Do you have her phone number? If so, invest a week or more in checking on her regularly, calling often, stopping by more frequently, etc. Reinforce that you’re keeping a sharp eye on her home, at all times.
Set up a secret signal for her, a light left on, a shade pulled 3/4 down etc, if she’s feeling especially fearful for some reason.
You might even consider talking to the police about this. They may send an officer by to reassure her they are keeping on eye on her place too, and on him. Or they might be willing to share when he’s likely to be released. Which would enable you to offer her more reassurance, as the days pass, that he’s not, in fact, coming for her after all.
If need be you could make yourself a right pest checking on her. It could nudge her into being more self assured and confident.
I sure do have her phone number! She is several blocks away but I do sort of keep my eye on her welfare; in fact I talked to her today and will run her to a doctor’s appointment in the morning before work.
Update is not that satisfying. Apparently the local police had no cause to hold Doug, but he had a warrant (not sure for what) in a county in Northern Michigan, so he was transferred up there, then released this morning. This from the missing woman’s daughter, who is keeping my neighbor informed. Somewhat. Keep in mind whatever I post is second and third-hand information.
He is still up north, I guess. He has a bag of belongings at my neighbor’s house - a change of clothes, some cigarettes, some toiletries. She has no way to get in touch with him since his phone number is only stored on her cell phone, which the police still have, but she’s no longer scared.
After her doctor’s appointment I figured I’d take her to the township police department to see if she can get her cell phone back, and perhaps get some more details. It is a very small police department and their only two phone numbers are the county 911 emergency number, and a “tip line” that is apparently never answered by a human.
The wife is still missing. Their house is boarded up - doors and windows. This seems weird to me but as I said, I’m not getting any first-hand information. So…I dunno. I do hope the wife is somewhere safe.
It might be a good idea for your neighbor to get a lawyer. There’s a possibility that she could be charged with helping to cover up a crime. We don’t know what Doug has been saying to the police, and it’s possible that he’ll try to shift some or all of the blame onto her. It’s also possible that, in conducting the investigation, the police will find something they can pin on her, regardless of whether it’s connected with the alleged homicide.
I also think it would be a good idea for your neighbor to get all of Doug’s stuff out of her house. She doesn’t want him to have a reason to come back. If she does do this, it should be with the knowledge of the police - she doesn’t want to be accused of trying to dispose of evidence. The police might even be willing to hold his stuff at the station for Doug to pick up.
Update: woman found dead. This is three blocks from me and the street has been closed down for hours. Apparently she was a hoarder and the house was “unsafe” and is now condemned to be leveled. Just a sad situation all around - her family and friends have plastered every store in the area with posters and now they are getting the sad news.
I was able to contact the police IRT to Doug’s meager belongings, which I took from my neighbor’s house yesterday. They were not interested in them, so everything went out in the trash this morning.
My neighbor is in no trouble at all, according to the police.
Thanks for caring, and thankfully not my neighbor! She is understandably upset but fine.
Don’t know when we will find out the cause of death - police and forensic investigator vans, along with media, have been there since mid-afternoon and said the house is in such poor/unsafe shape it’s scheduled to be demolished tomorrow.
It might have been advisable to ship Doug’s belongings to his attorney or to the detention center where he is being held. Without a detailed inventory of what was tossed, Doug could easily file a police report and then use it as a claim against the woman’s homeowners insurance policy. Also,he could easily claim any number of items that he obviously didn’t leave in the home.
This is why you don’t invite people who you don’t know well into your home to stay. And even if you DO know them well, you make certain that they understand that they need to let you know what to do with the belongings if they leave suddenly (for any reason) for an extended period or they happen die.
Saves on problems and it might convince them not to stay too long.
But trust me, Doug isn’t going to be filing any claims anywhere, at all. He is a bottom-feeder worthless, waste-of-oxygen drunk. I have documentation that MMTP refused custody of his belongings, and additionally we have since found out that he emptied out my neighbor’s bank account since she was stupid enough to give him her debit card and PIN number.
If he gets free and tries to come back to this neighborhood, he will find himself VERY unwelcome. If that happens, my neighbor will get a loan of my 125 lb Seriously Will Fuck You Up if You Misbehave Towards My People Dog instead of my 25 lb Small and Noisy Yet Harmless Alarm Dog.
