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Posted 24 Feb 2001   For week ended February 09, 2001
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Sent on Mormon-News: 06Feb01

By Kent Larsen

LDS Members, Leaders Helping in Wake of Tragic Murder-Suicide

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CALIFORNIA -- LDS Church members and local leaders are helping a family of at least four children in the wake of the tragic murder-suicide of their mother and her live-in boyfriend. Joseph Bailey, 44, a police officer in Anaheim, called 911 Monday morning to report that he had killed his wife and wanted to kill himself. By the time police arrived at the couple's home, he was also dead.

Bishop Tim Miller of the LDS Church's congregation in Fountain Valley told the Orange County Register in an article published today that his ward is trying to help the children survive the tragedy. "We're just trying to take this a day at a time, and help the kids get on with their lives."

Neighbors in the residential neighborhood had assumed that Bailey and his girlfriend, Michelle King, were married. They also knew that the couple had been going through domestic problems. As recently as the night before the tragedy the couple had sought help from LDS leaders. "As late as last night, Joe Bailey called ... and said they were having some marital difficulties," local LDS leader Bruce Miller told the Los Angeles Times. He declined to specify the nature of their difficulties.

According to the couple's landlady, Michelle King rented the home in 1997, and Bailey's name started appearing on the rent checks recently. According to neighbors, King has also been seriously ill with breast cancer for several months. She was a police officer also, and was currently working as a code enforcement officer in Anaheim. Both Bailey and King were divorced and the four children currently living in the Fountain Valley home were from the previous marriages.

After local police received Bailey's 911 call, they evacuated neighboring homes, and locked-down an elementary school that abutted the home's backyard for nearly two hours.

Both neighbors and coworkers expressed shock and surprise at the tragedy. Bailey's fellow police officers described him as "kind and generous," and "an excellent officer and an excellent man." Even his ex-wife of 17 years, Patricia Bailey, with whom she had two children, admitted that he was never abusive and was a loving father. But she said "he was a man that did not want to be told what to do or how to do it."

Source:

Man kills girlfriend, himself
Orange co CA Register 6Feb01 D2
By Olifia Hawkinson, Fermin Leal and Aldrin Brown: Orange County Register

Officer Kills Wife, Himself
Los Angeles Times 6Feb01 D2
By Daniel Yi, Phil Willon and Mai Tran: Times Staff Writers


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Copyright 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 Kent Larsen · Privacy Information