Father, Daughter Die in Suicide Crash
Insomniatrix
WATERLOO, Iowa July 11 — An Illinois man sought for questioning in the
slaying of his ex-wife drove his car into an oncoming truck, killing himself
and his 6-year-old daughter, authorities said Thursday.
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20020711_1987.html
crosem
"Insomniatrix" <ClareMa...@netscape.net> wrote in message
news:ilsX8.89772$wj4.7...@e3500-atl2.usenetserver.com...
Insomniatrix
"Michael Snyder" <msn...@redhat.com> wrote in message
news:3d2e7a7c$1...@nopics.sjc...
|
| Insomniatrix wrote in message ...
| the 6 year old girl was intent on taking her own life...
The AP should re write it, yes.
Michael Snyder
Insomniatrix wrote in message ...
Should probably be termed murder-suicide, eh? I doubt if
Anne Warfield
It's very sad. The Chicago Tribune has been covering this
extensively. Here's more (and there are pictures at the URL below)--
Crash called deliberate
Dad was a suicide, Iowa officials say
By Karen Mellen, Tribune staff reporter. Tribune staff reporters Rex
W. Huppke, Jeff Coen and Barbara Sherlock contributed to this report
Published July 12, 2002
DES MOINES -- After a day on the run with his 6-year-old daughter,
John Scherer deliberately slammed his SUV into a semitrailer truck on
a rural Iowa highway, taking the girl's life along with his own,
authorities said Thursday.
The wreck Wednesday morning put a sudden end to a manhunt for Scherer
that began with the discovery that his ex-wife, Sheri, had been
stabbed to death in her Naperville home Tuesday and that the couple's
daughter, Rachel, was missing.
John Scherer, 41, was killed in the head-on crash south of Waterloo.
Authorities said it may have been his third attempt to kill himself as
he fled.
Rachel died on a helicopter flying her to a local hospital, officials
said.
Dr. Francis Garrity, deputy state medical examiner for Iowa, said he
based his findings on physical evidence, circumstantial evidence in
the case and the account of the trucker involved in the wreck.
"[Scherer] took his own life, and in so doing, caused [Rachel's]
death," Garrity said Thursday. "This was intentional."
Garrity and Naperville police on Thursday said Scherer had a bandaged
knife wound on his right wrist, suggesting he had tried to harm
himself with a knife found in the SUV. Authorities said they think he
also tried to direct exhaust fumes into the vehicle through a tube
duct-taped to the SUV's tailpipe.
Scherer eventually ran his Chevrolet Blazer into the path of the
semitrailer truck while traveling faster than 50 m.p.h., Garrity said.
The crash ejected Scherer from the vehicle and caused fatal internal
injuries to his daughter, who was buckled into a back seat.
Truck driver Charles Diedrich, uninjured in the crash, was doing
paperwork on the crash for his employer at his Colby, Wis., home
Thursday morning. Diedrich said he recalls the SUV approaching without
weaving, then suddenly swerving in front of his rig.
Diedrich said he hit the brakes but had no time to evade on the
two-lane highway. "And that was it," he said.
"The reality of all of this hasn't really set in," Diedrich said.
There was no evidence Rachel had been harmed before the crash,
authorities said. Her autopsy Thursday showed her bruising came from
the safety belt holding her in place during the collision.
Beer cans were found at the scene, authorities said, and toxicological
testing was expected to determine whether Scherer was drunk at the
time of the wreck.
Naperville investigators, meanwhile, prepared to leave Iowa on
Thursday. They called the case's outcome a shock.
"Based on his docile behavior in his past, we had thought he would
drop her off with a relative or in some other safe location," said
Naperville Detective Tom Sheehan. "This took the wind out of our
sails. It's just a recovery mission now."
Investigators said they have uncovered no hint that Scherer ever was
violent with Sheri during the couple's 13-year marriage. Friends of
Scherer's have described him as gentle and loving toward his daughter.
Police have said Scherer apparently snapped Tuesday after a year of
divorce and a history of losing jobs and abusing alcohol. He had been
evicted from his apartment a week before the his ex-wife's slaying.
Police said a hardware store receipt in the SUV shows Scherer was in
Hazel Green, Wis., near the Iowa border about 12:20 p.m. Tuesday. The
slip of paper indicates he bought duct tape and a hose for a sump
pump, which investigators think he intended to use in a suicide
attempt because some of the tape was found on the vehicle's exhaust
pipe.
Most relatives of Scherer and his ex-wife have declined to comment.
Standing in the doorway of her Palatine home gripping a small photo
album, Scherer's sister-in-law, Mary, could only muster a few words as
her eyes filled with tears.
"He was a little troubled, but we loved him," she said. "He was a good
guy. We loved him, we loved Rachel, we loved Sheri. It's just so sad."
Police said Thursday they expected to have sufficient evidence to
conclude that Scherer killed his ex-wife. The fact that his daughter
was with him placed him at the crime scene, police said, and blood
samples from the autopsy were gathered to compare to blood found at
Sheri Scherer's Naperville home in the 2300 block of Massachusetts
Avenue.
Investigators think John Scherer arrived at the house as his ex-wife
was preparing for work at Arthur Andersen and his daughter was
watching cartoons.
He attacked her with a kitchen knife, police said, chasing her
upstairs to her bedroom and killing her.
Services for Sheri Scherer and her daughter will be held Friday
morning in Munster, Ind.
Copyright © 2002, Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0207120084jul12.story?coll=chi%2Dnewslocal%2Dhed
--
Anne Warfield
indigoace at goodsol period com
http://www.goodsol.com/cats/
Mhw61
not going to be easy to deal with.
Max
"I'm very well acquainted with the Seven Deadly Sins
I keep a busy schedule trying to fit them in"
--Warren Zevon
"You gotta sin to get saved . . ."
--Maria McKee
crosem
suicides. Also, I had heard before of being deliberately crashing into big
trucks, highway underpasses and other big objectrs to commit
suicide...insurance companies pay off as "accident." You hit hte nail on
the head, it is VERY traumatic for the truck driver, as is "suicide by
police" for the police officer in question.
"Mhw61" <mh...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20020712174558...@mb-fc.aol.com...
crosem
"Stan" <29...@mail.null> wrote in message
news:s97viuklvsiv8ilg8...@4ax.com...
| On Fri, 12 Jul 2002 23:20:55 GMT, "crosem" <cro...@flash.net> wrote:
|
| >Interesting to note that over 75% of one-car fatal car accidents are
| >suicides.
|
| Really? Is this figure documented somewhere?
|
|