Not Suicide! Murder

For those who reached this page looking for information on Suicide or Suicide Prevention, links and phone information appear at the bottom of this page - Press Page Down key for important information and phone numbers.

"Anyone who commits murder and then attempts to make it appear as a suicide should be sentenced to harsher penalties than would otherwise be warranted. Killing someone in this way is one of the more sinister things a person can do."

Homicides disguised as suicides. Family members of someone whose death is ruled a suicide suffer greatly as a result of the additional emotions involved in a death by suicide.

To follow are just the cases I have learned about and I suspect there are 100-1000 more for everyone I have heard of. As I learn of more I will post the information here. In one of the cases below, the killer was slick enough to get his girlfriend to write down everything that was depressing her in life just prior to murdering her. That note was then used by the police and medical examiner to justify their ruling of suicide. The guy planned it that diabolically. That is the case where the guy confessed after seeing the movie The Passion of Christ.

Finally, we need to collect DNA samples from everyone who dies, to insure that as many of these unsolved cases as possible are solved and do not remain cold cases for eternity. By burying people without taking these samples we stand to miss many cases being solved. In the case of Dennis Raider, the BTK Killer from Wichita KS, what if he had died in a car wreck and been buried. The BTK Killings would most likely not have ever been solved.

This idea has been added to the WhyNot.net Idea Database in January 2006 for public access. View all of my current ideas by shift-clicking this link: Steele S Why Not Website Idea Collection

On a lighter note, if I am ever found dead and it is ruled a suicide, you will know for sure it is a lie if they find any Little Debbie snacks still in my house. If they have a 12 step program for Little Debbie snacks contact me! With that in mind, please continue on and see the stories that have come to my attention. I will add new ones from older cases hopefully and not new ones. Truly devastating for an entire family.

Suicide Investigation Turns To Murder

LAKE WORTH, Texas -- Although Lake Worth police said they found a suicide note near the body of Kris Anna Lee, 57, investigators now are treating the case as a homicide.

Kris Anna Lee

Lee's body was found July 6 inside her house in the small town northwest of Fort Worth. According to police, her grandsons, ages 16 and 18, found her body. The grandsons screamed for help, according to an NBC 5 report.

A neighbor responded to the calls for help.

"I knew CPR, so I was going to help her out as best I could," neighbor Melissa Baker said.

Lee was found shot to death. What appeared to be a rambling suicide note was close to her body.

Baker said she knew some of the contents of the note, such as, " the family's lies and stuff like that, and how it wasn't the boys' fault," Baker said.

She also said the handwritten note contained a plea not to blame the grandsons in Lee's death.

Lake Worth investigators said the message was not a genuine suicide note. They cited one piece of key evidence that led them to believe the case was a homicide.

Police said Lee's body had a gunshot wound to the back of her head.

"It's not the most likely or most probable place for somebody, if they're going to take their own life, to do a gunshot," said Brett McGuire, Lake Worth police chief.

Police said they are close to making arrests in the case, although they declined to name any suspects. Police are waiting for gun-residue and handwriting tests before concluding the investigation.

Virginia Haniwalt

Lee's mother, however, blamed the grandsons who found Lee's body.

"Those boys had to kill her, probably within the hour (of the discovery)," Virginia Haniwalt said. "And I think they probably had planned it because all her phones were disconnected."

The grandsons said they have been wrongly accused. Haniwalt said her daughter, who she said was a Christian, would not have committed suicide because of her religious beliefs.

The grandsons said they simply found Lee's body. They have hired an attorney.

If the case does turn out to be a homicide, it would be the first to occur in Lake Worth in about eight years.

See a video of this story at the following link - Note: the quality is not that great but you can see and hear both the story and the mother of the victims thoughts about the situation, and the fact she never once believed it was a suicide. This goes to show that all deaths should be approached as a murder at all times, and suicide rulings should only be the last, final resort. See the video by clicking:

HOUSTON, TX -- A man who had gotten away with murder confessed to police after seeing "The Passion of the Christ" and talking with a spiritual adviser, authorities said.

Dan R. Leach's viewing of Mel Gibson's cinematic depiction of the last hours of Jesus, along with the discussion with a family friend, led him to walk into the Fort Bend County Sheriff's Department earlier this month and confess to killing Ashley Nicole Wilson, Detective Mike Kubricht said.

Wilson's body was discovered Jan. 19 in her apartment near Richmond, southwest of Houston. All physical evidence pointed to suicide, Kubricht said, and the 19-year-old had gone off anti-depressant medications because she was pregnant.

