Where else is this happening? Crook County couple commit suicide because of home foreclosure.

[Radio_Lady]

From Central Oregon:

http://www.ktvz.com/global/story.asp?s=7267005

Crook County couple fear losing home, kill selves

Oct 25, 2007 02:22 PM PDT -- From KTVZ.COM news sources

Four dogs also die as car left running

A Crook County couple killed themselves and their four dogs by leaving the car running in their closed-up home, apparently distraught over a foreclosure notice on their home, authorities said. Sheriff's deputies responded around 1 p.m. Tuesday to a welfare check on Mill Creek Road, northeast of Prineville, and arrived to find someone had used a D-4 Caterpillar tractor to move a steel fifth-wheel frame to block the driveway about 200 yards from the home, said sheriff's Sgt. Travis Jurgens.

Neighbors told deputies they had tried to check on the elderly homeowners earlier and were concerned after they did not answer the door, Jurgens said, adding that there were no signs of the several large dogs they owned.
Deputies walked to the home and detected a strong gas odor outside, then discovered a 1981 Cadillac Eldorado running inside the locked garage, Jurgens said.

Deputies forced the garage door open and looked for any victims of the heavy carbon monoxide fumes, also discovering the door to the three-level home had been propped open with a rock, the sergeant said. Officials turned off the car and opened the garage doors before proceeding to another door outside the home. Deputies breached a locked outside door from a deck on the second floor and found the body of the 71-year-old male resident of the home, along with three dead golden retrievers, Jurgens said.

Elsewhere in the house, they found the body of the man's 69-year-old wife in the upstairs bedroom and another golden retriever at the top of the stairs, he said.

(snipped)

Jurgens said in a news release it's believed the couple "committed suicide after attempts to save their home following a foreclosure notice left them believing they had few options."

***

No words to express how frightened they must have felt; they must have felt there was no way out. These people are around our ages.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. This is the leading edge

this happened duirng the great depresion as well

[Radio_Lady]

3. Wall Street Digest newsletter from Donald Rowe said this today:

See bolded item below:

This is The Wall Street Digest Hotline Update for Friday, October 26, 2007, at 6:00 p.m. EST.

Energy and technology stocks pushed the market higher today. At the close, the Dow jumped almost 135 points, closing at 13,806; the Nasdaq gained 53 points, closing at 2,804. Oil closed up $1.40 to $91.86 per barrel, and gold closed up $16.50 at $787.50 an ounce. Oil set a new record high today on tight inventories and the Turkey/Iraq squabble.

Third quarter California Home Foreclosures soared 166.6 percent year-over-year. Mortgage lenders sent out 72,571 default notices during July, August, and September.

(From free daily newsletter at www.wallstreetdigest.com )

That's just in one state!

[mike_c]

2. this is really sad-- I'm a lifelong renter and I rather enjoy my life...

These folks killed themselves because they feared living like me? :cry:

"...a foreclosure notice left them believing they had few options."

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Foreclosure goes well beyond renting mike

it could be the begining of a mess, which would leave them in abject poverty

[Radio_Lady]

5. Mike_C, we're home owners with a few bucks to spend on medical and travel in retirement.

I saw this headline at dinner tonight and couldn't get it out of my mind. Husband is 73; I'm 68. We just got home from a beautiful Utah and Nevada vacation. We were flying over central Oregon at the time someone was starting that car.

This is really so sad. If we ever get this desperate, I will try like hell to figure out SOME way to live. There are free food banks and help at churches; someone could go out and try to find a way to sell the property or get a roomer. Also, four big dogs take a lot of care and money.

I wonder if this couple had other issues contributing to this -- health or family issues. I can only imagine what they must have been experiencing. They must have been extremely -- extremely desperate.

"There but for the grace of God go I..." If you believe in God, how close are any of us to this?

Thanks for posting.

In peace,

Radio Lady in Portland, Oregon

[aquart]

11. Maybe it was the thought of having to let go of the dogs.

Four dogs in a rental? Not if the landlord spots them.

