Suicide

Tony Scott's Vincent Thomas Bridge Suicide Inspires Barrier Legislation

Citing Director Tony Scott's fatal dive off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro last summer, a California legislator is proposing that new and rebuilt state bridges contain "suicide barriers." San Francisco state Assemblyman Tom Ammiano says it's too easy to jump off bridges like the Vincent Tho ... More >>

Mike Stutz Turned His Experience With Suicide Into a Film That Tries to Dispel Myths About It

When Mike Stutz was a kid, and mother tried to kill herself with an overdose of pills, she slipped into a coma and didn't die until six days later. The day after Stutz found her lying unconscious, he went to baseball practice. It was weird, that day at practice. At the time, he didn't know how many ... More >>

Tony Scott Jumps to Death From Vincent Thomas Bridge

Updated at the bottom with a NEW report that Scott DID NOT have cancer. Top was rewritten to reflect our own confirmation of reports of Scott's death. First posted at 9:01 p.m. Sunday. Director Tony Scott jumped to his death from the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro today, the L.A. County Coroner ... More >>

Grove Suicide at Parking Structure Shocks Weekend Shoppers

A 29-year-old man jumped to his death in front of shocked shoppers at a Grove shopping center parking structure in the Fairfax District last night, police said. It was a busy day at the center, and some Twitter users reported that Justin Bieber sightings had caused some commotion earlier in the day ... More >>

Comments: Bully Pulpits

Finally: Gay Bullying Gets Recognized as a Civil Rights Issue

Marijuana Can Help Prevent Suicide, Study Suggests

Marijuana does many magical things, not the least of which is make dubstep listenable. In Los Angeles, we use it pretty much legally for back pain, nausea and hot tubbing. But a new study from Germany says that, in U.S. states like California where marijuana has become medically legit, rates of sui ... More >>

All the Shades and Shadows of Gray

Rashad Varma, Young Aspiring Comic, Jumps to Death off Historic Pasadena 'Suicide Bridge'

weirdca.comThe Colorado Street Suicide Bridge​A bridge in Pasadena infamous for hosting over 100 suicides saw another jumper last Saturday. The L.A. County Coroner's Office identifies him today as 25-year-old Rashad Varma of Montrose, originally from India. Friends on his Facebook memorial pa ... More >>

Lawsuit: Family of Real Estate Executive David Richard Lewis Sues San Bernardino Jail for Failing to Prevent His Suicide

​On June 22, 2010, bi-polar real estate executive David Richard Lewis sat inside his Las Vegas home and shot a hole through his chest, taking his own life. Lewis, originally from San Bernardino, was 36 and had been vice president of The Lewis Group of Companies, reportedly "one of the nation's la ... More >>

4.48 Psychosis

Rudy Call

Kirk Spiegel, Second-Grade Teacher at LAUSD's Pinewood Elementary, Commits Suicide off 210 Freeway Overpass

FacebookSecond-grade LAUSD teacher Kirk Spiegel​Updated throughout. Early this morning around 2 a.m., 49-year-old Kirk Spiegel -- a Los Angeles Unified School District employee, according to LAUSD -- jumped to his death off the 210 freeway overpass in La Canada Flintridge. "He was a second-g ... More >>

Edward Anthony's Wish I Had a Sylvia Plath

Six Most Idiotic Attempts to Blame Musicians for Violent Events (or, the Tucson Tragedy Was Caused by a Crazy Person, Not by Drowning Pool's "Bodies Hit the Floor")

6 Horrible Acts of Violence Blamed on Music

Homicides Plummet, But L.A. Suicides Are Up Since Recession Started

​For the second year in a row, a resident of L.A. County is more likely to die by their own hand than be killed by someone else. In 2010, suicides were essentially unchanged -- down 1% -- from 2009, and they remained above pre-recession levels, according to statistics from the L.A. County coroner. ... More >>

Gun Of Suicidal Hollywood Man Matches Ronni Chasen Murder Weapon: Police Believe Harold Martin Smith Was On A Bike And Wanted To Rob Chasen

The Hollywood ReporterChasen with Morgan Freeman.​Updates throughout with comments from Beverly Hills police. First posted at 1:32 p.m. A gun used by a Hollywood man to kill himself as police approached him last week matches the weapon used to kill Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen last month, ... More >>

Reyna Chicas, Leader Of 'Cult-Like' Group, Under Psychiatric Evaluation After Fears Of Mass Suicide Pact Prove False

​Updated after the jump with children of group leader being put in protective custody. It was a weird weekend in Palmdale, where authorities were on the lookout for a breakaway Christian church group that was feared to have undertaken a suicide pact. When the 13 people were found at a local p ... More >>

