[CA] Not forgetting. Michelle King's life stolen in her police officer husband's murder-suicide

Not Forgetting.
11 years ago today - February 5th, 2001, Anaheim police officer Joseph Bailey  fatally shot his wife Michelle King, who was a former Los Angeles police officer, then killed himself. The couple had sought counseling from a Mormon leader at King's church because of "ongoing domestic troubles."

OFFICER KILLS WIFE, COMMITS SUICIDE: Violence: Fountain Valley neighbors say the gunman was an Anaheim policeman. The victim had been with the LAPD.
Los Angeles Times. pg. B.3
Daniel Yi, Phil Willon
Feb 6, 2001
[Excerpts] An Anaheim police officer Monday fatally shot his wife, a former Los Angeles police officer, and then killed himself before SWAT teams stormed their Fountain Valley home. The shootings rattled the quiet residential neighborhood, forcing an elementary school to lock students in classrooms. A distraught man called 911 at 9:40 a.m. and reported he had just shot and killed his wife and wanted to kill himself... He was identified by neighbors, his ex-wife and a police source as Anaheim Police Officer Joseph Bailey, 44. After repeated telephone calls by police negotiators went unanswered, officers stormed the modest home at 11:45 a.m. Inside, they found the bodies of Bailey and Michelle King, 39. King was a Los Angeles police officer who had left the force two years ago... The couple had sought counseling from a Mormon leader at King's church for domestic troubles... King moved to the Fountain Valley home in 1997... According to Riverside County court records, Bailey divorced [P.B.] of Corona, his wife of 17 years, last July. The couple had two children. "He was a man that did not want to be told what to do, or how to do it," [P.B.] said Monday. But, she said, her ex-husband was never abusive and was a loving father...

OFFICER KILLS WIFE, HIMSELF: 911 call from despondent man brings police to his Fountain Valley home. Authorities evacuate neighbors, lock down Cox Elementary. SWAT teams find bodies of an Anaheim policeman and his spouse.
Los Angeles Times
Daniel Yi, Phil Willon and Mai Tran
February 06, 2001
[Excerpts] An Anaheim police officer [Joseph Bailey] on Monday fatally shot his wife [Michelle King] , who was a former Los Angeles police officer, then killed himself before SWAT teams stormed their Fountain Valley home... Neighbors said King had five children, including two who attend Cox Elementary. Police escorted them from class shortly after the bodies were found. The couple had sought counseling from a Mormon leader at King's church because of ongoing domestic troubles. "As late as last night, Joe Bailey called and said they were having some marital difficulties," said Bruce Miller, the regional head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. King moved to the Fountain Valley home in 1997, according to her landlady, Helen Smith, who said she was a model tenant. Smith said she took an instant liking to King, who told her she was a divorced mother trying to get back on her feet. "She was very nice," Smith said. "I didn't even do a check on her. I rented to her, and it turned out she was a good girl." About a year ago she began noticing Joseph Bailey's name on the rent checks. "I just assumed someone was helping her with her finances, or maybe someone was living with her," Smith said. "She had been sick for a while." The couple's neighbors said King had been seriously ill for several months, possibly with cancer, and was not working at the time of the shooting... As of late Monday, police reported only sketchy details of the crime, and did not explain what might have triggered the apparent murder-suicide. Perry declined to release names of the deceased, until coroner's deputies complete their investigation... Bailey was stationed at Esperanza High School in Anaheim, and had worked in the gang unit as well, according to a police source who asked not to be named. "We kind of walked around in a daze all day. It's unbelievable," said the source. "He was a tremendous man. He had the potential for a good career: bright, intelligent and very personable." The news also stunned officers at the Huntington Beach Police Department, where Bailey once worked... Bailey left Huntington Beach to work for the Anaheim Police Department in 1998... Bailey began his career in law enforcement with the California Highway Patrol...

DEATHS OF OFFICERS STILL A MYSTERY SUICIDE: Police nationwide have higher-than-average rate.
Orange County Register
Jeff Collins and Aldrin Brown
Feb 7, 2001
[Excerpts] ...Fountain Valley police confirmed the identities of those killed in Monday's shooting as officer Joseph E. Bailey, 44, and former Anaheim code enforcement officer Michelle E. King, 39. The two were found in their La Marquesa Avenue home... The shootings follow a Dec. 29 suicide in which Long Beach Police Detective Suphada "Sue" Nelson, 32, shot herself in the chest in her Rancho Santa Margarita home. Twelve days before that, disabled La Habra officer Brian Wichman, 30, shot himself in the head after letting himself into a patrol car at the police station. The timing of the three shootings may be an aberration. None of the families has said publicly what might have led to the tragedies, though Nelson's husband, Long Beach Detective Kevin Nelson, said he did not think her suicide was job-related. However, law-enforcement officers nationwide are killing themselves at more than twice the rate at which they're killed in the line of duty. Robert Douglas, director of the National P.O.L.I.C.E. Suicide Foundation, estimated that 418 officers killed themselves in 2000. About 150 officers died on duty last year. "A lot of officers are facing a lot of stress but have nowhere to take their feelings," said Douglas, a retired Baltimore police officer. "You know what happens to an officer who reports he's had suicidal fantasies? ... They take him off the street and put him on administrative duties." A study by the National Fraternal Order of Police found that police have a suicide rate twice the national average... And officers always have a firearm available... Sylvia Banuelos learned quickly the stigma of suicide after her husband, Orange County Sheriff's Deputy Ernest Banuelos, killed himself in March 1997. There were no flowers and no help with funeral arrangements. Benefits were cut off, she said. "I don't want another widow and her kids to be treated the way I was treated," said Banuelos, a mother of four, who helped Douglas start the police suicide foundation. "Unfortunately, when it comes to suicide, a lot of departments treat families the same way (that I was)."

