Suicide

Arizona's Total Child Deaths Go Down, but Homicides and Suicides Go Up

We just took a look at perhaps the most morbid report we've seen this year, with about 100 pages detailing how children died in Arizona in 2011.The Arizona Child Fatality Review Program released its 19th annual report today, and it includes a whole lot of statistics and trends, including the fact th ... More >>

The Curious Death of Sergeant Sean Drenth

Santa Cruz County Officials Refusing To Release $10K Impounded from Girlfriend During Investigation of Boyfriend's Suicide, But Did Give Her Gun He Used To Shoot Himself

Leslie Lysy tells New Times that the Santa Cruz Sheriff's Office is refusing to return about $10,000 they impounded along with the Yukon she and her boyfriend were traveling in when he shot himself in the head with a 9mm Glock. That was on April 10, 2011 -- a traumatic incident made worse with how ... More >>

Schools Ignore Bullying of Gays at Their Own Peril

Another DOC Inmate Dead From Apparent Suicide; That Makes Two in 24 Hours

​It appears the Arizona Department of Corrections has two suicides on its hands -- and they happened within 24 hours of each other.The DOC announced this morning that inmate Karot Phothong, 37, was found unresponsive in his cell at the ASPC-Florence on Saturday. DOC spokesman Bill Lamoreaux says i ... More >>

ASU Student Who Jumped Off Arizona Republic Building Was Newspaper's Intern, Sources Say *UPDATED*

​An Arizona State University student who jumped off the Arizona Republic building in downtown Phoenix last night in an apparent suicide attempt was an intern at the newspaper, sources tell New Times.The student lept from the roof of the Republic's parking garage at Second and Taylor stree ... More >>

Sergeant Sean Drenth Death a Suicide?

The County Medical Examiner determined that Phoenix Sergeant Sean Drenth committed suicide. Phoenix police aren't as convinced.​The Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office today will issue its official ruling in the October 2010 shooting death of Phoenix Sergeant Sean Drenth.As we reported last ... More >>

Chandler Cop Shoots Suicidal Gunman -- After Gunman Shot Himself in the Head

​An officer-involved shooting in Chandler earlier this week has been ruled a suicide -- turns out the victim shot himself in the head before getting shot by police.According to the Chandler Police Department, about 6:45 p.m. Monday, 39-year-old Adam Buckner pointed a gun at one of his neighbors in ... More >>

Rebecca Zahau's Body to Be Exhumed For New Autopsy; Family Doesn't Buy Cops' Findings That Death Was Suicide

Rebecca Zahau's family doesn't believe her death was a suicide.​The body of Rebecca Zahau, the girlfriend of Jonah Shacknai, the CEO of the Scottsdale-based pharmaceutical company Medicis, will be exhumed so a private pathologist can conduct a second autopsy to try and determine whether her bizarr ... More >>

Vitamin Huckster Donald Lapre Found Dead in Prison Cell; Suicide Suspected

​Alleged Phoenix scammer Donald Lapre, the owner of the company The Best Vitamin in the World, was found dead in his prison cell in Florence yesterday morning in what authorities say was an apparent suicide.Lapre, who was indicted in June for fraud, was found unresponsive in his cell in a federal ... More >>

Jonah Shacknai Asks For Review of Suicide Findings in Death of Girlfriend Rebecca Zahau

Rebecca Zahau's bizarre death was ruled a suicide earlier this month by the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. ​Jonah Shacknai, the CEO of Scottsdale-based Medicis pharmaceutical company, has asked the California attorney general to review the San Diego County Sheriff's Department's finding th ... More >>

Rebecca Zahau "Suicide" Now More Bizarre; Unexplained Head Injuries Raise More Questions

New info casts doubt on the theory that Rebecca Zahau's death was a suicide. ​The bizarre death of Rebecca Zahau -- the girlfriend of Scottsdale-based Medicis CEO Jonah Shacknai, whose death was ruled a suicide last week -- just got more bizarre; the results of Zahau's autopsy make it seem even le ... More >>

