Found Deceased WA - Cheryl DeBoer, 54, Mountlake Terrace, 8 February 2016 #7

[alreetlike]

From every source she was a smart gal. Smart gals would likely a. Not commit suicide

We're to address the post, not the poster, so I'll avoid passing comment here other than to say: IMO this is untrue. I lost my stepsister to suicide and she was a very smart girl. I'm saddened to read this comment. Mental health =/= smartness.

 

[brandi]

Everyone needs to stop taking the the "SMART GAL" comment so pedantically! It was meant as a nod to not understanding how Cheryl could commit suicide! It's a compliment to the victim and a I will speak for the poster that posted it originally.

 

[terracotta]

I just wanted to mention something about the weather in the PNW. The blood in the car could have still been damp because with all the rain there, things do not dry out well. Therefore it could have happened days before and just still hasn't dried.

I lived there and things always stayed damp for so long.

 

[alreetlike]

Everyone needs to stop taking the the "SMART GAL" comment so pedantically! It was meant as a nod to not understanding how Cheryl could commit suicide! It's a compliment to the victim and a I will speak for the poster that posted it originally.

I strongly disagree, but I'll leave it at that so as not to derail the thread.

And also because my lunch break is over....

 

[Beesknees]

Yes, we can suppose that Cheryl could commit suicide. Nobody is imune to it.

But, in order to do so we had to have some more information about her life and her way of being, her character.

We have learned she is kind, family oriented, likes the outdoors, is caring, is inteligente, even brilliant.

So, this person we have been told about could have felt life was too painful (for any reason we don't know, but the closest to her had to have a hint), but

- would she end her life like in this almost machiavellian way leaving her family with so many doubts and questions to add to the pain of losing her?

- would she, so loving of her family, leave this life without a single note left, at least to her only child?

- would she be pulling 'tricks' like charades (parking car, blood in car, animal blood(!!), bag losely over head, culvert) all this so near to home, once again to put her loved ones' minds to question all this?

- would she be inteligente and brilliant, but without intellectual honesty in order to be able to, however her pain to end it all to be so worried to stage her suicide, to be able to think with such coldness?

Only the ones who knew her closely may be able to answer this. Was she someone complicated and 'twisted'?

Was she cold (she was a hunter. I myself have big difficulty to understand how can a person point a gun to injure or kill an animal in cold blood, unless it is a famine person who needs to eat or to feed their famine children), but was she someone as cold as to have pre planned all this and to leave her family not knowing if she was murdered or killed herself?

I don't think so. For all I have been reading about this lady she was the oposite of all this (ok, I'll discount the hunting thing. May be a cultural use).

I think it would be much more lucrative for a killer to stage the crime to look like a suicide in order not to be caught than for a suicicidal person to stage their death to appear as if she was killed.

Why and how would a family oriented and loving mother 'offer' this awful puzzle to her beloved family?

I think she didn't! I do believe the same as from the start that Cheryl was killed!


Only as a note, I would rather 'prefer' a family member of mine to comitt suicide than to be murdered.
With the deep pain and loss in both cases, the idea of having a loving one pleading for their life or being tortured or whatever and wanting to live and being killed by someone else is completely unbearable :frown:

At least in a suicide however our certain feelings of guilt for not being there and our 'ifs', the person owned their life and did it by their own will...

 

[Stripehaven]

I just wanted to mention something about the weather in the PNW. The blood in the car could have still been damp because with all the rain there, things do not dry out well. Therefore it could have happened days before and just still hasn't dried.

I lived there and things always stayed damp for so long.

This is so true. I had carpeting shampooed recently, which left it barely damp. But it still took considerable time to dry completely. (I live just outside MLT,)

 

[Sun009]

The cat breeder (*as yet unverified) mentioned up thread that the police came to see her and the look at the meat product she uses for cat food. She says she showed them "how it could leak". Why would the police bother with this process if they find the plausibility of the "blood" in the car to be unrelated to this possible source of "blood-like" material?
Trying hard not to whip a dead horse here, but it seems many are very prepared to exclude this possibility in their reasoning. I am a fence sitter, but I find that a day old wet patch of pet food 'liquid' still the most acceptable and logical explanation. (If Cheryl wanted more of a 'crime scene' a few more splashes of finger blood would do it. If a murderer wanted to perplex or had some ritual to play out, wouldn't they make more of a show of it than a puddle on dark carpeting?)

