Homicides That Are Apparent Suicides

 

Case Category

9 Cases

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FL - Polk - Andrew Golden 1989

IL - Cook - Sammie Garrett 1969

IL - Wabash - John Cochran 1888

MI - Oakland - Dr. Jack Kevorkian 1998

OH - Franklin - Kevin Tolliver 2001

TX - Cameron - Susan Mowbray 1987

VA - Powhatan - Beverly Monroe 1992

VA - Wise - Merry Pease 1993

 

 

Location

Defendant(s)

Date of Alleged Crime

 

Polk County, FL Andrew Golden Sept 13, 1989 (Winter Haven)
Golden was convicted and sentenced to death for the drowning murder of his wife, Ardelle.  Golden’s rented car was found submerged in Lake Hartridge at the end of a boat ramp.  The body of his wife was found floating in the lake.  Although the medical examiner had concluded that there was no evidence of foul play, the prosecution argued that Golden was in debt and stood to collect on a life insurance policy if his wife were to die.  There was no eyewitness testimony, no confession, and no other evidence tending to show that Golden's wife had been murdered by anyone.  Golden's lawyer did little to prepare for trial, having assumed that the case would be thrown out before trial.  He did not argue that Ardelle may have committed suicide, having been depressed over the recent death of her father.  He did not tell the jury about the four death notices of her father that Ardelle had with her in the car.  On appeal, the Florida Supreme Court reversed the conviction, holding that there was simply no evidence on which to base the conviction.  Golden was exonerated of all charges and released in 1994.  (FLCC) (DPIC)  [12/06]

 

Cook County, IL Sammie Garrett Nov 9, 1969
Garrett, a black man, was convicted of murdering his 28-year-old white girlfriend, Karen Thompson.  Thompson had been in a "highly emotional state" and left a purported suicide note.  Two police officers testified at Garrett’s trial that, given the length of the shotgun and the location of the wound, it would have been impossible for Thompson to have shot herself.  Since there was only one bullet hole on the exterior of her head, they assumed it was an entrance wound.  However, five years later Thompson's remains were reexamined and the examination disclosed an entrance wound in the roof of her mouth that the original pathologist had overlooked.  The Illinois Supreme Court overturned Garrett's conviction in 1975 and the State's Attorney dropped charges.  (NL)  [1/06]

 

Wabash County, IL John Cochran Oct 16, 1888 (Mount Carmel)

On Oct. 16, 1888 John Buchenberger, a businessman from Evansville, Indiana was found unconscious with a gunshot to the head.  His revolver, with one empty shell chamber, was found by his side.  Buchenberger had bought the revolver the day before his shooting.  He died three days after the shooting without regaining consciousness.

In November, John Cochran, a local man, whom Buchenberger had met, was tried for Buchenberger’s murder. At trial, Charles Reese, a horse thief, testified that Cochran admitted to the murder. The jury found Cochran guilty and he was sentenced to life in prison.  However, unknown to the defense, Buchenberger’s wife in Evansville received a letter from her husband four days after the shooting.  In it Buchenberger stated, “he was about to part from the world of mortals to dwell with his heavenly father.”  The wife eventually made the contents of this suicide letter known.  Because of the letter, Illinois Governor Fifer pardoned Cochran in August 1890.  (NL)  [9/07]

 

Oakland County, MI Dr. Jack Kevorkian Sept 17, 1998 (Waterford Twp)
Kevorkian was convicted of murdering 52-year-old Thomas Youk.  Youk was terminally ill and suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease.  Youk wanted to commit suicide as a means to end his suffering and enlisted the aid of physician Kevorkian to ensure that it was done right.  Kevorkian videotaped Youk's consent to his assistance and the assisted suicide.  Kevorkian aired the tape to a national audience on the "60 Minutes" TV show.  Physicians reportedly assist the terminally ill end their lives all the time and they are not even investigated, but Kevorkian's crime was to document his assistance.  Kevorkian was paroled in June 2007.  [10/05]

 

Franklin County, OH Kevin Tolliver Dec 29, 2001

Kevin Alan Tolliver, a black man, was convicted of murdering Claire Schneider, his white live-in girlfriend.  According to Tolliver, Schneider killed herself with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.  Although she was clinically depressed and had not taken her Paxil medicine in 4 days, Schneider's shooting of herself in the mouth, happened so unexpectedly that it appeared to be an involuntary suicide.  She may not have been aware that the gun was loaded.  The shooting occurred shortly after midnight.

Tolliver was a severe dyslexic since childhood, and emotionally went to pieces following his girlfriend's death.  He screamed and cried.  Two neighbors in his building, hearing his screams called police, but police came and left without finding the source of the disturbance.  Police finally were summoned back by Tolliver's ex-wife, more than an hour after the shooting.  Police arrested Tolliver immediately and performed no investigation.  They did not test either Tolliver's or Schneider's hands for gunshot residue.

The coroner was prepared to rule that Schneider's death was self-inflicted, until the police gave their theory.  He still ruled that her death was undetermined. The prosecution argued murder and Tolliver was convicted because of ineffective defense and the perjured testimony of a jailhouse snitch.  Tolliver is serving 16 years to life imprisonment.  (Free KT)  [4/08]

 

Cameron County, TX Susan Mowbray Sept 16, 1987

“Susie” Mowbray was convicted of murdering her husband, J. William "Bill" Mowbray, Jr.  After incessantly protesting her innocence, she was granted a retrial in 1996 by a Texas appeals court that ruled prosecutors concealed a crucial report on the blood splatter evidence that supported Mowbray's innocence.  When retried in 1998, forensic evidence supported the defense claim that Mowbray's husband committed suicide while she was asleep next to him in bed.  Dr. Herbert MacDonnell testified that it was likely Bill Mowbray committed suicide.  Mowbray was acquitted.  [10/05]

 

Powhatan County, VA Beverly Monroe Mar 4, 1992
Beverly Anne Monroe was convicted of the murder of Roger Zygmunt Comte de la Burdé, her wealthy lover.  De la Burdé, 60, died at Windsor on his 220-acre estate.  His body was found on a couch in his library with a bullet in his head from his own revolver.  Monroe had been his companion for 12 years.  In 2002, a federal judge overturned Monroe's conviction due to the withholding of exculpatory evidence by the prosecution.  The judge also ruled that "The physical evidence necessary to show whether [de la Burdé's] death was a murder or a suicide was . . . either tainted or lost."  Monroe was subsequently released from prison.  (TruthInJustice)  [5/08]

 

Wise County, VA Merry Pease Nov 18, 1993 (Exeter)
Merry was convicted of murdering her husband, Dennis Pease.  Merry maintains her husband shot her, after which he turned the gun on himself and committed suicide.  Merry was prosecuted on the theory that she shot her husband, and then shot herself to cover-up her crime.  The case prosecutor withheld evidence at trial such as a medical examiner's report that ruled her husband's death a suicide.  Merry's conviction has been overturned twice, but the Virginia Supreme Court reinstated her second conviction.  Merry was paroled in 2006.  (www.justiceformerry.com) (Bristol Herald Courier)  [12/05]