Dad who killed family, self was $460K in debt, sheriff says

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/21/maryland.family.shot/index.html

updated 2 hours, 19 minutes ago

(CNN) -- A man who shot his wife and three children to death before committing suicide in Middletown, Maryland, last weekend had about $460,000 in mortgage and credit card debt, the local sheriff said Tuesday.

Deputies who examined a computer taken from Christopher Wood's home found information that showed "severe financial difficulties," including money owed on a home in Florida that the family had been unable to sell, Frederick County Sheriff Charles Jenkins said at a news conference.

Wood was a salesman for CSX Railroad, where he earned about $97,000 a year, the sheriff said.

He left six suicide notes, according to authorities.

[jody]

1. Why can't people just kill them self and no others? n/t

[MagickMuffin]

6. I understand what you're saying and I agree

However, perhaps he took out his wife so she wouldn't be held responsible for the debts. You know the people they owed money to would have gone after.

Sad state of affairs. He wasn't even making that much money to have run up such a large debt. People living beyond their means is just dumb and responsible from the get go.

[Laelth]

7. The power of your sympathy and the greatness of your heart astound me.

:eyes:

:dem:

-Laelth

[MagickMuffin]

16. We obviously don't know the facts behind this man's motives

I'm sorry you think I'm heartless. I didn't mean too be. This is all to tragic and I was only making an observation that since this family had such as enormous debt that the creditors would have wanted their money, regardless if the man was dead.

You really don't even know me to make such as inaccurate characterization of me. :eyes: I've known people to have killed themselves and their families. I even dated someone who's dad killed his wife and then himself and left two children behind. My boyfriend ended up having severe mental problems because of what happened to his parents.

[jody]

11. "he took out his wife so she wouldn't be held responsible for the debts" ranks alongside the mom in

Florida who killed her son so he would go to heaven.

[valerief]

13. I think they all believe Jesus will take care of their murder victims after death.

If not for that, they might let family members live.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. But that 460K debt includes mortgage, kinda misleading

Most folks have a big mortgage balance.

[BR_Parkway]

4. Possibly more than one mortgage if they were having trouble selling

the house in FL.

But damn, to kill yourself and your family because you were in debt? Even if you saw no way to get out of it I can't imagine doing that before I'd simply walk away from the debt or file a bankruptcy.

[dairydog91]

5. Umm, maybe it's just me...

But owning two homes while on a 100K income is pretty damn stupid.

[KittyWampus]

9. maybe they owned in Florida and had to move to Maryland for a job. Maybe one of them lost a job

and had their income cut. Maybe they both met a Florida as an adult couple with kids from pre-existing marriages.

I just made all that up. Who knows what the particulars are.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. We owned two homes for a year

Couldn't sell our house and moved anyway. Paid 2 mortgages for a year. But we were moving closer to my parents to help my mom because my dad was sick.

And we made a lot less than 100K a year. LOL

[Liberal_in_LA]

18. maybe bought 2nd home before market tanked, thinking could sell 1st quickly, then market tanked.

then stuck with 2nd home. 97K isn't a bad income for family with one home.

[malaise]

15. No they moved to Maryland recently

because the wife's family are from there and they were living in a rented house. Clearly they were caught up in the mortgage mess.

[Gormy Cuss]

8. Yes, it is somewhat misleading to express the debt including mortgage. The guy had a lot of stress

and difficulty managing his depression. To someone without that struggle, the debt may have seemed less desparate. It's hard to tell and it's a very sad story regardless.

[dairydog91]

3. Wow.

"Authorities said Wood left individual suicide notes to his wife and each of the three children, expressing his sorrow and love. There was one note left to his mother, father and sister, and one more that was not addressed to anyone in particular but that was more apologetic than the others."

I know that when I feel sorry for someone, and want to show my love for them, I go after them with a shotgun and a "kitchen knife or pruning saw." What an asshat. Somehow "I love you so much that I have to kill you" doesn't really fly as an excuse.

Edit: Whatever happened to elaborate schemes to defraud a life insurance policy? What happened to the people who would stage their own death so that their family can collect the insurance money?

[Stinky The Clown]

12. This is a purely horrible story

The innocent babies ...... gone


The wife ...... gone



The troubled father ....... gone



The parents of the adults ....... devastated



The community ....... traumatized



I could care less about blame




Someday, knowing the cause would be helpful ...... but not now






Let those little babies rest.









How completely horrible.