Was this woman actually a "cat breeder"? I suppose police were going to talk to her anyway b/c she saw Cheryl recently. Maybe she offered up that explanation on her own and she showed them a demonstration? Or did they come see her specifically for that reason about the meat product? I missed this somewhere....

 

[Occam's Zebra]

At some point, people who are leaning toward suicide can explain away inconsistencies, open questions and things that don't make sense by saying "Well, people aren't rational when they choose to commit suicide."

Without a full picture of what happened, I can see why suicide would be considered. But if it's largely because the pieces of the puzzle don't fit, and thus we can write it off to CD being 'irrational' or 'not thinking clearly,' that's not a good enough reason for me.

 

[Beesknees]

Depression is a Silent Killer!
There does not have to a mental illness diagnosis to commit suicide?

I fully agree but there has to be at least one hint, one signal anytime, anyway that the most close to her had to be aware of.
Or it was a sudden and very tagic news she recieved in order to be so disgusted and in so much pain to end it all. And, if it was the latter, she wouldn't have the 'mind' to kill herself in the way we are told things happened and someone has to know something about the 'terrible news'.

 

[Occam's Zebra]

But wouldn't you think that someone who could plan a murder this well would have committed a murder before? This couldn't be the work of a first time offender - and be so completely evidence free.

We don't know that it's evidence free... do we? We only know what has been reported, here and in the media. There could be other evidence that's not being released because this is an active case.

 

[Eileen730]

I fully agree butthere has to be at least one hint, one signal anytime, anyway that the most close to her had to be aware of.
Or it was a sudden and very tagic news she recieved in order to be so disgusted and in so much pain to end it all. And, if it was the latter, she wouldn't have the 'mind' to kill herself in the way we are told things happened and someone has to know something about the 'terrible news'.

It is also possible one person has chose not to reveal it!

I sure have had my share of serious problems in my lifetime and I never shared any of my problems with anyone.
To all appearances I was a happy carefree happy woman.
Little did anyone know.

So IMO there does not have to be hints or signals.
And sometimes there is ONE person that knows but wont say.

Cheryl is not here to explain the why.
I do not think she was murdered,
Someone (IMO) knows the why.

 

[Beesknees]

It is also possible one person has chose not to reveal it!

I sure have had my share of serious problems in my lifetime and I never shared any of my problems with anyone.
To all appearances I was a happy carefree happy woman.
Little did anyone know.

So IMO there does not have to be hints or signals.
And sometimes there is ONE person that knows but wont say.

Cheryl is not here to explain the why.
I do not think she was murdered,
Someone (IMO) knows the why.

But are you saying Cheryl could have a motive and never had worded it to anyone (like you did when you too faced problems) or that she did sometime and who knows it is not disclosing the information?

I can accept someone knowing she was depressed but not wanting to spread the word it as it could be seen and that person feeling like 'betraying' Cheryl. Could it be?

 

[Lilibet]

Everyone needs to stop taking the the "SMART GAL" comment so pedantically! It was meant as a nod to not understanding how Cheryl could commit suicide! It's a compliment to the victim and a I will speak for the poster that posted it originally.

Saying a "smart gal wouldn't commit suicide" may have been meant as a "compliment to the victim" but it is an implied (although I'm sure unintended) insult to all the brilliant, creative, talented people who have chosen suicide. Those of us who challenged the comment are not being "pedantic", but are trying to counteract misinformation about depression. Smart people suffer from depression. Smart people commit suicide.

I don't understand how Cheryl could commit suicide either. But that's because I have seen no evidence that she suffered from depression. If you are familiar with the suicide of Leanne Bearden in TX two years ago, few of us on the thread knew she could have committed suicide until she was found two weeks later hanging from a tree. Only then was it revealed that this bright, full-of-life, well travelled woman had been depressed. Many of us received a valuable education about depression and suicide on that thread that we carry with us to other threads and try to share with those who have not had an opportunity to learn.

ETA: Referring to posters as "pedantic" is awfully personal IMO. It's possible to disagree without using unflattering and inaccurate adjectives.

 

[Sun009]

At some point, people who are leaning toward suicide can explain away inconsistencies, open questions and things that don't make sense by saying "Well, people aren't rational when they choose to commit suicide."

Without a full picture of what happened, I can see why suicide would be considered. But if it's largely because the pieces of the puzzle don't fit, and thus we can write it off to CD being 'irrational' or 'not thinking clearly,' that's not a good enough reason for me.

