US: Wife shoots herself as home is repossessed

A wife shot herself moments after writing to her mortgage company to tell them by the time they foreclosed on her house she would be dead.

Police in Taunton, Massachusetts said Carlene Balderrama used her husband’s high-powered rifle to kill herself on Tuesday shortly after faxing the letter.

The mortgage company called police, who found Mrs Balderrama’s body an hour later. The auction for the house was scheduled to start at 5pm and interested buyers were arriving as Mrs Balderrama’s body was still inside, said police chief Raymond O’Berg.

Mr O’Berg said Mrs Balderrama’s fax read, in part: “By the time you foreclose on my house I’ll be dead.”

He added that a suicide note found next to Mrs Balderrama told her husband, John, and 24-year-old son to “take the (life) insurance money and pay for the house.”

“I had no clue,” said John Balderrama, explaining that his wife handled all the couple’s finances. “I’m just lost. I tell you, I’m beside myself.”

He said his wife had been intercepting letters from the mortgage company and shredding them without his knowledge. He had no idea she had not paid the mortgage in 42 months.

“She put in her suicide note that it got overwhelming for her,” he said. “Apparently she didn’t have anyone to talk to. She didn’t come to me. I don’t know why.”

Mr Balderrama filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy three times from 2004 to 2006, but the courts dismissed the petitions. Debtors who declare bankruptcy under Chapter 13 generally can keep their homes while paying off their debts under a court-approved reorganisation plan.