Many possible reasons behind murder-suicide

Kim Smith

Tuesday, Aug. 31, 1999 | 11:49 a.m.

As shocking as Timothy Blackburn's actions were Sunday morning, it is not surprising for desperate people to take the lives of their loved ones, local psychologists say.

Moreover, murder-suicides are just as likely to happen in close-knit families as they are in families torn apart through divorce, Jack Dymond, a Las Vegas clinical psychologist, said.

And, all indications are that the Blackburns were especially close, Dymond said.

"This was a man who was apparently very family-oriented. He was connected to them and saw them as an extension of himself," Dymond said. "This may not have been an act of violence in the sense that he was trying to hurt them, but it may have seemed natural to him to end their lives when he was ending his own."

Some people become so enmeshed with their families that they begin to believe that they would not be able to survive without them, Dymond said.

"They feel that their families would be better off dead than without them," Dymond said.

Blackburn's wife, Puthea Lee, may not have even objected to Blackburn's plans because he was plainly attractive, bright, charismatic and a dominating force in her life, Dymond said.

"Here's this woman who helped him break out of jail," Dymond said. "She seemed very controlled by him and directed by him. She was being whatever he wanted her to be or do."

Jeffrey Kern, associate psychology professor at UNLV said people who commit such acts usually feel one thing -- hopelessness.

"These people usually see no way out, they try every alternative they can to get out of a situation and they see no way out but suicide," Kern said.

Although not familiar with the Blackburn case, Kern said Blackburn could very well have acted out of love for his family.

"He may have thought, 'I don't want my children to suffer because I won't be there as a father,' " Kern said. "Or, if he was smart, he could have been thinking of the ramifications his death or suicide would have had on his children."

Or, Kern said, Blackburn could have thought "We live together. I live for you. We all go together."