Two Elderly People Shot in Car Near Fort Bragg May Be Suicide Pact

Press release the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office:

mcso Mendocino County Sheriff's Office MCSOOn 3/4/2018 around 8:10 PM the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office received a report of two elderly persons found deceased inside a vehicle in the 24000 Block of Highway 20 in Fort Bragg, CA.  Deputies later identified the couple as Wolfgang and Linda Bayer (husband and wife), from Burlingame, CA.  Deputies confirmed that both persons were deceased from gunshot wounds.  The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Detective Unit was called to the scene to investigate the deaths.

Detectives did not observe anything at the scene that indicated there was a different party involved in the incident aside from the two deceased persons.  Subsequent investigation revealed the couple had forwarded a letter to a relative, prior to them coming to Mendocino County, outlining they had extensive medical problems as well as being in financial difficulties.

Based upon the scene investigation as well as additional information learned from relatives the case appears to have been a suicide pact between husband and wife and there are no indications of foul play or evidence any other party was involved in the incident.

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picchu
Guest
6 years ago

How very sad that in the “greatest” of all nations, people are driven to this for lack of money or health care.

SourTangant
Guest
SourTangant
6 years ago
Reply to  picchu

Agree 100%

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  SourTangant

There is nothing on offer to indicate their problems were due to some massive fault in American society. Some people value personal freedom over dependency and choose their actions based on their own values. That would be my preference, although being willing to live within my own boundaries has worked do far. When that fails, I still hope to be able to make my own choices based on what I feel is right, not what someone else decides for me.

....ayfkm?
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  Guest

The fuck are you talking about?? Read it again.

SourTangant
Guest
SourTangant
6 years ago
Reply to  Guest

The letter to the family about medical and financial problems is why i made the assumption.

I can tell you from my personal experience that our system is broken. I have health issues (that I was born with and in no way created) and I pay through the roof for insurance which will not cover “pre-existing conditions” and will not cover medications and procedures I require.

This then creates a catch 22 or a downward spiral that I can not control or break free of on my own:
Without these medical/health things that I require, I am unable to work more than like 35 hours a week, I then can not afford insurance, medication, procedures, and copays, I then have to miss work due to illness, then can not afford bills, food, gas, rent….and it keeps going.

I am educated, hard working, not lazy, do not want to live off others or the government and if my health was better, I would work 2 jobs or as many as needed to pay for the things I require. If health needs were seen as a must in our country instead of a privalage we would have less people on disability, less homeless, less poverty, less poor, more employable hard working people, better economy (because people have more $ to spend), better education and services (because more taxes are paid)….see where I’m going with this?

Because in the United States the health industry is a “for profit” business, only the upper class population can afford the health care they “need” and the rest of us are left to choose what health needs we can take care of and which ones we have to ignore.

Garddawg
Guest
Garddawg
6 years ago
Reply to  SourTangant

Quit making it about you.

SourTangant
Guest
SourTangant
6 years ago
Reply to  Garddawg

Wow Garddawg. That’s really what you took from my post? It’s an example.

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  SourTangant

Round the clock care at home,without medical care, costs over $100,000 per year, you find yourself at constant risk of abuse by those hired to care for you. It takes very little to take all the money and resources most people have. So the government steps in and you find yourself in a nursing home. All for the quality of life you may find awful.

There are certainly going to be those who choose otherwise.

Nobody
Guest
Nobody
6 years ago
Reply to  SourTangant

No doubt! !

J Dubbs
Guest
J Dubbs
6 years ago
Reply to  SourTangant

So how do you propose we reimburse medical professionals for the money time they’ve spent and hardship they’ve endured to earn a degree and live in the upper class?

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  J Dubbs

Many, if not most, doctors work hours that would horrify the rest of us. Nurses, techs, etc too, taking care of all sorts of demanding people. With lots of stress to boot.

Doctors tend to be well compensated but a stock broker does better. Does not mean that all medical personnel are self sacrificing angels but that category of human is pretty scarce. No where near as many as needed to cope with the volume of those who need medical services. So society would be well served to compensate them as well as can be afforded.

