GUILTY FL - Franki Jacobson, 53, & twin sons, 7, shot to death, Wellington, 23 Jan 2010

[jnTexas]

WELLINGTON, Fla. — A woman and two small children were found shot to death this morning in an exclusive gated neighborhood, dead at the hands of a husband and father who crashed his car west of Delray Beach after the killings and confessed to paramedics, authorities said.

Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies found the bodies of the woman and two children, neither of whom appeared older than 7 or 8, slumped inside a house at 11580 South Sea Court in the Isles community, authorities said.

County records show the house is owned by Neal M. Jacobson, 49, and his wife Franki Jacobson, 53.

Authorities wouldn't immediately say whether the Jacobsons were involved in the shooting, though a silver GMC Envoy sport utility vehicle registered to Neal Jacobson sat at the suburban Delray Beach crash site this morning, roped off by yellow crime scene tape.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,583744,00.html?test=latestnews

 

[Kymistry35]

WHY? That is always going to be the first thing that comes to my mind when I see stories like this. What makes people (and I use that loosely because I consider them monsters) do things like this?

 

[noZme]

More details of this tragedy:


Despondent man kills wife, 2 kids in exclusive Wellington gated community

"The once successful mortgage broker from New Jersey left his company and moved to Florida to care for his ailing father, who died in 2007. Jacobson, 49, lost money in bad investments and hated himself despite his beautiful wife and brilliant twin sons, he confided in his best friend, Richard Norton.
When Norton died of cancer this month, it pushed him farther off his axis, said Norton's wife, Laurie.
Less than a week after his friend's funeral, Jacobson took up a gun and shot and killed his wife, Franki, 53, and 7-year-old boys, Eric and Joshua, >>>"


http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/crime/despondent-man-kills-wife-2-kids-in-exclusive-192210.html

photos of the family, accident scene & home
http://postpix.palmbeachpost.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=930215&CategoryID=50973&ListSubAlbums=0

affidavit for probable cause
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/multimedia/archive/00155/Read_the_probable_c_155788a.doc

 

[badhorsie]

Clearly the guy was grieving and depressed(and it sounds like clinical depression) but taking the wife and the twins?:waitasec: I just don't know...anymore

 

[mae]

Exactly. I agree that he sounds severely depressed and overwhelmed with grief. But why not just kill himself? How does adding 3 more major, horrific losses to his already overwhelming losses help?

What a senseless tragedy. Frankie Jacobson and her sons were gorgeous.

 

[Missizzy]

Poor sweet babies and a Momma. My heart goes out to the remaining family and friends. I rarely wish that someone would have died but I do wish that Mr. Jacobson had passed as his pain is never going to end.

Has anyone come across any studies or scholarly writing concerning the profiling in familicides? I know we'd all agree that the stress of the economy is a huge factor and men (it's so often the Dad) has had a recent "fall from grace".

However, why do some men kill themselves and others take out the entire family? Is there some dynamic within the family--such as the man defines himself by his family--that plays a factor here. Does he love his family "too" much or "not enough"? Often, these men look as if they define themselves as "successful businessmen" who have it all. Seeing it through my own myopic lens, I have to admit that I'm sometimes surprised that they want their family to be with them in heaven (or whatever their belief system is) as they seem so self-focused. But self-focused people usually don't kill themselves.

I so much want to answer some of these questions so we can do some community education within churches, schools, etc. Have these men attempted therapy and/or meds or are they too proud to and thus keep slogging through until they snap? Have extended family and friends seen red flags which they ignore?

We know enough about PTSD to keep an eye on returning soldiers (not they we do a great job of it). We know to watch elders when their spouse dies and mothers right after birth. Why can't we figure out what to watch for in America's hurting fathers?

Always, questions. Such sad questions.

 

[Missizzy]

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2010/01/23/Man-allegedly-confesses-killing-family/UPI-92661264282284/


"Laurie Norton, a friend of the Jacobsons, told the Sun-Sentinel he left a successful mortgage business in New Jersey to take care of his father and had had financial troubles.

"I told him last month, 'You've got to get those guns out of the house,' but he never responded," Norton said. "I saw in his eyes that there was nothing left to him."

