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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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082889
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08288900.041
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1990-09-17
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NATION, Page 13A Father Lifts His "Burdens"A tale of tragedy turns into a multiple murder
The dazed father's story sounded plausible. On Aug. 3, Lawrence
DeLisle, 28, took his family for an evening ride along the Detroit
River. The two older children, Bryan, 8, and Melissa, 4, sat in the
back of the family's 1977 Ford station wagon. Snuggled beside them
in a child's safety seat was Kathryn, 21 months. While DeLisle
drove, his wife Suzanne, 32, sat in front with nine-month-old
Emily, also in an infant's seat.
As their car neared the river on Eureka Avenue in Wyandotte,
a Detroit suburb, DeLisle complained of leg cramps. He backed the
car away from the street's dead end, stopped to buy some crackers
and said he felt better. Shortly before 9:20 p.m., he drove toward
the river again. Suddenly DeLisle felt a cramp in his right leg,
which stiffened, jamming his foot against the accelerator. As he
tried to hit the brake with his left foot, his shoe wedged between
the pedal and the accelerator. Frantically, Suzanne grabbed for the
ignition key and gearshift to stop the speeding vehicle.
It was too late. The car crashed through a wooden barrier at
an estimated 45 m.p.h. As witnesses watched its one working
taillight disappear in water 30 ft. deep, first DeLisle and then
his wife splashed to the surface. Luckily, two men in a powerboat
saw the couple and pulled them to safety. Divers hit the water six
minutes after police were called, but none of the four children
could be revived.
Acquaintances described DeLisle, who earned $31,200 a year as
a service manager for a tire store, as hardworking and quiet. His
wife, who had studied criminal justice in college, was rarely seen
without the children. Wyandotte police chief Edward Rothermal
assured the Detroit Free Press, "This was a loving couple, good
family people." Hundreds of area residents left toys and flowers
at the accident site, in memory of the lost children and in
sympathy for the parents.
But Wyandotte detective sergeant Dan Galeski found problems in
DeLisle's story. The father reportedly said he got out of a car
window only after the wheels touched the bottom of the river. In
fact, the current had flipped the auto onto its roof. Some
witnesses said they saw DeLisle in the water while the taillight
was still visible. Others reported that a day earlier, a car with
one taillight had moved slowly along the dead-end street.
During a lie-detector test, DeLisle broke down, admitting that
he had deliberately driven into the river. Why? According to
Galeski, he wanted "to get rid of his present burdens: his wife and
his children." DeLisle, who owes some $13,000 in bills and loans,
was charged with four counts of murder and one of attempted murder.
As anger at the father was added to sorrow for the children,
Wyandotte residents last week were still visiting the site on
Eureka Avenue. One young woman carefully placed four tiny stuffed
animals beside the growing mound of pink carnations and red roses.