Mr Anderson
Guest
Mr Anderson
6 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Then why not pay our service members $100k a year instead of struggling to make ends meet just to raise a family. All the while ensuring that you sleep well at night.

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  Mr Anderson

Because you do not have to. There is no draft. The people there are there because they want to be. There are perks that don’t show up in public. Spoken as a former dependent of career military.

Emily
Guest
Emily
6 years ago
Reply to  J Dubbs

It’s the drug companies who are making out like bandits.. the doctors are not the reason for high insurance costs. Although they are somewhat complicit with drug companies.

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  Emily

Yes. But how to control without suppressing is the question.

Mr Anderson
Guest
Mr Anderson
6 years ago
Reply to  J Dubbs

Well first of all Dr’s don’t price the medicine. Nobody is complaining about the Dr. Now the meds are a different story

THC
Guest
THC
6 years ago
Reply to  J Dubbs

The doctors and the nurses are making a very small percentage of the money we pay for the cost of healthcare. Most of the money you pay goes to insurance companies and to the outrageous overhead that the hospital charges, including high paying Administration jobs and grossly inflated medical item costs. Have you ever ask for itemized billing list after a visit to the hospital? you’re literally paying $20 for an aspirin $200 for a suture kit $400 for a pair of hemostats, things you could buy outside the hospital for pennies on the dollar. Are any of you old enough to remember that you used to just be able to call your doctor and he or she would actually come to your house and provide personal medical assistance to you and then you would pay them directly, much less than what hospitals charge you for the same procedures today.
Unfortunately this problem is going to get much worse, especially considering the government has fucked off all the money for Social Security using it as a slush fund to fund other pet projects.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2017/09/13/how-much-americans-at-have-in-their-savings-accounts.html

Especially here in California, there are going to be a lot of people who’ve worked a long time expecting to get a nice pension, unfortunately California is not going to be able to cover the pension promises it as made.

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.sacbee.com/opinion/california-forum/article192645574.html

Retirement is expensive and there’s going to be a huge portion of the population that won’t be able to afford it.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.fool.com/amp/investing/2017/04/21/the-average-cost-of-retirement-is-738400-will-you.aspx

Vicki
Guest
Vicki
6 years ago
Reply to  SourTangant

You are very correct in this. I’m sorry there are people out there who refuse to believe that hard working people can’t get shorter insurance.

Fd 4 Thot
Guest
Fd 4 Thot
6 years ago
Reply to  Guest

What they mean is that these days when you have health issues you have financial issues for sure and especially if youre elderly.
This is a societal problem and until you get sick and realize just how little there is out there to help you stay housed and fed, well you may not understand.

Ideally people would get it before being ill so they can promote change before it happens to them. Even if youre not elderly, once you cant work full time youre screwed and suicide becomes a daily thought. Some people who are seriously ill call it a brave act.

It is ridiculously awful how our elders are treated.
The homeless pop went up 23% in a year in LA with the largest majority newly homeless being ill/disabled people over the age of 60.
And this is just the start, we’re on a 1930’s style trajectory with a recession already beginning that will lead to a massive depression.

There are many areas in the country already building shanty towns due to so many homeless.
Besides the names not being Rockefeller, Astor or Hearst, how different will these times really be from the 30’s?

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  Fd 4 Thot

Balderdash. You’d think if you had lived long enough to complain like heck about how your life long medical condition was treated, you would have seen just how much others had done for you already.

You should spend some time reading foreign news sites, especially ones in countries with national health services. There would be stories about failures of health care every week. Ones about trying to raise funds to travel to places where they could get the treatment they wanted when the national insurance denied it.

Veteran's Friend
Guest
Veteran's Friend
6 years ago
Reply to  Guest

So health & financial issues was the part you skipped? [edit]

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago

Well apparently my response about the conjunction “and” not meaning because was removed, not edited as the above was. All the way the story was worded meant is that the financial difficulties are there along with the health issues. If it stated that they had financial difficulties due to health issues, there would be less scope for attacking that assumption.

Kym, sometimes grammer is the point and not a tool to attack.