Rebecca Zahau's Death Ruled Suicide; Death of Jonah Shacknai's Son an Accident

Rebecca Zahau committed suicide, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.​The San Diego County Sheriff's Department today released its findings on the bizarre deaths of both the girlfriend and son of Scottsdale-based Medicis CEO Jonah Shacknai.The death of Shacknai's son Max, 6 -- w ... More >>

Rebecca Zahau's Death Ruled Suicide; Death of Jonah Shacknai's Son an Accident

Rebecca Zahau committed suicide, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department.​The San Diego County Sheriff's Department today released its findings on the bizarre deaths of both the girlfriend and son of Scottsdale-based Medicis CEO Jonah Shacknai.The death of Shacknai's son Max, 6 -- w ... More >>

Sergeant Sean Drenth Death Investigation: "Significant Evidence Someone Was at the Scene"

Sergeant Sean Drenth​The Phoenix Police Department held a press conference this afternoon to discuss the findings of the soon-to-be-released report on the investigation into the death of Sergeant Sean Drenth, who was found shot to death near the State Capitol last October.The report, as Phoenix po ... More >>

Final Exit Network Murder Case Likely Goes To Jury Today

An eight-person jury will start its deliberations today in a difficult case involving a suicidal Phoenix woman and a national right-to-die organization.Will the jury be able to unanimously decide this one?​Superior Court Judge Paul McMurdie is presiding at the manslaughter trial of co-defendants L ... More >>

Final Exit Network Members Going on Trial After 2007 Assisted Suicide of Phoenix Woman

Jeff Ahlers' Death Ruled Suicide -- Eight Months Later

The death of Jeff Ahlers was reportedly a suicide.​Frequent New Times readers know that we've spent a good part of the last eight months covering the mysterious death of Jeff Ahlers, a Tempe man whose bullet-riddled body was pulled from a canal last June.It turns out, the death has now been ruled ... More >>

Tucson Rampage Adds to Long History of U.S. Shooting Sprees

​Saturday's shooting rampage in Tucson, which left six people dead and 14 others injured -- including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords -- is just the latest in at least 30 documented rampage shootings in American history.Listed below are 10 of the deadliest:

Peoria Gunshot Victim Lied to Police About Shooter. Turns Out, She Shot Herself

​The same week the Peoria Police Department issued a friendly reminder that residents shouldn't kill themselves, it turns out a woman who told police she was shot by an unidentified white male actually shot herself."[Her story] was so vague we knew it wasn't true right away," Mike Tellef, spokesma ... More >>

Jeff Ahlers Shooting: Gun Found in Drained Tempe Canal Less Than a Mile Upstream From Where Body Was Discovered

Jeff Ahlers was found shot to death in a Tempe canal in June. Last week, a gun possibly used in his death was found less than a mile from where his body was discovered. ​Last month, following the New Times article linked here, the Tempe Police Department reportedly had a canal -- in which the body ... More >>

Three Suicides in Peoria in 24 Hours Prompts Police to Remind Residents Not to Kill Themselves

www.amazon.comA message from the Peoria Police Department.​The Peoria Police Department has a message for residents: don't kill yourself.In a 24-hour period starting at about 5 p.m. last Friday, three people in Peoria committed suicide. That, the Peoria PD says, is a lot. "This is a time of the ye ... More >>

Still No Word on Tempe Man Found Shot in Canal; Police Say Investigation is Active

Jeff Ahlers​The mystery over who killed 47-year-old Jeffrey Ahlers is shaping up to be a regular "who done it" and Tempe police say there is no new information in the case the department can share with the public.There are suspects, though -- it was either Ahlers himself or somebody else.