And your dog will be put down for attacking a human being. And you could face criminal, as well as civil, penalties for knowingly allowing your animal to attack another human being. Doug will spend the remainder of his years living on the money he gets from the civil lawsuit he files against you and your neighbor.
Not the wisest of moves.
Besides, Doug never has to go anywhere near your neighbor’s home to file an insurance claim or a police report. He can even convince an attorney to do it for him if he’s indigent and it looks as if there’s money to be had. This again is why you don’t let people stay in your home unless you know them very well and you can trust them
It might be satisfying to sound “tough”, but this unpleasant situation may not be over. Your neighbor should talk with Legal Aid and make certain that she has no liability as far as Doug is concerned. Not the police as they (at best) have a limited grasp of criminal law and next to no (or just no) knowledge of civil law. Legal Aid can guide her to what will be needed to make certain that Doug stays far away from her for good.
And unless you have deep pockets, you might be advised to limit your future role in this.After all, if Doug is a conman, he’ll go after the target who has the most to lose.
Indeed.
Note that in no way have I defended her very poor judgement; and she is smacking herself upside the head over this. Shit like this is why some people need “looking after”.
And of course, is why it would have been better if some people had been more closely looking after the welfare of the deceased woman.
Wait, either I’m confused or I missed something in this thread. This dead victim who was a hoarder and lived in an unsafe house was Doug’s missing wife? Or a different missing victim that Doug is also suspected of killing?
The former. Sounds like she was “missing” because Doug kept changing up his stories about where she was, and because when they went to the house it was basically impassable. When none of her accounts got drained, etc., they made another effort.
Slight hijack. As I often see here people throw around “get a restraining order” as if anyone can get one against anyone that they feel threatened by. In most states (including Michigan) that is simply not the case. In most cases ROs are only for domestic violence situations. The people involved would have to be in a relationship or family members. In this particular case a judge might liberally interpret someone staying on a couch for a couple of days as a household member. Maybe not. That would depend on Michigan precedent and case law. I see way too often (and here it at work) that during a neighbor dispute or other conflict people jump in with “Get a restraining order!” Its simply not applicable in many cases.
Reading the linked article it seems like the house was so bad that the police had to enter through a window. And then remove a bunch of shit before they found her. Doug is apparently the longtime boyfriend not a husband. From hearing similar cases through the years I give it 1-1 odds that she died from natural causes and he left her there encased in her garbage tomb. Someone who has such a severe hoarding problem is obviously mentally ill and I would bet that Doug does not think very clearly either.
Yup - I thought they were married but according to the news reports he’s being called her long-term boyfriend. Anyway, I’m not sure why they didn’t do an extensive search last week when they tried to enter the house? It was boarded up last week; they un-boarded one of the windows yesterday to get inside yesterday afternoon. On a grisly note, I suppose it’s a small blessing that this happened in winter rather than the heat of summer.
I’m hoping that she died of “natural causes” and Doug, who is indeed rather dim-witted, just freaked and hid out, making up stories about Lonnie’s whereabouts rather than deal with it. I’d rather think that than know he killed her, anyhow.
Loach, thanks for the explainer on restraining orders.
Ugh. Neighbor just called and told me that Doug beat his wife to death with a hammer; he confessed to police. No idea why. He has been transferred back to this county and the cops called her, and the dead woman’s daughter, to let them know what was going on. The autopsy results came back and once confronted, Doug spilled the beans.
He stayed in their shared house afterwards for about two weeks, after covering her body where she lay on the couch with blankets and clothing, then went to stay at my neighbor’s house saying that he hated being in the house when she wasn’t home. His main story was that she’d gone to an adjacent city to stay with a friend who was sick or had just had surgery.
Apparently he’d been pretending to make phone calls to his wife, when all the time he had her cell phone in his pocket with the ringer turned off.
Yes. I didn’t know her, but my neighbor did. And I’d met Doug several times (and had a very low opinion of him - basically a useless drunk is how I had him categorized.)
But nobody deserves to go like that. From all accounts she was perhaps troubled with mental illness, with the hoarding and whatnot, but a very nice, harmless, sweet person.
