This is one of the saddest crimes I have researched. Some would say that it was a mercy killing and not even a crime. I leave it to you to decide.
Bill and Rose Warren of Millbrae had operated “Rose and Bill’s Tavern” on El Camino Real near Millbrae Avenue for years. It had made the news back in September of 1957 as the site of a holdup where a police officer and two of the robbers were shot and wounded.
But in 1964, Rose suffered a massive stroke and was incapacitated and confined to a wheelchair. They left the tavern and Bill stayed home as Rose’s sole caretaker.
This situation went on for ten years. Something changed in late December of 1974 and The Times reported that Bill was booked into the San Mateo County Jail on the charge of murdering his wife with blasts from a shotgun. The police chief said, “we haven’t got deeply into the motivation.” But it was an apparent murder-suicide pact. After shooting Rose, Bill called the police and said simply: “I have just killed my wife.” The police raced to the Poplar Avenue house and found Rose dead. The Times reported that Bill “surrendered immediately and cooperated with the police.”
Although Bill was arrested, he was not incarcerated.
One month later, the sad story came to an end. The Times reported on Jan. 21, 1975, that two male relatives had been unable to reach Bill by telephone and that he didn’t answer the front door of his home. They called the police, who assisted the men in breaking down the door around midnight. Calling out to Bill, they received no response. In the kitchen, they found a note in Bill’s handwriting that said: “I loved you too much.” The three men searched the house and eventually found Bill’s body lying on the floor next to the bed with an empty bottle of sleeping pills nearby.
The murder-suicide pact had been completed.
Should this have been considered a crime? Or an act of compassion? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
Those believing this was a case of an informal “end of life” situation may be interested to know that a current bill in California, CA SB380, is addressing just this issue to some extent. Sponsored by 14 Democrat lawmakers, it last went to the Secretary of State on Oct. 5th of last year – although the bill seems to be specifically addressing the medical use of “aid-in-dying” drugs. Had the Warrens had this option, and if they had met the bill’s guidelines, this tragic story might have had a different outcome.
