This has got to be the most heart wrenching news story I have read in a long time. The mortgage crisis has claimed its first victim. Carlene Balderrama was behind on her mortgage for 42 months and fatally shot herself shortly after faxing a letter to PHH Mortgage saying that by the time they foreclosed on her house that day, should would be dead. Police said that Mrs. Balderrama used her husband’s high-powered rifle to kill herself.
Carlene Balderrama, 53, was apparently distraught that the company was planning to sell her foreclosed house at 5 p.m. Tuesday, according to Taunton, MA, Police Chief Raymond O’Berg.
O’Berg said officers found Balderrama dead of a gunshot wound inside her 103 Duffy Drive house just over an hour after employees at the mortgage company, the name of which has not been released, received the ominous fax message and called police.
“By the time you foreclose on my house I’ll be dead,” O’Berg said the fax read in part.
The chief also said a suicide note found next to the body urged the woman’s husband and son to “take the insurance money and pay for the house.” He said that the woman’s husband had no idea the house was about to be auctioned. “She handled all the bills,” the chief said.
The auction was scheduled to start at 5 p.m. and interested buyers arrived at the property in Taunton, about 35 miles south of Boston, while Balderrama’s body was still inside, according to Taunton Police Chief Raymond O’Berg.
“She put in her suicide note that it got overwhelming for her.” “Apparently she didn’t have anyone to talk to. She didn’t come to me. I don’t know why.
I did a little more digging around and found out that the family had some serious money woes. According to the Boston Herald, the woman’s husband, John Balderrama, had a shaky financial history, including three recent bankruptcy attempts since 2004 and an earlier foreclosure filing. The couple bought the split-level ranch-style house six years ago for $232,000.
This is really a sad turn of events for this family. It is important for couples to work together to solve their problems. No-one knows what really went on in this woman’s life and the stress she was under. I know how callous creditors can be at times, but there is always a way out, even when it seems hopeless. My question to my readers is, should the mortgage company bear the blame for this? After all, news reports said her mortgage was unpaid for 42 months. There are victims all around in this case and it is sad that this woman felt so desperate that she had no other choice but to take her life.
Filed under: Carlene Balderrama, Foreclosure, PHH Mortgage, Suicide
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