It sounds dismissive sometimes. Like being alive and people dismissing you as crazy, for any reason they can't understand about you. "What are you depressed about today...? You are healthy, you aren't starving? You have a lovely home"

 

[Occam's Zebra]

Everyone needs to stop taking the the "SMART GAL" comment so pedantically! It was meant as a nod to not understanding how Cheryl could commit suicide! It's a compliment to the victim and a I will speak for the poster that posted it originally.

It's hard to understand why *anyone* commits suicide, whether they are 'smart' or not. People who do commit suicide deserve our compassion, not our derision.

Cheryl was intelligent, yes - and intelligent people commit suicide every day. You could argue that someone who has been known all of her life as being 'smart' would be LESS likely to seek help for mental health issues, because she feels as if she should be 'smart' enough to handle it on her own.

Suicide is a possible outcome. Just because she appeared happy, had plans made, adopted a cat, no known history of mental health treatment, etc. does not mean everything was okay. We can't truly know what goes on inside someone else's head and heart. But I don't think we should assume suicide just because we can't piece together the evidence. We don't have all the evidence in front of us and likely never will.

 

[Eileen730]

But are you saying Cheryl could have a motive and never had worded it to anyone (like you did when you too faced problems) or that she did sometime and who knows it is not disclosing the information?

I can accept someone knowing she was depressed but not wanting to spread the word it as it could be seen and that person feeling like 'betraying' Cheryl. Could it be?

Think about it!
I'm not saying the person feel like Betraying her but maybe feeling the cause!
This person would also not rush to say they are to blame.

JMO
To me something happened here something serious.
Wasn't work!
JWTA Not money!

 

[brandi]

Saying a "smart gal wouldn't commit suicide" may have been meant as a "compliment to the victim" but it is an implied (although I'm sure unintended) insult to all the brilliant, creative, talented people who have chosen suicide. Those of us who challenged the comment are not being "pedantic", but are trying to counteract misinformation about depression. Smart people suffer from depression. Smart people commit suicide.

I don't understand how Cheryl could commit suicide either. But that's because I have seen no evidence that she suffered from depression. If you are familiar with the suicide of Leanne Bearden in TX two years ago, few of us on the thread knew she could have committed suicide until she was found two weeks later hanging from a tree. Only then was it revealed that this bright, full-of-life, well travelled woman had been depressed. Many of us received a valuable education about depression and suicide on that thread that we carry with us to other threads and try to share with those who have not had an opportunity to learn.

BBM -This case has a VERIFIED INSIDER telling us with facts his opinion. Doesn't necessarily mean it's the be-all end-all of the case, though. <modsnip>

 

[Dushi]

It's hard to understand why *anyone* commits suicide, whether they are 'smart' or not. People who do commit suicide deserve our compassion, not our derision.

Cheryl was intelligent, yes - and intelligent people commit suicide every day. You could argue that someone who has been known all of her life as being 'smart' would be LESS likely to seek help for mental health issues, because she feels as if she should be 'smart' enough to handle it on her own.

Suicide is a possible outcome. Just because she appeared happy, had plans made, adopted a cat, no known history of mental health treatment, etc. does not mean everything was okay. We can't truly know what goes on inside someone else's head and heart. But I don't think we should assume suicide just because we can't piece together the evidence. We don't have all the evidence in front of us and likely never will.

Thank you

 

[ANZAC]

I would accept suicide if mental health issue was revealed. From every source she was a smart gal. Smart gals would likely a. Not commit suicide b. Use the gun she owns (she's a hunter) . Murderers are sick and demented, nothing would shock or surprise me. They live in a whole other realm. Our brains can't decipher that madness....something like this case.

Though we see women shooting themselves, far and away the most popular female method are pills/poisons.
That Snohomosh ME link I previously posted shows the distribution for males and females. Also, if she's a hunter it is harder (though not impossible) to shoot yourself with a long gun.

 

[otto]

It was somewhat dark when she left. If her floor boards were black/dark, it's highly likely she wouldn't have noticed it if it was, say, there from the night before when she brought home raw pet food. I'm still of the belief the blood is from that (and yeah, yeah, I know "blood" isn't supposed to be in that food yet LE is calling it "blood.")

Was it still dark at 7AM on Feb 8? I don't have time to search right now, but a quick search suggests that sunrise was just before 7AM, and twilight was earlier.

Actually, I can't find clear information right now.