Cluster of murder-suicide cases raises alarm

VIRGINIA BEACH

Five South Hampton Roads residents have killed a significant other before taking their own lives during the past three weeks, according to authorities, in an unusual run of murder-suicide cases.

While most local police departments don't track murder-suicide rates, representatives from local, state and national organizations said the recent spate is startling.

"That's astounding," said Kristen Rand, a legislative director who has overseen murder-suicide studies for the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C. "I mean, that would be a large number for an entire state the size of Virginia. So that is a very troubling number."

"It's alarming that we've had so many in the past week-and-a-half," said Gena Boyle of the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance in Richmond. There are typically about 15 murder-suicides in Virginia each year, said Boyle, the group's domestic violence advocacy coordinator. During all of 2010, only three murder-suicides were reported in The Virginian-Pilot.

The deaths have also come to the attention of staff at the Samaritan House in Virginia Beach, said Debbie Sanders, a victim advocate for the nonprofit. The organization offers a hotline, resources, shelter and counseling for victims of domestic violence.

"It's a huge concern for us," Sanders said. "This is exactly what we try to combat every day."

The most recent case was discovered Thursday morning when police found the bodies of David S. and Judith Osborne in their Timberlake home on Bark-leaf Drive in Virginia Beach. Police say David Osborne, 78, shot his 66-year-old wife and then himself. A dog was also injured.

David Osborne had driven buses for the school system for nearly 11 years, said Eileen Cox, a school division spokeswoman. He and his wife had adult children, police said.

Police in Virginia Beach, where three of the recent deaths occurred, say they don't suspect a trend or any connection among the cases. Chesapeake police did not respond to an email requesting comment.

Such cases tend to follow a predictable pattern, said Rand, of the Violence Policy Center.

About three of every four murder-suicide cases involve intimate partners, and 95 percent of the time the killer is male, according to the policy center's most recent study, based on a review of news clippings and published in 2008.

The crimes most frequently occur in the home with a gun, according to the study.

Recent events fit that mold, except that one occurred in a parking lot instead of a home, and one did not involve a gun.

The first occurred on March 21 in Chesapeake when a 52-year-old Norfolk police officer, Lt. William Mackenzie, took the life of his 55-year-old wife, Pat, before shooting himself, police said.

In their wake are questions.

"We have no reason, no motives," said Officer Jimmy Barnes, a Beach police spokesman.

A multitude of factors can contribute, including relationship problems, financial stress, substance abuse and undiagnosed depression, according to people who counter suicidal behavior and domestic violence.

"I think the copycat factor is very low in murder-suicides," said Rand. "It's mostly the result of personal circumstances.... Virtually always a man who's under a tremendous amount of stress that's either usually related to a domestic relationship or to financial problems."

Often there are signs, ranging from controlling behavior to verbal and physical abuse, said Sanders, of the Samaritan House. In one of the recent cases, the killer had been charged with assaulting his victim on several previous occasions.

"Domestic violence escalates," Sanders said. "Slaps become punches. Punches become broken bones, and people can get killed."

But sometimes there aren't signals. In several recent cases, including the one with the Norfolk police officer, neighbors, friends and colleagues were shocked because they saw no signs of trouble.

In murder-suicide crimes involving killers older than 55, which make up about a third of cases, health problems often play a role, according to the Violence Policy Center. It plans to release another report on murder-suicides nationwide later this year, Rand said.

"It's important for communities to look for the patterns in these incidents," she said. "People start to look at murder-suicide as an isolated event, but there are clear, identifiable patterns....

"These can be prevented."

Pilot writers Veronica Gonzalez and Patrick Wilson contributed to this report.

Kathy Adams, (757) 222-5155, kathy.adams@pilotonline.com