[Radio_Lady]

16. Wouldn't be surprised that the labyrinth of their thoughts might have included the dogs.

No one can ask them now.

I cannot help but wonder what the family feels now... Guilt? Sympathy? Forgiveness?


RIP, Mr. and Mrs. Donaca.

[angstlessk]

6. No, if they are forclosed renting could become impossible...,

they could become homless. If you rent they check your credit and if they were forclosed on it could cause them to not be able to even rent...

[mike_c]

9. I do understand that that might limit their choices somewhat...

...but I've lived in a number of houses over the years where landlords don't investigate further than the information you give them-- it's certainly possible. I really don't believe that homelessness was their only option. Like Radio_Lady in the post above, I have to wonder whether there were other issues that contributed to this. It's just so sad to think that they might have thought they had no options left. If that is true-- that foreclosure dooms one to homelessness-- then look out because we're about to see an army of displaced folks like nothing we've seen since the dust bowl.

[gateley]

7. I'm just so sorry. It never should have come to this. nt

[Radio_Lady]

8. I wish I knew more about them. They are a little too far from here to get much information.

Maybe the local newspaper will be a background story on these people.

What could their friends, family, or neighbors have done?

It just should not come to this in America.

In peace,

Radio Lady

[Radio_Lady]

10. Here's another view of this difficult story from a reporter on Ch. 21:

Top video at: http://www.ktvz.com/Global/story.asp?S=7268427

Prineville couple's suicide offers tragic lessons

Oct 25, 2007 09:33 PM PDT

Prineville couple's suicide leaves questions (10/25)

Facing foreclosure on their home, an elderly Crook County couple decided to die by carbon monoxide poisoning

By Nina Mehlhaf, KTVZ.COM

People in Prineville are asking themselves why - why did an elderly couple feel they had nowhere else to turn amid financial problems, leading them to commit suicide? Normally, NewsChannel 21 does not report on suicides. But this is a story that those in the mental health profession say we can all learn from.

Crook County sheriff's Sgt. Travis Jurgens and two other deputies found the grisly scene Tuesday at a ranch 13 miles outside of Prineville. The couple, in their seventies, had hauled down a huge metal trailer, blocking their driveway. They had closed all the doors and windows, except for the one leading to the garage.

Leaving their Cadillac running, with carbon monoxide fumes filling the house, the couple died quietly, along with their four dogs.

(snipped)

At the root of this tragic suicide, financial problems. The couple had worked for years clearing and piling brush for the Forest Service. But all that saved up money wasn't enough to keep their ranch from going to foreclosure.

"The property was in their family for a long time," Jurgens said. "They felt they had nowhere else to go, and they felt left with no other option." A friend of the couple, Linda Tribby, said, "I know they were dedicated and loved each other very much." Tribby had hired the husband and wife team years before.

In the last few months, the couple would rarely come into town, and if they did, it was early in the morning.
It's these type of behavioral changes that Crook County Mental Health Director Nancy Tyler says should put up a red flag.

"They're used to making plans, they know how to keep things to themselves," Tyler said. "That's why elderly folks often are at risk for suicide, because younger folks don't know that's something they are contemplating." Both Tyler and police say it's one of the most drastic measures they have seen. But there is a message: Watch out for your family members.

"When somebody's in their 70's and they take that way out," Tribby said, "it was a tragedy and no one know or could help! My God, why didn't somebody know?"

Psychologists recommend watching for any change in behavior or customs, like your family members are sleeping more or less than usual. They also say, unfortunataly, with factors like high gas prices and the housing market the way it is, this sort of tragedy could happen more often.

***

[malaise]

22. This is too sad

:cry: :cry: :cry:

[flashl]

12. There more suicides than murders but we spend $60 bil a year on crime. n/t

[CyberPieHole]

13. Horribly sad story. My heart goes out to them and their loved ones...

When financial worries bring you to the brink of suicide...and then carry you over the threshold. Very sad.

[Radio_Lady]

14. Welcome to the DU! From Santiago, Chile all the way -- to Oregon!

Thanks so much for posting, CyberPieHole (What a unique screen name!).

