...
She told the story of a co-worker who saw something one morning in the parking lot. He moved toward it, thinking first it was junk, then a pile of carpet, then when he got closer, a dog.
Only when he walked right up did he see a face.
Labels: suicide
Tuesday, April 06, 2004
Torment of rock hero Cobain - BBC News
Cobain was a complex individual, dogged by self-hatred and debilitated by acute stomach ulcers for much of his short adult life.
"Since the age of seven, I've become hateful towards all humans in general," he wrote in his suicide note.
...
His early childhood was difficult, and at the age of four he was prescribed Ritalin for hyperactivity.
Aged nine, his mechanic father Donald and mother Wendy divorced, and Kurt went to live with his father in a trailer park.
He spent time being moved between his father, grandparents and aunts and uncles, becoming depressed and withdrawn.
He said later: "I remember feeling ashamed all the time. I desperately wanted to have the classic, you know, typical family."
...
But there were sinister portents of what was to come - in his 15th year, he made a short Super 8mm film called Kurt Commits Bloody Suicide in which he pretended to cut his wrists and writhed around in blood. "I'm going to be a super star musician, kill myself and go out in a flame of glory," he told a school friend.
...
But their sudden success and its spoils only increased Cobain's deep-seated anxieties and his sense of inner conflict. ...
At the same time, his excruciating physical pain had led to a spiralling heroin addiction.
...
In the end, though, no-one could save him from himself.
On 1 April 1994, he left a rehab centre in California and was later reported missing. A week later, electrician Gary Smith called at his cottage overlooking Lake Washington to carry out some work, and found Cobain's body on the floor with a shotgun next to it.
Police said he had apparently barricaded himself into a granny flat behind the property, put a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. ...
Cobain was a complex individual, dogged by self-hatred and debilitated by acute stomach ulcers for much of his short adult life.
"Since the age of seven, I've become hateful towards all humans in general," he wrote in his suicide note.
...
His early childhood was difficult, and at the age of four he was prescribed Ritalin for hyperactivity.
Aged nine, his mechanic father Donald and mother Wendy divorced, and Kurt went to live with his father in a trailer park.
He spent time being moved between his father, grandparents and aunts and uncles, becoming depressed and withdrawn.
He said later: "I remember feeling ashamed all the time. I desperately wanted to have the classic, you know, typical family."
...
But there were sinister portents of what was to come - in his 15th year, he made a short Super 8mm film called Kurt Commits Bloody Suicide in which he pretended to cut his wrists and writhed around in blood. "I'm going to be a super star musician, kill myself and go out in a flame of glory," he told a school friend.
...
But their sudden success and its spoils only increased Cobain's deep-seated anxieties and his sense of inner conflict. ...
At the same time, his excruciating physical pain had led to a spiralling heroin addiction.
...
In the end, though, no-one could save him from himself.
On 1 April 1994, he left a rehab centre in California and was later reported missing. A week later, electrician Gary Smith called at his cottage overlooking Lake Washington to carry out some work, and found Cobain's body on the floor with a shotgun next to it.
Police said he had apparently barricaded himself into a granny flat behind the property, put a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger. ...
Labels: anger, suffering, suicide
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