CoveTroll
Guest
CoveTroll
6 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Well said guest (original post)

just me
Guest
just me
6 years ago
Reply to  picchu

great country . not any more. Ecuador is offering national health care for ex pats. $78 a month. what a fucking shame that health care is pushing seniors over the edge.i get it. im in the same boat as them. Thailand filling $10 no appointment necessary. most scrips you dont need a dr except pain med. medical and dental problems don’t exist for me out of country. Columbia and Thailand you can live well for less than a $1000 a month.they respect elders and are polite and help full people.these are cash prices with no insurance.

SourTangant
Guest
SourTangant
6 years ago

Hmmmm….. did they find a gun in one of their hands?

Humboldt Lady
Guest
Humboldt Lady
6 years ago
Reply to  SourTangant

I’m thinking they found two guns, or it would be a murder suicide. So very sad, my condolences to the family and friends.

funnylucky
Guest
funnylucky
6 years ago
Reply to  Humboldt Lady

Could have been just one gun…one uses it, when they are done the other uses it.

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago

Sad but hopefully at least it was the choice for both of them. Not one imposed on the other. I suppose there will be much assuming of reasons in comments to suit various agendas but sometimes there is only the choice between going on or not. At least if your goal is to retain your freedom to choose.

....ayfkm?
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  Guest

You’re the one with the agenda, [edit]

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  ....ayfkm?

Yes, I have an agenda. Have suffered a curable illness that got worse and worse until it almost killed me, I found myself trapped by insurance where the providers I saw were restricted to an HMO network – the same restrictive nature as national health services- where the doctors would not refer me to outside of area specialists yet could not fix the issue themselves. No referral from the plan doctors meant I could not even get into see the specialists myself. I was trapped.

I was lucky to get the chance to switch to a medical plan that was much more expensive, covered far less but offered me the opportunity to choose my doctors. I switched immediately. The new doctor reviewed my records for tests already done but dismissed by other doctors. He referred me to an outside of area hospital because he felt the local ones were not equipped to diagnose the unusual symptoms. It took a few visits to get a diagnosis and the surgery that cured me. By that time, I could barely walk and was in horrible pain but I was cured by the surgery. Not helped but cured with a relatively simply surgery. After years of no help.

In the end, the cost of the surgery was half the cost a new car and saved my life. The costs of travel, hotels, taxis, etc for the 6 visits I made to get the diagnosis and surgery cost more than the medical bills themselve. And it caused me financial problems for few years. I considered it a bargain.

So my agenda is to have the freedom to seek my own choices and avoid the easy trap of letting others pay and have the right to choose for me. Now I’m old enough to have Medicare so again my choices are limited by the way Medicare works by law to force doctors and hospitals to accept what they pay no matter what. Medicare is so pervasive that it really can’t be avoided except by the very wealthiest so I can’t avoid it myself. If I find myself in a similar place as I was 10 years ago, I’m not sure that I would have the sheer determination now needed to do what I did then.

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  Guest

My agenda doesn’t allow inaccuracies to go unchecked on a couple of issues. Medical insurance being one.

Beside being wrong, what’s your agenda with personal remarks? Am I your personal agenda?

Emily
Guest
Emily
6 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Just having a little fun don’t be so sensitive..

Veteran's Friend
Guest
Veteran's Friend
6 years ago
Reply to  Guest

THEY LEFT A MESSAGE.
THIS IS NOT A MYSTERY

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago

It should be if you did not fill in the blanks with a combination of internal fears and predigested social philosophy created by stories.

Humboldt Boys
Guest
Humboldt Boys
6 years ago

Thanks Trump, we will see many more cases like this with elderly are forced into paying increasing amounts for health care insurance since trump taylored to the insurance companies

Shel
Guest
Shel
6 years ago
Reply to  Humboldt Boys

Why don’t you try the real culprit: insurance companies. Go ahead and look at what they charge you, now look at what they are willing to pay as a ‘reasonable charge’. My insurance think that it is a reasonable charge to have a filling done for $12USD .. that’s right, twelve dollars is all they will pay the dentist to put a filling in a molar here in good old USA. The insurance monthly bill is more than my mortgage and I have to still pay a $500 deductible. The insurance company’s went crazy with the Obamacare crap and things have been messed up royally. I am not blaming any president past nor present because the insurance companies have always been greedy.