[SoCalDem]

14. Debt kills

It's too bad that the ones who decide to "go", feel the need to take innocents with them :cry:

[dugaresa]

17. why not just declare bankruptcy and move on? why kill yourself over debt?

[Ghost in the Machine]

19. Because that's "admitting failure" to some people... some people would rather die than admit failure

It's my personal opinion that those who kill their family first were just chickenshits. They *had* to do something so horrible first to make themselves follow through with their own deaths.

[dugaresa]

22. it is just unthinkable to me

i have been through bad times and some of them really bad and i would never think to do that to my kids or anyone

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

23. I read a book recently that changed the way I look at the male human species

The Gift of Fear by Gavin DeBecker
sums up~

At core a Man is Afraid of a Woman Laughing at them.

At core a Woman is Afraid of a Man killing them.

That's a hell of a difference re: the fear factors for this species.

But reading these horrific stories after reading that book, I can kinda understand why he did what he did. I don't condone such acts, but see how he got to where he wound up. Beyond sad. Men are too tough on themselves. God help us all.

[cherish44]

26. Some people need to realize there are things in life that are more important than their damn pride

I don't believe this guy or anyone else in financial trouble now are failures, maybe victims of bad judgement, bad advice, bad luck, bad economy...etc. Hey fuck-up are part of life, some of us make major ones. Lots of people live in shitty circumstances that have absolutely nothing to do with choices they made. Mental illness needs to be addressed for sure and our society needs to get over the "failure" and "loser" mentality of people who are down on their luck. But bottom line, this guy, may have been depressed but I doubt he was insane and I'm sure he knew right from wrong (I could be wrong of course, I don't know). There is always a better alternative than killing yourself and your innocent children.

[ddeclue]

20. Why SIX suicide notes?

:shrug:

[Sparkly]

21. I think this is a matter of mental illness, period.

Yes, there are stress factors, but many, many, many people confront this and worse. Sane human beings can tolerate stress at LEAST to the extent that they don't become homicidal.

The one way I could see his economic conditions affecting this is if there was a lapse in medical coverage (psychiatric care, meds, etc.).

I'd bet money that the six suicide notes showed signs of psychosis.

[MiniMe]

24. And Westboro Baptist is going to picket the funeral

Sick Bastards

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

25. Are they still sending only Women and Children to their protests?

[Liberal_in_LA]

33. I noticed no adult men. What's up with that?

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

35. Westboro Baptist men hide behind their womans Aprons.

They get beat up much less that way. Reminds me of that Gecko character for some reason.

[Sparkly]

28. Are you kidding me??

Is that really true?!?

[MiniMe]

34. Unfortunately yes

http://www.godhatesfags.com/schedule.html

[malletgirl02]

27. That is horrible

I wish I didn't read some of thett on this thread. Not a reflection on thters, just sent into more detail than I would had liked.

[Withywindle]

29. So how much is a life worth?

About $100,000 each to him, I guess. (Assuming he was charitable enough to blame himself and so assign himself just a $60,000 value).

Meanwhile, there are people all over the country living in cars and under bridges with their loved ones. But at least they're still alive and so are the children who depend on them.

I can have sympathy for someone who takes their own life over financial despair. It's horrible and I wish there was a way to hold them down and force-feed them hope, but I know that can't always happen.

Killing someone ELSE, though, especially a child with a whole life full of possibilities in front of them...No, sorry, a murderer is a murderer is a murderer.

[DemoTex]

30. Suicide runs in my family (dad's side). But why the homocide?

Was Terre Roche talking about suicide in her song? I think so.

Words & Music by Terre Roche:

I can't get over what I saw.
And I can't change the law of averages.
I'm going down.
My uncle did it; my daddy did it.
I'm beginning to think that it runs in the family
Oh no, runs in the family.

One by one we left home.
We went so far out there.
Everybody got scared.
My uncle did it; my daddy did it.
I'm beginning to think that it runs in the family
Oh no, runs in the family.

All the boys could have gone to school.
All the girls were pretty enough to play the fool
Something about the danger zone
Wouldn't leave the bunch of us alone.

I remember that night.
It was the one I picked a fight with you.
I'm holding the bag
Just like my mama did;
Just like her mama did.
Now there's gonna be a new kid in the family
Oh no, kid you're gonna run in the family.
Oh yeah, kid you're gonna run in the family.

[Fire1]

31. That's a lot of debt for someone making just 97k! n/t

[BlooInBloo]

32. Sigh.