Storm of problems shook Shaws to the core, friends say (suicide pact over personal/medical debt)

[girl gone mad]

Source: Dallas Morning News

Long before Rufus Shaw fatally shot his wife, Lynn Flint Shaw, in their Dallas home Monday night – and then killed himself in an apparent suicide pact – their lives had begun unraveling under pressure from a maelstrom of legal, health and financial woes.

Mr. Shaw's prostate cancer. The arrest of Ms. Shaw, 53, and her ensuing resignation as DART board chairwoman. And persistent, mounting debt that friends say had only put more pressure on the couple.

Together, those developments had conspired over time to derail their once prominent lives – but the sudden, grisly violence that ended them Monday night left those who knew them dumbfounded.

"They were going through some turbulence – not physically with one another. I'm just saying, just living," said Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway. "They were struggling, trying to rob Peter to pay Paul. He had gone through all those expensive cancer treatments and you know, all of that stuff, and that just takes a toll."

Dallas police say Mr. Shaw, 56, shot his wife in the head sometime before 9:40 p.m. Monday in their Braddock Place home in the Red Bird area. Before the shootings, he called their 21-year-old son and a longtime friend.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/yahoolatestnews/stories/031208dnmetshaws.471c5ef2.html?npc

[flashl]

1. Sad indeed. nt

:cry:

[catrose]

2. How sad

Even the relatively rich aren't immune to health care problems. I hope their friends will understand better now. Their poor son! What a burden to carry at age 21 (or any age, but still...)