Driver in grisly suicide over lost JW wife

by Dogpatch 14 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Dogpatch

  This is a sad story. A JW woman dies and her obituary is below. A few months later her distraught husband commits a grisly suicide.

  Published in the Asbury Park Press 6/4/04

  A suicidal New Jersey man set a new standard for self-inflicted brutality when he decapitated himself by driving away from a light post with a rope tied around his neck.

  Wolfgang Persieck, 50, of Union Beach, died when the rope, which he had attached to the post, jerked his head off as he stepped on the gas Saturday night.

  His body was found inside the car, along with several suicide notes, behind the Hazlet Multiplex movie theater, Monmouth County Prosecutor John Kaye said.

  Two teenagers found the car as they walked through an isolated area behind the theater on Route 35.

  The pair stopped a passing police officer, who discovered Persieck's body. Interviews with relatives and the notes pointed to a suicide, Kaye said.

  Dave Goldiner

  from the New York Daily News http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/272481p-233202c.html

  Randy
• 

  Dogpatch

  Sorry the first one didn't come out right:

  GAIL LAVINIA MEIXNER PERSIECK, 52, of UNION BEACH, died Sunday, May 23, at home, after a lengthy illness. She was born in Holy Name Hospital, Teaneck, on Jan. 27, 1952. She spent the first two years of her life in Dumont, and then lived in Cliffwood and Union Beach. She graduated from Keyport High School in 1970. Gail "met" her husband, Wolfgang, through correspondence when still in high school, and they were "pen pals" for some time. He came to New Jersey, where they met in person and were married on July 4, 1970. She was an artist, known for her beautiful artwork, both paintings and sculptures. She created most of them while residing in Germany. She was honored by the Keyport Hall of Fame in July 1995. She also wrote many beautiful poems. She was a Jehovah's Witness and attended the Hazlet Congregation Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses.
  She was predeceased by her parents, Bernard Eberhardt Sr. and Dorothy deBaun Meixner; a son, Swen, who was born in Germany and died there; and a sister, Elaine Meixner Weidemann. Surviving are her husband, Wolfgang Persieck; a sister, Dorothy Basden of West Keansburg, Hazlet; two brothers, Arthur E. Meixner of Springfield, and Bernard E. Meixner Jr. of Keansburg; and many nieces and nephews.

  There will be a memorial service at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Hazlet Congregation Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, 743 Leonardville Road, Leonardo, Middletown. In lieu of flowers, donations to Wolfgang Persieck, 1204 High Ave., Union Beach, NJ 07735, to offset medical expenses, would be appreciated.

  then:

  Driver in grisly suicide
  

  
  A suicidal New Jersey man set a new standard for self-inflicted brutality when he decapitated himself by driving away from a light post with a rope tied around his neck.
  Wolfgang Persieck, 50, of Union Beach, died when the rope, which he had attached to the post, jerked his head off as he stepped on the gas Saturday night.

  His body was found inside the car, along with several suicide notes, behind the Hazlet Multiplex movie theater, Monmouth County Prosecutor John Kaye said.

  Two teenagers found the car as they walked through an isolated area behind the theater on Route 35.

  The pair stopped a passing police officer, who discovered Persieck's body. Interviews with relatives and the notes pointed to a suicide, Kaye said.

  Dave Goldiner

  Originally published on January 18, 2005
  http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/272481p-233202c.html
• 

  upside/down

  What possible F'ing "medical expenses" could there be? He popped his damn head off! Clean-up expenses maybe- but med exp? Sounds fishy.

  Tell those tight ass Dubs to loosen up their purse strings and help? Tight Ass SOB's!

  u/d
• 

  xjw_b12

  That is very sad.

  Ummh U/D..read a little closer before jumpt\ing to conclusions. The donations would have been for his wife's medical expenses.

  GAIL LAVINIA MEIXNER PERSIECK, 52, of UNION BEACH, died Sunday, May 23, at home, after a lengthy illness.

  In lieu of flowers, donations to Wolfgang Persieck, 1204 High Ave., Union Beach, NJ 07735, to offset medical expenses, would be appreciated.
• 

  glitter

  The medical expenses were mentioned in the obituary, they were for the wife's illness. It's disgraceful that there are people (especially in a wealthy nation like America) don't get universal free healthcare.
  
  Poor bloke missing his wife so much, and poor teens who found him.
• 

  SixofNine

  If I remember correctly, we have a couple posters on this board who know of a young JW male who did this very thing, tying off to the porch supports at a KH. He did this right after being disfellowshipped, if I remember the story right. The brutality of it blew me away. This person was sending a message.

  I believe it was Makena and Sabine who knew of this? Perhaps someone who has their e-mail could ask?
• 

  eyeslice

  Whilst I can to some extent understand how a person can be driven to suicide, I cannot get my mind why some people chose the most aweful ways to do it, leaving other people to clear up the dreadful mess.

  Eyeslice
• 

  lonelysheep

  I hadn't heard of this!

  Yuck! I'm sorry, but the thought of his death is sick.
• 

  undercover

  Very sad, indeed. I have to wonder though if maybe there is more to the story than just a lonely man who couldn't live without his deceased wife. Where was the loving brotherhood after his wife died? Did they reach out to comfort and aid the grieving brother? Did they suggest therapy if he was so troubled or did they just advise him to pray more? Maybe his wife's death made him question everything, including the WTS, religion in general, God himself. Imagine the trouble he could get into for questioning God's organization and the response that he would have gotten from the elders.

  I'm assuming a lot and jumping to conclusions I know, but having lost a friend to suicide and havine learned afterwards that there was so much more to what was happening than what I thought I knew, I look past the obvious and wonder about what else may have made this man so despondant.

  There was a thread not too long ago about how many of us knew someone who committed suicide in the JWs and the numbers were staggering and telling. For an organization that claims that God's spirit is guiding it and claims to have the happiest people in their midst, there sure are a lot of unhappy people killing themselves to get away from it.
• 

  sf

  It says SHE was a jw. It does not appear that he was. I suppose this could be verified somehow.

  I agree...he was making some type of statement.

  Very curious as to what the notes in the car say.

  sKally