Greenspan's Body Count: Beckie and Stephen Boudreaux

If you haven't driven through Utah, please plan to do so. There's a reason the early Mormon settlers thought it was the Promised Land.

Nevertheless, even those in God's Country are not safe from Alan Greenspan's reign of terror. The Salt Lake Tribune on a murder-suicide in Salt Lake City suburb Sandy, Utah:

Sandy police Sgt. Jon Arnold said evidence indicates that Beckie Boudreaux, 66, shot and killed her husband, Stephen Boudreaux, 69, and then turned a handgun on herself.

"Our preliminary investigation does indicate homicide-suicide," Arnold said Tuesday. "There is no indication that Stephen was aware of Beckie’s plans or the financial struggles that appeared to be the motive behind Beckie’s choices."

Arnold also said Boudreaux family members had found "documentation that indicated she had been researching this for several months."

The shootings occurred late Sept. 22, and the couple’s bodies were found just before 1 p.m. Friday in the Boudreaux’s garage by a neighbor near 1900 Quail Crossing Lane. The neighbor had gone to investigate after noticing the Boudreaux’s garage door had remained open overnight.

The couple were found dead in one of the two cars parked inside the garage.

Arnold said that early last week Beckie Boudreaux had called her lawyer asking what would happen to debt in the case of suicide.

The answer to that last question is that if it's mortgage, business, auto, or credit card debt, you can file bankruptcy and start over. Beckie and Stephen should have taken that option. If it's student loan debt (unlikely in this case given the Boudreaux's ages), however, government policymakers have made it bankruptcy-proof and left suicide as the only way out. How sick is that?

Greenspan's Body Count stands at 190.

Thanks to reader Lee for the tip.

Greenspan's Body Count: 346 Via Metates, Oceanside, CA

Serial killer Alan Greenspan has been very active in the San Diego area this year.

Yesterday in Oceanside, a working-class community north of San Diego, two bodies were found:

The bodies of a financially distressed 56-year-old Oceanside man and his sick 52-year-old sister were found in their home Monday afternoon in what police say appears to be a murder-suicide.

The woman's black Labrador dog was also killed.

[...]

Police did not release the names of the individuals and declined to give their relationship Monday night, as their relatives were still being told of their deaths. Three neighbors confirmed they were brother and sister.

Oceanside police found the bodies shortly before 4 p.m. in separate bedrooms of their house near the end of a cul-de-sac on Via Metates, just east of College Boulevard.

A gun was found in the room with the man, said Oceanside police Lt. Leonard Mata.

[...]

Rodarte and neighbor Mary May both said the siblings were in dire financial straits. They had recently sold their house and were scheduled to leave Tuesday.

"He was saying he didn't know how they were going to make it," Rodarte said. Rodarte said the brother didn’t seem like a violent person.

The woman had lived in the home since 1988 and was among the first residents in the neighborhood, May said. Neighbors said she was friendly and popular, and she played catch with her black lab daily in the front yard.

"She loved that dog," Rodarte said.

The sister had taken care of the siblings' mother until she died about a year ago, Rodarte said, and the brother had moved in shortly before the mother's death. After their mother died, the siblings began having financial problems, she said.

"They were stressed out because they couldn't afford the house after the mother passed," Rodarte said. "And he couldn't find work."

The home at 346 Via Metates was listed for sale at $269,000 on August 1 and went pending on August 5. If you're the buyer and had a 45-day escrow, congratulations! It's move-in time!

Greenspan's Body Count stands at 188.

Greenspan's Body Count: Cy Young award winning pitcher Mike Flanagan

Greenspan's Body Count hits even famous people with good jobs. Sports Illustrated:

Former Cy Young award winner Mike Flanagan died of a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head, the Maryland medical examiner ruled Thursday.

A police investigation revealed the 59-year-old pitcher was upset about financial issues. He left no note.

Flanagan's body was found Wednesday afternoon about 250 feet behind his home. An investigation showed he was home alone when he took his life.

Flanagan earned a good chunk of change as a baseball player even though he played before the multi-million-dollar roid-rage days. And he still had a good job as a broadcaster. So to have had financial troubles, he must have been enticed, in Greenspan's easy money party, to take on enormous debt either for conspicuous consumption or for silly business propositions.

Somewhere in the darkness
The gambler he broke even
But in his final words I found
An ace that I could keep

The lessons to us from the tragic tale of Mike Flanagan are clear: when you're making good money, save a good chunk aside for a rainy day. And never, ever, take on recourse debt for conspicuous consumption or risky business ideas. Donald Trump, George Soros, Warren Buffett, and Hank Paulson never take on recourse debt. They gamble with other people's money. If you're gambling with recourse debt, you're gambling with your life.

Greenspan's Body Count stands at 186.