Last April, an elderly couple was found dead in their home in Waynesville, North Carolina, a murder-suicide carried out by the husband. The tragic story of Richard and Ellen Hoyle is the centerpiece of Clare Ansberry's Wall Street Journal feature, which explores the pressures of caregiving on older adults and how that stress may play a part in such violent deaths.
- The Hoyles: In this particular case, the couple had been caring for each other into their 80s, but Richard, who was almost 90, was in pain in the months before they died, and Ellen, 85, had grown increasingly weak. Those who'd seen them before that day in April "believe the couple could no longer care for each other, didn't wish to burden others, and didn't want to leave their home," per Ansberry. She adds it's not clear whether Ellen had agreed to the murder-suicide pact.
- Acts of 'desperation': Donna Cohen, a retired psychiatry professor behind recent research on murder-suicides, says that in about half of all spousal cases among the 55 and older set, the husband was serving as his wife's caregiver. "These are not acts of love or altruism. They are acts of depression and desperation," says Cohen of such murder-suicides. She adds, per WebMD, that typically, "the wife does not want to die and is often shot in her sleep. If she was awake at the time, there are usually signs that she tried to defend herself."
- Stats: In 2019, 8.9% of double murder-suicides were perpetrated by someone 65 or older, according to experts in the aging field; by 2021, that number had risen to almost 10%. It's gotten much worse for those who've moved into octogenarian territory, per the Violence Policy Center—the percentage of those 80 or older who've carried out such an act nearly tripled during that same time period, from 1.4% to 4.3%. Meanwhile, one study found that the prevalence rate for murder-suicides for those 55 and older was almost double that of younger generations.
- Context: Husbands may feel extra pressure to make sure their spouses are OK, Sheryl Chatfield, a public health instructor at Kent State University, tells Ansberry, who notes that there's often a "precipitating event" before murder-suicides in this demographic, such as one of the parties falling ill or suffering an injury, rendering them less able to be an effective caregiver.
- Unexpected: Though there were clues something was up with Richard Hoyle—"I didn't think it would end like this," he said just days before he died to a friend, who thought he was just talking about getting old—those who knew the couple best were shocked by their deaths. "I don't think I've seen anyone that much in love except my grandparents," says Chad Setzer, who did yardwork and other tasks for the Hoyles. "I never thought he would do anything like that."
Read the piece in full
here. (If you or someone you know is struggling, please call the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by dialing or texting 988.)
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