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  Shel

Then get better insurance with a larger reimbursement. I agree that insurance is not the best for a cost effective treatment. Paying it all yourself is. But as long as there are others who have good insurance, dentists can charge what that traffic will bear.

The idea that there is an entity that can arrange for everyone to have all the care they want at no cost to them is a fantasy. The government is probably the most expensive insurance in the world. The costs they pay for employees including retirement benefits, premium collection, lawsuits, etc is much higher than private companies pay. They do on the other hand pay out to stockholders and other based on profits so at least they have some incetive on cost control whereas the government only worries about that at election time. The government is equally sharp in controlling cost by restricting access.

Gov't BY the People
Guest
Gov't BY the People
6 years ago
Reply to  Humboldt Boys

He is NOT my President and never will be. I would think that fact you support a pathological liar and Mussolini like president says a lot about who you are. And as is my right I will not shut up and I am working everyday to insure he will not be reelected. Ever!

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago

The fact that you make up 90% of what offends you to come up with this nonsense should be an embarassment to you. But then It is obviously not. I’ll bet you supported the Democrats version of pathological liars just fine.

Sunshine
Guest
Sunshine
6 years ago

First off no one should be saying anything when you don’t know what your speaking on. If you don’t know the people in the story stop running your mouths like if your a detective. Everyone has their own problems & how they deal with them & life is no ones business. Just give your condolences to the family & keep stupid comments to yourself. Thanks

Your Mom
Guest
Your Mom
6 years ago
Reply to  Sunshine

I agree.
R.I.P. So sorry for the family.

Buster
Guest
Buster
6 years ago

“….they had extensive medical problems as well as being in financial difficulties.”

I am going to assume that the financial difficulties were due to medical bills. What happens to those debts? Do they just disappear or does it legally become the responsibility of their child(ren), next of kin, etc? Asset forfeiture until exhausted?

Veteran's Friend
Guest
Veteran's Friend
6 years ago
Reply to  Buster

That is EXACTLY how it goes. Spend down your assets until you are penniless. Then we will buy you dog food & diapers and you can sleep in your car.

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago

That is also exactly what happens when the government takes over too. The government can’t cope with personal problems well either. As soon as the number of people taking exceeds the number of those giving, the government resembles the lowest common denominator- failure. Just like it becomes criminal when too much of the population is criminal.

Another fishwife
Guest
Another fishwife
6 years ago
Reply to  Buster

The debts are NOT passed to the relatives. They would be part of an estate if there is one. If not, they are written off. My mother was on SSI & we were not held to pay any of her debts.

Old lady
Guest
Old lady
6 years ago
Reply to  Buster

You know that to “assume” anything makes an ass of you and me. You can’t assume the financial difficulties were health cost related unless you know that for certain. Maybe they gambled or made a bunch of bad investments. I’m just saying YOU DONT KNOW!

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago
Reply to  Kym Kemp

They may have had untreatable health issues and were simply tired of trying to cope. It happens to people with the best health care. And it is a fashionable reason to give out, garnering willing sympathy when it is not really true.

It is not a big jump to assume, just as you say, considering how many found it such an easy leap. But that sort of thing is what leads to rampant misunderstandings and feelings of deprivation.

Can heath care cause financial distress? Certainly. But the issue is nowhere near as simple as that assumption.

Che
Guest
Che
6 years ago

Agree picchu

For Real
Guest
For Real
6 years ago

Thanks for cutting meals on wheels Trump!😉

Redic
Guest
Redic
6 years ago
Reply to  For Real

You can say this stuff but not wook? I don’t get it. Oh it’s political discourse right? You people are ridiculous.

Anon Forrest
Guest
6 years ago

Well done, dear departed. You’re free, with your dignity intact.

Ann Meadlin
Guest
Ann Meadlin
6 years ago

They can now go home together. My condolences to their family. It is just so sad.

