Woman Chooses Death Over Foreclosure

(AP)  A 53-year-old wife and mother fatally shot herself shortly after faxing a letter to her mortgage company saying that by the time they foreclosed on her house that day, she would be dead.

Police said that Carlene Balderrama used her husband's high-powered rifle to kill herself Tuesday afternoon, shortly after faxing the letter at 2:30 p.m.

The mortgage company called police, who found Balderrama's body at 3:30 p.m. The auction was scheduled to start at 5 p.m. and interested buyers arrived at the property in Taunton, about 35 miles south of Boston, while Balderrama's body was still inside, according to Taunton police chief Raymond O'Berg.

Police did not immediately release the name of the mortgage company. O'Berg said Balderrama's fax read, in part, "By the time you foreclose on my house I'll be dead."

O'Berg also said a suicide note found next to Balderrama told her husband, John, and 24-year-old son to "take the (life) insurance money and pay for the house."

Joe Whitney, who works with Balderrama's husband, a plumber, said that Balderrama handled the bills and her husband didn't know about the foreclosure.

"John didn't even know about it, that's the surprise," Whitney told The Boston Globe. "It's just one of those awful, awful tragic events."

[cricketbeers]

Money or financial woes are a temporary problem that can be fixed later on. However, these problems cannot ever be fixed if you choose the permanent solution of suicide.

So what if you''re foreclosed, lose your house, etc. Consider it a step in another direction. Focus on living in a cheaper rental unit, putting some money aside each month and starting fresh. If you have to file bankruptcy to get yourself back on an even keel, then do so.

Things can ALWAYS be fixed one way or another. It''s only money! It''s not the end of the world ... the end of the world comes when you commit suicide and leave your family and friends heart broken, and p*ssed off that you took such a coward''s way out.

[rwsmith29456]

There are a lot of people out there who would love to sell you something you can''t afford. I feel sorry for her, too. She should have (easy for me to say) not kept this to herself until the very end.

[voltaire333]

It''s true, all the people who hate this woman for what she did are really very silly. I stand by my earlier statement that she was unhappy and looking for an exit--the foreclosure was not a cause, but an excuse. However, her deep depression is what made her think that death was the only way out. It wasn''t a selfish act, just an irrational one made possible by her depression. She''s to be pitied more than hated.

[tngreen]

Hold the phone...I''ve got a funny feeling about this one. Are they SURE the husband wasn''t aware of the situation? This sounds way too much like the plot of your next episode of City Confidential, to me. I think that the police should at least entertain the notion that it could be a homicide (spouse-icide).

[maggg1]

I live up here in NE and I will tell you that there are great people here just like the rest of the country that are over their heads with their morgages. It is not about being able to afford something or not. It is all about the rules changing and what they were told they could afford 3 or so years ago is not true now. I feel sorry for the family and give my best to them.

[txgrouch2006]

MorganBarber wrote
I thought most life insurance policies don''''t cover suicide.
--------------
They do after two years. Suicide is excluded only for the first two years.

[morganbarber]

I thought most life insurance policies don''t cover suicide.

[xmanborg]

That lady should not have killed her self. I feel sorry for the family and the Motgage company should have worked with her.

[xmanborg]

Now these IDIOTS ON THE SCI-FI CHANNEL with the Ultra REETARDED show called GHOST HUNTERS INTERNATIONAL will probably do a show at the house where this lady killed herself in TAUNTON, Mass. What a completely REETARDED show and huge waste of money, like there are so many GHOSTS all over the place that is justifys a TV show. WHAT A HUGE WASTE OF AIR TIME.

GHOST HUNTERS INTERNATIONAL is for REETARDS who live in Group Homes, its the most reetarded show on TV and a huge waste of Air Time.

[ubrew12]

sassalin said: "What a selfish horrible person. "

Selfish is when you hurt someone else for your own gain. I don''t think killing oneself counts as a gain, but maybe to you it does. I think, as such, that suicides are deserving of our pity, not our condemnation.

Again. Maybe your ethics or religion has taught you that a suicide actually GAINS something by killing themselves. Mine hasn''t. I just don''t think they are acting rationally.