Warm regards from Radio Lady Ellen in Portland, Oregon USA

[CyberPieHole]

18. Hello Radio_Lady and thank you for the kind greeting.

I love the image on your sigline...is it from a postcard?:hi:

[Radio_Lady]

19. Signature is from some obscure technology site that I can't even remember now.

It came up on an image search for "Radio Lady" years ago.

We've tried to trace it -- in case it's copyrighted, but no luck.

Also, I don't know who the woman is -- it isn't me, of course.

But author Rod C. Davis still has a link to my professional photo and the audio from the show I did with him. If you're curious, it's here -- I think you have to open it in a new window, or else you get only audio and no photo:

http://www.rodcdavis.com/EllenKimball.html

Warmly, RL

PS. Thanks for your comments. :hi:

[Radio_Lady]

15. Poor health did impact on this tragic story -- 10/27 Portland Oregonian newspaper information:

From: http://www.oregonlive.com/news/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/news/119345373819770.xml&coll=7

Couple's ties to Crook County area ran deep

"The Donacas are related to half the people in Prineville," a friend says Saturday, October 27, 2007

by MATTHEW PREUSCH -- The Oregonian Staff

PRINEVILLE -- Things had not been easy for Raymond and Deanna Donaca in recent years, and their troubled deaths saddened many in this central Oregon community this week. The couple, descendants of some of Crook County's oldest families, were found dead Tuesday in their home on the land along Mill Creek their parents had ranched and farmed. Their four dogs lay dead, too.

After losing the land and house to foreclosure, they were to clear out by midnight Monday. Instead, Crook County Sheriff's Office investigators said, Raymond, 71, and Deanna, 69, committed suicide by closing all the doors except the one into the garage and leaving their Cadillac running, filling the home with carbon monoxide.

"I knew that they were having problems and that they didn't want to leave the place," said Fred Kowolowski, a Redmond lawyer who represented them in one of three bankruptcy filings in recent years. Those who knew Ray Donaca recall him saying that he was born in the valley where he lived, and he would die there. His folks, Thomas and Anna Donaca, farmed the bottom lands beside the creek and raised five children there. Ray Donaca's brother, Don Donaca, still lives just across the road.

"The Donacas are related to half the people in Prineville," said Gordon Shortreed, a friend of the family. In better days, Ray Donaca made his living working in the woods on the same big D4 Caterpillar tractor that investigators think he used to position a large trailer to block access to the homestead.

"They were doing some Forest Service work, and that sort of ran out, so they ran out of money," said Larry Irwin, another attorney for the Donacas. "And they got elderly."

Ray Donaca was in poor health, Irwin said.

Crook County court records show the couple started borrowing against their inherited 18 acres as far back as 1988.
In 2001, they got a $200,000 loan from Long Beach Mortgage Co. of California. But in 2005, they started missing their monthly payment of $1,848.61, court records show. The bank foreclosed on their house and sold it at auction last July for about $255,000. After an unsuccessful fight to reverse the sale, the couple were ordered to leave the house by midnight Oct. 22.

Friday, there was little evidence of the Donacas and the decades they'd spent at the property on Mill Creek Road, just a green and white real estate sign. Their two-bedroom house is listed for sale for $399,000.
No service has been scheduled yet for the couple. But brother Don Donaca said the family plans to bury them at Mill Creek Cemetery, where his parents are buried.

***

So where were the brother and the five children? What kind of health problems? Many things left unanswered here.

[blues90]

17. It's sad but I can inderstand it .

Since this was their life and long term home and they tried desperately to work and save it . They were forced to barrow money most likely to make ends meet .

At their age it may have been impossible in their minds to give up and change their entire life to look forward to what ?

Even if other family memebers would have taken them in , that is not as easy as it sounds , living with a family member .

Bad credit relates to a difficult time finding an apartment to rent and then add in their 4 dogs .

I'm sure they weighted their options what was left of them and just decided to end it all . Everyone has their limits .

This has really become a harsh world to live in , really harsh .

[Radio_Lady]

25. Yes, you're probably right. None of us walked in their shoes. It's just a shame, that's all.

Shocking to most of us, too.

