A Fourth Murder-Suicide for the Eugene Area

Today was an alarming day. 

Back on February 25, an elderly couple was found shot to death in their home in Cheshire, a rural town outside of Eugene, Oregon.  It was revealed today that the husband, Harry Hanus, age 74, shot and killed his wife, Barbara, before taking his own life.  They left no note, and the articles on the shooting only indicate surprise by those who knew them.

The reason this is so alarming is that this is the fourth murder-suicide in this area in only half a year. 

For an area that historically sees no more than half a dozen homicides a year, things are now getting out of control.  For these four cases alone, nine people have died, including the murder of three children.  Three of these murder-suicides were carried out with guns, one with a knife.

The other three cases:

Sept. 20, 2010: Richard Rauscher, depressed over a recent divorce, shot to death his two little girls, ages 7 & 9, in their Junction City home.  Neighbors knew he was distraught, as he would come over to their home to cry.

Dec. 22, 2010:  In an apparent psychotic break, Darwin Dale Stout, 49, stabbed to death his 13-year old son, Jared, before killing himself with the same knife, in their home in Harrisburg.  Stout's behavior had been highly erratic and paranoid in the previous week and a half.  During that time, Stout had voluntarily admitted himself to a local hospital for a mental health evaluation and been deemed not to be a threat to himself or others.   Sadly, they were mistaken.

Feb. 19, 2011:  In north Eugene, Valerie R. Rhodes & Christopher Schroeder, both 30, were found shot to death in their home.   The official cause of death has not yet been released, but initial reports were probably murder-suicide, and the Lane County Sherriff's Office has stated that, "We want to make sure that folks (neighbors) know that we don't have any reason to believe that this is anything other than something between these two folks.  So there's no suspect out there we're trying to find, there's nothing in play here, as tragic as this incident is, we believe it is contained just to this couple."

Some important Statistics:

Depression leads to a drastically higher chance of both suicide, homicide, or both.  From THIS study: "Twelve couples in cases of murder-suicide were compared to 24 couples in cases of homicide during the period 1978 to 1987 in Albuquerque, N.M. Data were obtained from police, the courts, hospital records, and interviews with friends and family of the deceased. The most striking findings were that perpetrators of murder-suicide were depressed (75%) and men (95%), while perpetrators of homicide were not depressed and one-half were women."

An estimated 41% of gun-related homicides and 94% of gun-related suicides would not occur under the same circumstances had no guns been present (Wiebe, 2003).  Where there are more guns, there are more suicides and homicides.

Keeping a firearm in the home increases the risk of suicide by a factor of 3 to 5 and increases the risk of suicide with a firearm by a factor of 17 (Kellerman, 1992).

More than 90 percent of suicide attempts with a gun are fatal.  In comparison, only 3 percent of attempts with drugs or cutting are fatal (Miller, 2004).

For the most part, there is no law that can stop this, proposed or existing, with the possible exception of strengthening background checks and NICS to temporarily include those, like Stout, who had been admitted for counseling. As far as I have been able to tell, the cases above that included gun use involved legal gun owners who pulled the trigger.

Rather, it takes personal responsibility on the part of friends and family, and the individual himself, to recognize the warning signs.  Sometimes those signs can be very hard to see, or easy to misread as not being serious.  Other times they are blatantly obvious, as with the Stout case. Sadly, even intervention doesn't always stop tragedy, but chances are far, far higher.

If you know someone who is depressed, has suffered a traumatic event such as a divorce or job loss, or has expressed thoughts of suicide, I urge you to convince them to seek counseling, remove weapons from their home, and have someone watch over them.  This is doubly true if children live in the home with them.  You may feel you are butting into their business by making suggestions and showing concern, but this is better than having your friend or loved one die, and it just may demonstrate to them that someone gives enough of a damn for them to live another day.  


UPDATE (3/3/11):  Another murder-suicide up in Hillsboro, OR, this week.  Father shot 6-yr old son before killing himself.

Statistical Sources:

Kellermann, Arthur L. et al., “Suicide in the Home in Relation to Gun Ownership,” New England Journal of Medicine, 327(7) (1992): 467-472.

Miller, Matthew, David Hemenway, Deborah Azrael, "Firearms and Suicide in the Northeast," Journal of Trauma 57 (2004):626-632.

Rosenbaum, M.  The role of depression in couples involved in murder-suicide and homicide.  Am J Psychiatry. 1990 Aug;147(8):1036-9.

Wiebe, Douglas J. PhD. “Homicide and Suicide Risks Associated With Firearms in the Home: A National Case-Control Study.” Annals of Emergency Medicine 41 (2003): 771-82.