'Mormon Proposition' Director Reed Cowan Addresses Rash of Gay Mormon Suicides

Todd Ransom​A 28-year-old gay Mormon took his own life in Utah on July 19, which outrages documentary filmmaker Reed Cowan, who made 8: The Mormon Proposition. On the blogosphere, it's been reported that the young man, Todd Ransom, was interviewed for the film, but Cowan says Ransom signed up ... More >>

Betty McClellan, LA Homicide No. 137: 62-year-old Woman Fatally Shot by Husband Who Then Shoots Himself

Google Maps​ Betty Ann McClellan, 62, was fatally shot in the 4000 block of W. 59th Place by her husband, 63-year-old Hersey McClellan on Sunday, June 20, who then fatally shot himself. Both victims were found with gun shot wounds to the head. The victim's son found his parents around 9:15 a. ... More >>

LAPD Shot Bean-Bag Round At Suicidal Suspect Who Was On The Edge Of A Cliff

MySpaceStephen Hill.​The Los Angeles Police Department on Monday admitted that at least one "bean bag projectile" was used on a porn star who was threatening to kill himself as he engaged on a Saturday stand-off on the edge of a cliff that ended in his death. Stephen Hill was wanted for the al ... More >>

Real-life "Lost" Mystery: Crew T-shirt Found on Anonymous Corpse

​Attention cast and crew of the ABC show "Lost":The L.A. County Coroner's office is trying to identify a body found last month in a wooded area in Castaic. So far the biggest clue is that the young man was wearing a "Lost" crew T-shirt from Season 2 (2005-2006). On the back of the shirt is a pictu ... More >>

Murder Was the Case: L.A. Homicides Nos. 221 & 222, Sisters Identified in North Hollywood Slashings

A woman who allegedly killed her two teenage daughters by slashing their throats, and then tried to kill herself, was arrested  September 4. She now faces two counts of murder. Victims: Diana and Edith Gomez KTLA News​Police believe that Antonia Gomez, 38, attacked two of her three daughte ... More >>

LAPD Detective, Who Testified at Rodney King Trial, Kills Self at Sheriff's Station

The Los Angeles Police Department detective who killed herself in the Santa Clarita sheriff's station has been identified as Susan Clemmer, one of the first officers to testify during the Rodney King trial. She was last assigned to LAPD's gang and narcotics division. She started at the LAPD in 1989 ... More >>

Murder was the Case: LA Homicides No. 117, 118, Update: Husband and Wife Die in Murder Suicide at Encino Home

A husband and wife found shot to death in their home in Encino yesterday died in a murder-suicide, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. View Larger Map Pedro Papias, 41, was arguing with his 35-year-old wife Rosa Valencia when he grabbed a gun and shot her several times in their bedr ... More >>

MySpace Mom Trial: A Sentence Without a Period

Today was the day Lori Drew, the Missouri mother known as the MySpace Mom, was to be sentenced for violating the terms of service for the  MySpace account she used to taunt a former friend of her daughter. The girl, Megan Meier, hanged herself in October, 2006. Drew was not charged with causing ... More >>

Accidental Suicide? New Involuntary-Manslaughter Option in Phil Spector Murder Retrial

The final arguments: Shifting sand dunes, or rock-solid mountains?

Judge Allows S-word in MySpace Mom Trial

Federal Judge George Wu does not like surprises. At the start of today's pretrial hearing for Lori Drew, Wu asked if any of the gathered counsels, who included U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien and high-powered defense lawyer Dean Steward, if they'd seen Law and Order last week. The lawyers shrugged "No" ... More >>

Generally Patton

MySpace Suicide Mom in Court

Although July approaches, it’s still not too late for a first-time criminal defendant to make her spring debut in federal court. Media Village of the Damned: Press waiting for Lori Drew

Edge: Sylvia Plath's Back and She's Pissed!

Dead Poetess Society

Edge

Never say die

Here's an illustration I did for Matthew Fleischer's piece on assisted suicide.

The Man Who Walked Into the Sea

Spalding Gray’s Leftover Stories to Tell

Coroner to the Suicides

After 20 years, David Campbell has seen enough

Peter-Anne Dies Again

Raymond’s Very Young Small Early Peas

Baconbone’s First Suicide

Dr. Norman Tabachnick, Lifesaver

Another View of Elliott Smith

LAPD detectives seek advice on singer’s cause of death

The Final Moments of Elliott Smith’s Life

Autopsy reveals details of argument with girlfriend

The Elliott Smith Mystery

Coroner’s Office can’t determine how the singer died

Daddy, and Sylvia

Diane Middlebrook takes on Hughes and Plath

The Mystery of Digna Ochoa

Did the Mexican human-rights lawyer kill herself?

By the Book

Reacting to a molestation complaint at my old parish

Plather

New books on Sylvia and Ted

Death of a Patient

UCLA tried to settle case for $400,000