J Dubbs
Guest
J Dubbs
6 years ago

What’s the consensus on suicide around here, yea or ney? Not young people of course, I’m talking 1) anyone over 21 with teminal illness after an appropriate waiting period and with medical professional assistance. 2) anyone over 21 period with their own arrangements. 3) any incarcerated persons with means and method provided by their facility including a large fatal pharm-grade dose of their narcotic of choice.. or rope or Tide pods or whatever. And would this be considered pro-choice?

So easy to say. So difficult to do................
Guest
So easy to say. So difficult to do................
6 years ago
Reply to  J Dubbs

My brother was a Vietnam vet who was exposed to Agent Orange. He thought he was serving his country, but his country was trying to kill him. First he had prostate cancer followed by Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He had PTSD with dreams that left him with anger issues. The VA superficially treated him. He said his entire life was determined by the 14 months he spent in Vietnam fighting a losing war. He had two divorces and lost four different jobs. His three children disconnected with him. He fought drugs and alcohol. I remember him when he was my brother. A gentler person who was my best friend when we lived at home. Then he took his own life. Left a letter saying at 70 years old he had lost the will to continue fighting. LBJ was mostly a failed president. And Trump is well on his way to failure only worse he is a pathological liar. Robert McNamara told the troops that we would win the Vietnam War. He was a liar also. Ken Burns showed that. Nearly 59,000 mostly young men average age 19.5 years lost their lives and for what? To make military weapons corporations richer? My brother would have been the first to say NONE of our freedoms were being jeopardized by North Vietnam. Same could be said for Korea and in the past 20 years other conflicts with little or no purpose. Plus we (America) caused 2.3 million South Vietnamese to be murdered. My point is his Gov’t put him and thousands more in harm’s way. And his country did little for him other than provide him with medical coverage. I am OK with him taking his life. At 70 he survived a miserable life that pretty much was a failure. And his country wouldn’t even respect his choice. He told me many times that if he knew what a horrible life he would live after Vietnam he would have taken a bullet in-country. And sadly we are doing the same thing today. Ending one’s life should be a choice and that act should be as painless as medically possible. Since our beginning we have been a violent society world wide. When veterans of all eras are ending their lives America has failed these vets and the millions of innocent civilians we murdered. Or as our Gov’t puts it “lives lost to collateral damage”.

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago

As you have the freedom to say right now. Nothing, even horrors, are so simple.

Sleepy Alligator
Guest
Sleepy Alligator
6 years ago

That doesn’t even make sense.

casey
Guest
casey
6 years ago

read again..it’s funny

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago

Oh, what inspired analysis. If only the mentally tongue tied were literally the same what a wonderful world it would be. If Trump hate is so represented by remarks like this, it becomes necessary to distance oneself from any taint of being in the same camp. All that is necessary is that Trump is better than you for him to win. And that is an awfully low bar to cross.

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago

On medical care…much can be defined by how many people are walking around with missing teeth…bad fitting dentures ( made in prisons that take a year or more to get and then still don’t fit )…needing glasses, hearing aids, etc.

Also it seems to me that the war on opioids while much needed..is actually being waged on chronic pain patients that are not a cause of the problem…and I suspect will cause many more suicides. In 2 to 5 years I expect that to be the new headlines

Just things I see.

KIDDZZ
Guest
KIDDZZ
6 years ago

Some good examples in here mixed with incredibly, and all to common, ignorant commentary. It’s simple really, just go do some research on the health care in the U.S. compared to other developed country’s. Don’t take anyone’s word in this forum, go look it up yourself. Try not to use only FOX NEWS though, get a variety of sources and make an educated opinion out of it.

RK
Guest
RK
6 years ago

I knew the man through business and just heard about it. He was a very nice guy always friendly, really sad how something can be so bad in life that one thinks suicide is the only answer. I feel bad for the family. I hope the best for the family.

J. Smith
Guest
J. Smith
6 years ago

It could be as simple as one of them having a major health issue and living alone as the expected survivor, not an option. I can see this happening easily, and sadly enough.