Mayor Kills Daughter

[JessicaR]

Hmmm the additional info is odd. Wonder what else will be discolsed.

 

[missypie]

Okay...here's my amateur detective theory: That the D got into TCU, but they couldn't afford to pay the tuition, so she started telling her friends she had been accepted to UT...but then she also started talking about her mother's health problems...so then when she didn't go to UT, she could blame it on her mother's health. (I bet the D didn't think that suicide was the way out of her lies, however.) In reality, there is a perfectly acceptable nearby community college that she could have attended for very little money while living at home.

And as for the financial issues - c'mon, it's 2010 - don't we all know perfectly wonderful people who have had severe financial issues in the last few years?

It's just so sad when people don't have objective third parties in their lives that they trust enough to talk to about their problems.

 

[dturner]

This story still boggles my mind.

IF they were having financial troubles, first thing I would do is sell that house. They could of lived in a smaller, less expensive home just as nice. If they couldn't afford college, there are many grants and loans you can get to attend or as someone else said - go to community college for a couple of years then transfer to a major university. There are just so many different other options. Doesn 't make any sense to end two lives over something that could be fixed.

 

[NotUrsula]

IF they were having financial troubles, first thing I would do is sell that house. They could of lived in a smaller, less expensive home just as nice. If they couldn't afford college, there are many grants and loans you can get to attend or as someone else said - go to community college for a couple of years then transfer to a major university. There are just so many different other options. Doesn 't make any sense to end two lives over something that could be fixed.

None of which solves the issue of the embarrassment of a public figure who is about to go to jail for embezzlement. Her financial situation fell apart after her husband died and she could not make enough to hold it together, so she panicked and stole it. Never underestimate the pain of humiliation as a motive for suicide. (And if you are so terrified of humiliation that you would kill yourself to avoid it, then you are probably also far gone enough to mercy-kill a family member to spare them the humiliation, too.)

 

[missypie]

None of which solves the issue of the embarrassment of a public figure who is about to go to jail for embezzlement. Her financial situation fell apart after her husband died and she could not make enough to hold it together, so she panicked and stole it. Never underestimate the pain of humiliation as a motive for suicide. (And if you are so terrified of humiliation that you would kill yourself to avoid it, then you are probably also far gone enough to mercy-kill a family member to spare them the humiliation, too.)

But it sounds like the credit card use/abuse was on a pretty small scale and it wouldn't be surprising if the city had let her pay back what she misspent on, resign for personal reasons and left it at that. Small time causasian female first offenders from nice suburbs don't typically do prison time.

From the reports in the paper, sounds like she had about $200,000 equity in her house. If she had sold for even below market, it would have left her with enough to buy a small condo or - heaven forbid - live in an apartment.

Again, there had to have been a sense of internal desperation that most of us can't understand.

 

[NotUrsula]

Of course, but I bet that she thought that she was facing jail time.

I've searched around to try to find out what the husband did, but none of the stories mention it. Her own occupation is being listed as part-time software developer. All of her social involvements are listed, however; this was a "lady who lunched." A REALLY social creature that volunteered for every activity that came down the pike, and who was really heavily invested in her daughter's activities, too. Someone like that doesn't easily survive the kind of ostracism that happens if you are forced to leave office because you are a thief. For this type of personality, public admiration is like heroin -- once you're hooked you'll do anything to avoid losing it.

Unless her husband was the CEO of a company or something like that, I'm thinking that she had probably been living in a carefully-balanced house of cards since well before he died; heck, perhaps they both were. There is a fair chance that there are still a lot of his medical bills outstanding, too; she might not have realized a dime if she sold the house. Since none of the stories seem to mention his career, it seems doubtful that he was any kind of big wheel, but they apparently lived as though they had a lot of money.

 

[missypie]

NotUrsula, I don't remember where you're from, but I'd agree that her town has its share of ladies who lunch. I'm not trashing it - mine does, too. There are a couple of moms that I only see in classy tennis attire, no matter the day or time.

I just wish she'd given her daughter the choice of living: "Honey, I'm in bad trouble and there isn't any money so I'm going to kill myself. Do you want to go with me, or do you want to scrape by, maybe working two jobs, going to community college if you're lucky?"

Pretty sure the daughter would have chosen the latter alternative.

 

[NotUrsula]

Oh, I agree with you, it would have been good if she had, and I wish that her daughter had been given the chance to survive, but given what we know about the mother, it doesn't look to me like it was a realistic thing to expect her to have done under the circumstances.

Also, just to be clear, I don't have anything against ladies who lunch, as long as they are not living in debt over their eyeballs to finance the lifestyle.

 

[LuvLDM]

Very sad, strange story. I suspect more details will emerge and it will get even stranger.

 

[missypie]

One newspaper story said that when the father died of cancer in 2008, he left no life insurance. Who knows what kind of medical bills they were left with.

Delivering the sermon at Friday’s joint funeral, Wilkinson [their pastor] said Jayne Peters sought to hide the family’s financial straits from her daughter following the death of her husband, Don, in 2008 after a bout with cancer.

"When he died, they were left with no other resources," he said. "She wanted to protect her daughter from knowing about her financial problems and thinking badly of her father."

Parents, if you don't have life insurance, buy some while you're healthy.

 

[Imzadi]

There is a fair chance that there are still a lot of his medical bills outstanding, too; she might not have realized a dime if she sold the house.

Probably his medical expenses wiped out all their savings and the daughter's tuition.

 

[missypie]

But it still leaves the question of why some people feel that suicide is the only way out and others hobble along. For heavens sake, Bernie Madoff didn't kill himself and it doesn't look like he has anything promising in his future. I haven't heard of mass suicides in Haiti or the Sudan or other places where life is just horrible with little chance of improvement; yet this mom does, and takes someone with her. I personally think it has to do with brain chemistry, but I have zero experience in neuroscience.

Also interesting that the rest of the world seems to file bankruptcy at the drop of a hat..she could have dealt with the medical bills that way. But I guess being mayor probably made her feel that wasn't an option.