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Debt and Depression Cause of Murder/Suicide in Maryland

by Mary Richard | April 21, 2009 at 05:19 pm

2127 views | 42 Recommendations | 7 comments

The Maryland father who killed his wife and three children before shooting himself this past weekend had struggled with financial problems and mental illness, Frederick County Sheriff Charles Jenkins said on Tuesday.

At a news conference this afternoon, authorities released a raft of new details about the slayings, describing a scene more ghastly than what had been known since the bodies were discovered Saturday morning.

According to investigators, Francie Billotti-Wood, 33, and the couple's 5-year-old son, Chandler, were each shot twice in the head. Chandler's younger brother, 4-year-old Gavin, was shot three times; daughter Fiona, 2, was shot once.

After they were shot, the children's throats were slashed nearly to the point of decapitation, officials said.

Christopher Wood, 34, left six notes behind discussing his frustrations about their financial problems and the remorse he felt for what he'd done. One note also listed a number of medications he was on - anti-depressants, anti-anxiety drugs and other psychiatric medication.

Wood had a good job as an account manager, making $97,000 a year, but they'd only just moved to Maryland from Jacksonville, Florida last year after a job transfer, and they could not sell the Florida home. Trying to keep up with the mortgage payments, along with rent on the new home, left them more than $450,000 in debt.

In a blog under her name, Billotti-Wood said she thrived on the excitement of change, but her husband didn't handle it as well.

"Chris is trying to adjust but he is having a hard time with the new job which makes him more of a major player at work," a March 16 entry read.

"No one expected this, no one saw this coming in either family," said Sheriff Jenkins.

The families declined to comment but issued this joint statement.

They plan a funeral for all five family members on Friday at 11 a.m. at Holy Catholic Community Church in Middletown.

Previous NP coverage: Five Found Dead Inside Middletown Home

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Rhonda J Mangus

at 17:22 on April 21st, 2009

Thanks for continuing the coverage on a very difficult story, Blue Crush.

Amy Judd

at 17:35 on April 21st, 2009

How sad - money is often the root of many problems for lots of families.

Drew Bulman

at 20:39 on April 21st, 2009

I'll only disagree with you on this:

"but they tend to hide this information from us.. it's buried in the fine print and you can bet no doctor is going to make a point to tell you"

This is absolutely not true. A doctor has absolutely no incentive to keep this information from you, and to do so would violate the Hippocratic oath.

The correlation between anti-depressants and thoughts of suicide is not buried in the fine print, moreover. Any Wikipedia page, web MD page, any pharmacist and any doctor will absolutely tell the patient of this possible side effect.

Additionally, the printed information leaflet that accompanies any filled prescription lists all of the drugs side effects, reactions, and so on.

Also, the first sentence of this article says he suffered from mental illness. It seems odd to me that we're jumping right over his apparent mental illnesses and immediately blaming the medication, of which we know nothing about.

caj1

at 20:48 on April 21st, 2009

Good post, though I can barely stand reading of such violence! Why did this woman and her children have to suffer the consequences of her husband and the father's problems? There were other possible solutions to the problems!

Drew Bulman

at 21:24 on April 21st, 2009

You're making want to read some Gatsby...

harringtola

at 19:06 on April 22nd, 2009

Every time something like this happens I think how close we all are to such possibilities, whether as ourselves or in respect to family members. Why one person turns to such a dark tragic ending while another finds the light and a way to cope is a mystery, most medical and spiritual healers have yet to explain.

Alexia_G

at 03:02 on April 23rd, 2009

The JP Morgan Chase bank really did good last year when it comes to posting higher profit compared to this year. However, JPM, along with other large banks, takes it as a good sign because they are making a profit. They announced that with their return to profitability, they will begin paying back all the TARP funds that they received from the government, and treat it as a short term loan. This is a good move for them. Other large banks are following suit. This may mean fewer banks needing JPM, and returning to health like JPM.