[Lady Effingbroke]

20. In Houston..."Lengthy standoff ends in Spring with man's suicide"

~snip~

A 12-hour standoff ended this morning with a north Houston man lobbing Molotov cocktails at Houston Police before taking his own life rather than vacate a home he'd lost to foreclosure.

James Hahn, a chemist, had told police he would not be taken from the home alive, said Capt. Bruce Williams, an HPD spokesman.

" 'You know what I do for a living and you know what I am capable of,' " said Williams, recalling one of the conversations police had with the man on Wednesday.

The standoff began at 1:10 p.m. Wednesday when police said Hahn pulled a gun on Precinct 4 constable deputies who had attempted to serve him with a warrant for eviction at the home in the 21000 block of Covington Bridge in Spring, authorities said.
~snip~
MORE

[Radio_Lady]

21. How horrible! Is this going to become a trend? So it happened in Spring, TEXAS...

I thought the article referred to the suicide taking place last spring... huh?

This man's suicide happened in Texas one day after the Oregon couple took their lives.

Oh, goodness.

[Lady Effingbroke]

23. Yes, Spring is a suburban area north of Houston.

Sadly, I think there are going to be many more of these type of incidents.

[Radio_Lady]

24. Two stories and three recommendations --- I'd like to hear from others if you know another case.

Perhaps I can do an audio show on this subject.

Thanks for your help.

Radio Lady Ellen in Oregon




Radio Lady Ellen Kimball is a pioneer talk show host – one of the first women in the United States to present her own daily AM radio call-in talk shows in both Miami and Boston. Ellen and her husband, new DU member Audio Al, software engineer, storyteller, photographer extraordinaire, and travel guru, are now actively retired in Oregon where they have resided since 1998. Ellen contributes her reviews on film, DVDs, theater, and books to Oregon Public Broadcasting's Accessible Information Network, which is heard locally in Oregon, and southern Washington, as well as on the Internet. You can read her complete journal at http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Radio_Lady

[flvegan]

26. Radio_Lady, I used to work for a law firm that did TONS of these.

I can't give you specific cases, as it was some time ago, but I can remember AT LEAST 10 instances where we instituted foreclosure action, and the owner(s) committed suicide.

I spent YEARS there fighting my ass off for Loss Mitigation and Default Resolution, but I made little headway.

[Radio_Lady]

27. What a chronicle of misery, Florida Vegan -- what can anyone say?

I'm going to try and look into this for a future radio topic. I appreciate your post.

Radio Lady Ellen in Oregon

[karlrschneider]

28. I can't figure out why someone wasn't able to engineer a reverse mortgage

since they apparently had a fair amount of equity...? A very strange & tragic story.

edit: I see from your later post they had been borrowing against it for a while so maybe it was all used up.
:-(

[Radio_Lady]

29. Yes, the latest article revealed that there was probably not enough equity because of the previous..

borrowing.

Don't know enough about this subject to discuss it further.

Too bad their LAWYER, quoted in one of the articles, didn't have enough smarts to contact SOMEBODY! But then again it might have fallen on deaf ears.

[the other mother]

30. couple commits suicide

This is my first time posting and I am not sure if this will post right. Here goes: It is very sad that this couple came to this decision. My hope is that instead of trying to ask why no one did anything, is that we ask why our elderly are not better protected. Prineville is not a wealthy town. The lumber mills have closed and there is fewer jobs than when that couple was young. The siblings of this man are probably older than him, if alive at all, and might be in similar financial despair. The property may have been paid off at one time but we all know how much the government likes to collect property taxes. Many elderly people get foreclosures because they no longer can afford to pay the rising property taxes. I have always felt that elderly, low income people should be able to have a cap on their property taxes. If they have lived in their home for 60 yrs and paid it off 20 yrs ago, why should they loose it to the government for property taxes. i am a dog lover and owner of 3 elderly dogs. I can understand why they didn't want some one to take their dogs to the pound after their death. The thing I have learned from this? I will be talking to my elderly mom today and asking some serious questions about her finances.