by Deputy Diva 

    I came across this story earlier and even read it on Blackpoliticalthought’s blog. This is indeed a sad story about a family caught up in the foreclosure crisis, which both Lynn and myself have previously blogged about.

Carlene Balderrama, a 53-year-old wife and mother, fatally shot herself with her husband’s gun 90 minutes before their home was scheduled to be auctioned off.

Police say that Balderrama fatally shot herself Tuesday afternoon, 90 minutes before her foreclosed home was scheduled to be sold at auction. Chief Raymond O’Berg said that Balderrama faxed a letter to her mortgage company at 2:30 p.m., saying that “by the time they foreclosed on the house today she’d be dead.”

The mortgage company notified police, who found her body at 3:30 p.m. The auction had been scheduled to start at 5 p.m., when bidders showed up at the house and found it surrounded by police cruisers.

What is especially devastating is that apparently, her husband John and their 24 year-old son did not know that they were in foreclosure, as Carlene managed the household’s finances.

Balderrama left a note for her family, saying they should “take the [life] insurance money and pay for the house,” O’Berg said. The chief said he did not know, however, if the family would be able to collect on the policy in the event of a suicide.  SOURCE

This is especially heart-wrenching. This woman felt so desperate that she took her life to try and save her family from being homeless that she probably was unaware or may not have realized that her family may not even be able to collect any insurance money, as policies are generally void in the event of self-inflicted death.

My prayers go out to the family and I also pray that this current economy and foreclosure crisis do not prompt others to feel that ending their lives is the only hope they have in saving their homes.