 

[Missizzy]

Just what I was looking for. Worth a read.


http://www.corrections.com/news/article/21981

National Institute of Justice Panel Explores Familicide Phenomenon

By Office of Community Oriented Policing Services
Published: 07/27/2009

"The stresses of an economic downturn often lead to increases in domestic violence, and the current recession is no exception. Since October 2008, there has been a spike in familicides, or cases where a husband murders his entire family and commits suicide. The horrific nature of such crimes tends to generate a great deal of media attention and speculation about motives and reasons behind these acts. While it may be easy to blame the economy, underlying family problems often could be the key. On June 2, 2009, the National Institute of Justice convened a panel of experts to discuss research findings and possible ways to prevent future familicides from occurring."

 

[panthera]

Despite reading the statistics, I'll never understand why some who suffer depression have to take the lives of their innocent family members and not just their own. :cry:

 

[kathiev]

I worked with these people in New Jersey years ago. Franki and Neal were kind, sweet, very in love.

Everyone who knew them was stunned by this news. It was very out of character for the person we knew back then.

I cannot get the picture of those two adorable boys out of my mind.

What a senseless tragedy.

 

[Texas Mist]

Family murdered: Wellington father faces death penalty

WEST PALM BEACH, FL (WFLX) - Prosecutors will seek the death penalty in the case of a Wellington man accused of gunning down his wife and twin sons.

Neal Jacobson, 49, was indicted Thursday on three counts of first degree murder with a firearm.

http://www.wflx.com/global/story.asp?s=11972104

 

[Texas Mist]

Jacobson: 'There's just no other way'; Report details desperation of Wellington man accused of killing wife, sons

By Susan Spencer-Wendel
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Updated: 4:32 p.m. Monday, March 15, 2010
Posted: 4:19 p.m. Monday, March 15, 2010

WEST PALM BEACH — Afraid that he was under investigation by the FBI for mortgage fraud and drowning in debt and depression, Neal Jacobson thought of killing his family so that twin sons wouldn't be destitute or taken away, according the newly released evidence reports.

Jacobson, the failed Wellington real estate investor, told police that he had thought of killing his wife Franki and 7-year-old boys several days prior to that fateful day in January — the day he "just snapped," he told police.

About 6:30 the morning of Jan. 23, his boys were still sleeping. But his wife, Franki, was awake when he got the gun from closet, Jacobson told a sheriff's office detective.

She pleaded for her life and the boys' lives, Jacobson told the detective. "'Franki, there is no other way. There's just no other way,'" he was quoted as saying in the report.

"He (Jacobson) told her they all had to go," the report says.

Then Jacobson shot his wife — two times in the head.

He then reloaded his .38 Special Smith & Wesson handgun before going to his boys, each sleeping in their own room.

Joshua was shot twice on the left side of his head, while a pillow covered it, according to a forensic report. And Eric was shot four times in the head, twice with a pillow covering his head, twice without, his blood splattering clear to the ceiling

more here

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/jacobson-theres-just-no-other-way-report-details-362694.html

How could he do that?? His wife was begging for her life - and to shoot those little boys????

So wrong that he took their choices away from them.

 

[kbl8201]

you should have killed yourself instead you lousy coward

 

[mikeysmommom]

Does not sound like snapping to me ,more like premeditated murder.What a that poor mother not only begging for their lives but she knew he was going to kill her boys and she could not stop him.He should have ended his own life since he is the one who wanted to die.


Jacobson, the failed Wellington real estate investor, told police that he had thought of killing his wife Franki and 7-year-old boys several days prior to that fateful day in January — the day he "just snapped," he told police.

 

[kbl8201]

i wonder if he got less depressed when he looked at there insurance policies

 

[noZme]

Would a headline in every newspaper & leadoff story on all newscasts, "Don't do it you idiot! You may want out of your miserable life but give the wife & kids a chance for fortunes to turn." save a family?

I am sick of these stories! Wealth, health & other circumstances change all the time. Many of history's most famous & productive people overcame poverty & all other types of adversity.....Here is another dude who cannot keep up with the Joneses & rather than "fall from grace" in the eyes of his family, he opts for the most cowardly solution. Tightening the budget, giving up a few luxuries, working through financial problems would be a real reason to be admired by his sons. That is being a man, a daddy. He had no faith in them or himself. What is wrong with people? My parents remember the Great Depression, when almost every family struggled just to get by. People stuck together, worked hard & most went on to enjoy prosperity, previously unknown in the middle class. What happened to our values.... is there any hope?

 

[OkieGranny]

From February 2012:

http://www.wpbf.com/Neal-Jacobson-Admits-To-Killing-His-Wife-Twin-Sons/9243454

In a Palm Beach County courtroom, Neal Jacobson pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Jacobson was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.