The pregnancy apparently was the motive, Kubricht said, because Leach believed he was responsible and did not want to raise a child.

"He was very, very meticulous," Kubricht said. "It was very well-planned and well-executed."

Case 3 - Another Case of Mistaken Suicide Ruling maybe - 12/2004

A doctor who used to work for the U.S. Government died as a result of an experiment by fellow agents. His death was covered up and labeled a suicide as a result. Only many years later did the truth come out and the family was informed of this ill-planned experiment by his government co-workers. Dr. Frank Olson died a horrible death and his family suffered for years as a result. See more information about Dr. Olson, his family and the incident that occurred, as well as the continuing work of his son to share his Dads story with the world through a website dedicated to his Dad, on my "Favorite People" page. Very intriguing story.

5th Case, And It Gives Insight Into What Kurt Cobain's daughter Might Feel Like Growing Up Without Her Dad

Herb Vest was not quite 2 years old when he lost his father. And, 58 years later, the pain still lingered. Correspondent Harold Dow reports on this 48 Hours Mystery that was originally broadcast Feb. 12, 2005.
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"Suicide is a very selfish thing. And it leaves survivors, I believe, with a certain amount of guilt. It's unreasoned guilt, but it leaves the survivors with that feeling," says Herb.

"There's nothing worse than to believe that your father was a coward and would voluntarily leave his wife and baby."

"Why didn’t we know something was wrong with him? Why didn’t we catch it? Why didn’t we see something?" says Ruth Vest, who was just 23 when she became a widow. "I had had a really easy life, you know, a fortunate life. And I didn't know those things happened to people."

The suicide of Harold "Buddy" Vest took everyone by surprise. The 25-year-old had just returned from World War II. He and Ruth had just bought a new house, and he was starting his own cabinet shop in the small town of Gainesville, Texas.

This should have been the best time of their lives. But on the night of June 27, 1946, Buddy told his wife that he would be working late. Around 2 a.m., Ruth started to get worried, and went to her neighbor, Lawanna Howard, to look for her husband at his cabinet shop.

The cabinet shop was empty and dark except for a light behind the locked bathroom door.

"You unlocked the door, and we went in, but we couldn’t get in the bathroom," recalls Lawanna, who met with Ruth for the broadcast. It was the first time in 58 years that they had seen each other. "I was scared to death."

They went back outside and found a man to help pull the door open. "I don't remember if he said anything," says Ruth. "I knew that when he looked at me that he (Buddy) was dead."

On the other side of the bathroom door, Buddy was hanging from a thin leather belt. "I think my brain just completely shut down," says Ruth. "I couldn't accept it."

Ruth, in a state of shock, immediately took her son, Herb, and moved back to her parent’s house in Henrietta, Texas, 65 miles away. Within 12 hours after finding her husband's body, she left Gainesville, never to return again.

But from that point on, Ruth said she was determined to keep this terrible secret from her son.

"We played this cover-up game with each other for another 40 years," said Herb. "And just a few years ago, about five or six years ago, Ruth told me that he committed suicide. And I told her that I already knew that."

Herb had actually discovered the truth about his father's suicide when he was 11, when he found some old family letters in the attic.

"And then that question that began that day would haunt me the rest of my life. Why would this man commit suicide?" asked Herb. "After all, this is my dad: somebody I never had the opportunity to play baseball with, somebody I never had an opportunity to pat me on the back and say 'You did a good job.' You always wonder what might have been."

And still, there are more clues to be uncovered. Herb and his mother are having additional DNA testing performed on the envelope containing Smith's letter. The first tests found an unknown male's DNA on the flap.

Herb's mission is far from over, but it has brought him closer to his father, the man he never knew. "Before, I always talked about my father, but now he's 'Dad' to me," said Herb.

But now, Herb knows the truth: that his father was a victim.

"I feel like he'd be proud of his little boy that went on and got to the bottom of it, albeit 60 years later," said Herb.

This week, Herb Vest increased the reward to $100,000 for information about his father's murder. Herb also says he will pay for the defense of anyone charged in the murder, if they come forward voluntarily.

For anyone who is depressed and needs to talk to someone, call 1-800-784-2433. They offer 24 hour communication and local resource information in your community.

AND, if you know someone who has threatened suicide and don't know what to do, see this page:

Suicide Investigation Turns To Murder

Case 3 - Another Case of Mistaken Suicide Ruling maybe - 12/2004

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