Tempe Police Won't Say Whether Gun Was Found Near Body of Man They Believe May Have Shot Himself

Jeff Ahlers​It's been nearly three weeks since a man was found dead in a Tempe canal with a gunshot wound on his body and Tempe police still haven't determined whether he was murdered or committed suicide -- or they're not tellin' anyone about it if they have.If 47-year-old Jeff Allen Ahlers, of T ... More >>

Suicide at the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections

Homicide or Suicide? Still No Word on Death of Tempe Man; Friends Seem to Think Murder

Tempe Police Department Jeff Ahlers was found dead in a Tempe canal last week.​Tempe police still don't know whether the gunshot wound discovered on the body of a Tempe man found dead in an irrigation canal last week was self-inflicted or the work of a cold-blooded murderer. Temp ... More >>

Suicide Fail: Man Fails to Die After Crashing Explosive-Packed Car Off Cliff in Mohave County; Then he Got Arrested

Mohave County Sheriff's OfficeThis car is packed with explosives, which, thankfully for James Pierson, never went off.​A Washington man apparently tried to kill himself this morning when he crashed his car -- packed with all sorts of explosive materials -- off a cliff near Oatman.Seemingly to his ... More >>

Second Inmate Suicide in Less Than a Month at Florence Prison

Arizona Department of CorrectionsJesus Cota​For the second time in less than a month, an inmate at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Eyman at Florence has committed suicide, or, to put it in prison-speak, he "hung it up."Corrections officials announced today that 28-year-old Jesus Cota was pronounc ... More >>

Police Release ASU Suicide 911 Call

www.asu.eduMookesh Patel, the ASU professor whose office was the scene of an apparent suicide Monday by one of his students ​Arizona State University police have released the audio of the 911 call made after a graduate student shot himself in his professors office Monday.You can listen to it here. ... More >>

Breaking News: County Attorney Andrew Thomas to Announce Search Warrants Issued in Phoenix Assisted Suicide Case

  This just in: Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas is about to announce the issuance of search warrants in the 2006 assisted suicide of a mentally ill Phoenix woman. The case, which involved volunteers coming to town to help 58-year-old Jana Van Voorhis kill herself, was firs ... More >>

UPDATE: County Attorney Andrew Thomas Says Final Exit Network "Assisted Suicide" Case on Front Burner

County Attorney Andrew Thomas didn't answer many questions at his press conference a few hours ago about Phoenix's "assisted suicide" case, the story we broke in an August 2007 piece entitled "Death Wish." What he did tell those assembled in the crowded conference room of his eighth-floor ... More >>

Do Murder-Suicides Ever Go "Right?"

Mormon Widower Doug Grant Wasn’t Counting on a Murder Rap When He Followed His Late Wife’s Instruction to Marry His Ex-Lover

Method used in the apparent suicide of a laid-off Tribune critic is common in Japan

Was David Hans Schmidt a victim of autoerotic asphyxiation? And more on his wicked, wicked ways. (WITH UPDATE.)

Death Wish

The Final Exit volunteers call it assisted suicide. Prosecutors may call it manslaughter

The Last Word

Perspectives on suffering

Teenage Wasteland

It's up to Governor Janet Napolitano to make sure history doesn't repeat itself — that is, boldly reform juvenile corrections. Or at least make sure someone's watching

Faster Than a Speeding Bullet

Rescuing George Reeves

Meth Fatalities

Methamphetamine is number-one with a bullet when it comes to violent death in Phoenix

Letters

Letters from the issue of Thursday, June 16, 2005

Assisted Suicide

A county psychiatrist's indifferent treatment of a disturbed inmate leads to a courthouse hanging

Turning Up the Heat

There's a difference between justice and vengefulness -- something that's lost on Sheriff Joke.

Juvenile Offenses

A federal investigation documents serious abuses at the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections

Worse Than Ever

Agency insiders say conditions are continuing to deteriorate at ADJC

Suicide Watch

Another death at a state-run youth detention facility has advocates worried

A Deadly Game?

State officials say boy died playing around, despite his recent suicide threat

The Hanging

Insider claims state hid suicidal behavior

REMEMBERING DOUG HOPKINS

A DEATH ON THE WARDHOMER TOWNSEND WANTS TO KNOW HOW HIS WIFE SUCCEEDED IN KILLING HERSELF INSIDE A PSYCHIATRIC HOSPITAL