MURDER-SUICIDE CAUSE STILL A MYSTERY
Los Angeles Times
Mai Tran, Jack Leonard
Feb 7, 2001. pg. B.1
[Excerpts] He was known as the cop with the soft touch, a veteran who could bring calm to a crisis. But while Joseph Bailey appeared adroit at handling the hard-charging life of an Anaheim police officer, events at home were slipping beyond his control. Cancer was taking a heavy toll on his new wife, a former Anaheim code enforcement officer. At the same time, the couple was desperately trying to save a relationship that seemed to be running aground... The cause remains a mystery. The couple's colleagues and friends say they never saw signs that might have warned of approaching violence. Bailey had only recently talked about how happy he was in Anaheim, where two months ago he was promoted into the prestigious gang unit. "It just came out of the blue," Anaheim Police Lt. Ray Welch said. "He never said a word or behaved in any way that would have led me to believe that there was anything wrong. It's a tragedy for everybody." Investigators in Fountain Valley, where the couple lived, continue to dig for clues. "We've got the loss of two lives here. I think we still need to get to the core of what happened," Fountain Valley Police Sgt. Jim Perry said. Michelle King, 39, joined the Anaheim Planning Department as a part-time code enforcement officer in November 1997. A former Los Angeles police officer, King quickly made friends in her new work. She was outgoing and a devoted mother, decorating her desk at City Hall with framed pictures of her children. "She was a people person," said Roger Bennion, an Anaheim code enforcement supervisor... Co-workers recalled that King discovered she had health problems... King's health deteriorated. And in October, she resigned... Colleagues were unsure where or when the couple met. But they appeared to have been seeing each other quietly for years, according to Bailey's ex-wife. [P.B.] said she separated from her husband in February 1999 after discovering he was having an affair with King. Leaders from King's Mormon church said the couple married a few months ago. He had two children from his previous marriage, and she had five...

NO SPECIAL BURIAL FOR ANAHEIM OFFICER
Orange County Register
Jeff Collins
Feb 8, 2001. pg. PageB
[Excerpts] A private memorial is being arranged for an Anaheim police officer believed to have killed his girl friend and then taken his own life, but the service won't have any of the pomp associated with on-duty police deaths, officials said Wednesday. Relatives of Joseph E. Bailey, 44, were told that the Anaheim Police Department won't help with his funeral arrangements and won't provide a uniformed honor guard for Bailey's burial, tentatively scheduled for Monday in Riverside County. "This is something worse than a suicide, because he took somebody else's life besides his own," police Capt. Dave Severson said. "That's not something the department would want to honor"... A viewing of King's body is scheduled for 2 to 8 p.m. today at Pierce Brothers Mortuary, 720 W. Washington Blvd., Los Angeles. Her funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 17500 Bushard St., Fountain Valley.

FRIENDS STRUGGLE TO UNDERSTAND KING'S SHOOTING DEATH TRAGEDY: About 300 attend a memorial service to honor the Anaheim code- enforcement officer and mother of five
Orange County Register
Lynn Seeden
Feb 10, 2001
[Excerpts] Jynene Johnson and her friend Michelle King chatted on the phone Sunday night. King was being her normal self: conversational, witty and bright. Twelve hours later, King was shot to death by her live-in boyfriend... King's closest friends are struggling to find a balance between the woman they knew so well and the tragedy of her death. "She was so animated," said Johnson. "Michelle was always at her children's ballgames, cheering and screaming her approval of them." A meticulous housekeeper, King was known to vacuum so no footprints would ever show on her carpet... Bailey was well-liked at the Mormon church he had been attending with King for the past year. "He was very nice," Johnson said. "I knew they argued at home, but for him to do this is completely out of character for him. This doesn't add up"... At Friday's memorial service, Bishop Tim Miller gave perhaps the only hint of something wrong in King's life: "Michelle did not have an easy life. She was hungry for love, help and encouragement." King graduated from Dorsey High School in Los Angeles in 1978 and served in the Navy for six years. She then moved back to California and worked for the Los Angeles Police Department for seven years, Johnson said, and most recently worked as a code-enforcement officer for the city of Anaheim. King was buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier on Friday. "This was just a tragedy," Johnson said. "It was done to the whole community. It was done to us. That's why it was such a shock." A trust account has been set up for Michelle King's children. Contributions may be made to the Beneficial Trust for the Children of Michelle King, P.O. Box 8644, Fountain Valley, CA 92728.

A ZEST FOR LIFE - King-Bailey TRAGEDY: Michelle King and Joe Bailey were both liked by many; friends try to understand what led to their tragic deaths.
Orange County Register
Lynn Seeden
Feb 15, 2001
[Excerpts] ...Jynene Johnson and her friend Michelle King chatted on the phone Sunday night. Michelle was being her normal self: conversational, witty and bright. Twelve hours later, Michelle was shot to death by her husband, Joe Bailey, leaving seven children and hundreds of friends in shock. King and Bailey were married in October. Friday nearly 300 friends, most of them crying before they even signed the guest book, paid tribute to King at a flower-filled memorial service at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Fountain Valley where she and her family were dedicated parishioners. An American flag draped her coffin. King, 39, was shot Monday morning by Joseph E. Bailey, 44, a respected Anaheim police officer with whom she lived in their La Marquesa Avenue home. Bailey then called 911 in an apparent panic, and sometime between 9:41 and 11:40 a.m., Bailey turned a gun on himself... King was a month shy of her 40th birthday... Joe Bailey had been attending the Fountain Valley Mormon church with King for the last year where he was well liked...
[police officer involved domestic violence oidv intimate partner violence ipv abuse law enforcement public safety lethal fatality fatalities murder suicide cop on cop california state politics]