Observations on Gail Delano segment

[LooksLikeCRicci]

I just re-watched this segment and I echo the comments that were made by both Crystaldawn and MegTheEgg. What the heck was up with Gayle and the radio DJ?

Now I'm starting to wonder if the person Gayle was on the phone with was the DJ, who ultimately rebuffed her interest in him. This would explain some of his contradictory statements and could also give a motive for what finally pushed Gayle over the edge.

[Skywalkr1200]

what town was she from? Every time I watch the case...I cant understand where in maine she is from cuz the segment is choppy.

[MegtheEgg86]

Originally Posted by Skywalkr1200

what town was she from? Every time I watch the case...I cant understand where in maine she is from cuz the segment is choppy.

Wiscasset, ME. She "met her date" in nearby Brunswick, ME.

[ILikeTurtles]

Rewatching this case and even though it's been several decades since it happened and the case is solved, I believe that the truck driver DID give her a ride. The details about her flying south were never revealed, so it wouldn't surprise me if she did fly down there under an assumed name, hitchhiked for unknown reasons, and then made her way to Mobile.

The location of the truck driver makes sense too, its not like he said he saw her in California. It was the state over from where she died.

[MegtheEgg86]

Originally Posted by ILikeTurtles

Rewatching this case and even though it's been several decades since it happened and the case is solved, I believe that the truck driver DID give her a ride. The details about her flying south were never revealed, so it wouldn't surprise me if she did fly down there under an assumed name, hitchhiked for unknown reasons, and then made her way to Mobile.

The location of the truck driver makes sense too, its not like he said he saw her in California. It was the state over from where she died.

The truck driver was from South Carolina, but where he supposedly picked up Gail was never stated (Georgia lies between Alabama and South Carolina, by the way). In the update it was revealed that Gail checked into the hotel the same day she disappeared. She was found deceased three days later by police in the hotel room she rented. Just doesn't seem like much time or opportunity to hitchhike.

[LostMountain]

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

This second thing bothers me every time I watch this segment because it just doesn't add up. The dj. First off that comment he makes about Gail just going to cease to exist...literally sitting on the couch. What does that mean? The whole story about Gail centered on the fact that she was very lonely and looking for a man. It seemed maybe she even had a thing for this dj as she called him regularly late at night. He made the comment that he couldn't even get Gail to go out and get a cup of coffee. I don't really buy that. Does that sound like someone who is looking for a man and even puts her profile in singles columns to turn down a date with someone whom she called and talked to regularly? Not a big issue in the story, just something that always bugged me. Any comments?

To me, yes it fits perfectly into the character of someone like Gail. People who are chemically and emotionally disturbed often create elaborate fantasy lives inside their own mind. Remember this was in the days before internet chat so the main outlets for lonely people were personal ads, late-night talk radio and request-line DJs. I doubt this DJ had anything of a "personal" nature with Gail, any more than he did with dozens of other female callers who became infatuated with his voice filling their lonely hours.
As someone with personal experience, my guess is Gail probably suffered from agoraphobia and panic disorder (in the days before these disorders were much understood or treated). Which would have had a crippling effect on any attempted social life Gail might have sought. Seeing the pictures of Gail I was struck by how pale and frumpy she looked for 34. Obsessing over physical unattractiveness, real or imagined, is a common hindrance for these people. Again from personal experience, I know that sufferers create active fantasy lives for themselves, about romances and relationships they imagine would fulfill them.
In the 80s an anonymous, SAFE way for Gail to explore these fantasies were personal ads and phone calls with radio personalities (today chatrooms and instant messaging). She probably even answered ads and planned possible meetings, taking things to the last possible step, then succumbing to her fears once again and pulling back at the last moment (as she knew she would). Behavior that doesn't make sense to someone who hasn't lived with panic/agoraphobia, but makes perfect sense to one who has. The "fantasy" of an elusive romance which always ends in nothing is at least exciting in the moment for people as lonely as Gail.

[crystaldawn]

Originally Posted by LostMountain

To me, yes it fits perfectly into the character of someone like Gail. People who are chemically and emotionally disturbed often create elaborate fantasy lives inside their own mind. Remember this was in the days before internet chat so the main outlets for lonely people were personal ads, late-night talk radio and request-line DJs. I doubt this DJ had anything of a "personal" nature with Gail, any more than he did with dozens of other female callers who became infatuated with his voice filling their lonely hours.
As someone with personal experience, my guess is Gail probably suffered from agoraphobia and panic disorder (in the days before these disorders were much understood or treated). Which would have had a crippling effect on any attempted social life Gail might have sought. Seeing the pictures of Gail I was struck by how pale and frumpy she looked for 34. Obsessing over physical unattractiveness, real or imagined, is a common hindrance for these people. Again from personal experience, I know that sufferers create active fantasy lives for themselves, about romances and relationships they imagine would fulfill them.
In the 80s an anonymous, SAFE way for Gail to explore these fantasies were personal ads and phone calls with radio personalities (today chatrooms and instant messaging). She probably even answered ads and planned possible meetings, taking things to the last possible step, then succumbing to her fears once again and pulling back at the last moment (as she knew she would). Behavior that doesn't make sense to someone who hasn't lived with panic/agoraphobia, but makes perfect sense to one who has. The "fantasy" of an elusive romance which always ends in nothing is at least exciting in the moment for people as lonely as Gail.

Great post Lost Mountain! A lot to think about and some great observations. I agree that it seems as though Gail was brave and wanted to find someone in her own mind but when it came to actually getting out there and looking she was terrified which seemingly created a sort of prison for herself. Sad case.

[sdb4884]

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

Yes I could never quite figure out their relationship. Gail was obviously looking for a man so it would make sense that if she called him regularly maybe she was interested in him but then later in the segment he mentions he couldn't even get Gail to go out and get a cup of coffee. What? He makes some contradictory comments imo.

Yeah it's a puzzling one. He just sort of popped up out of nowhere in the segment. I'm guessing it was nothing more than a phone friendship, Gail calling in during his graveyard shift at the radio station during when music is played. I'm just assuming Gail was so lonely that she wanted to talk to someone and they became friends so to speak.

[dks64]

Originally Posted by kadrmas15

Hmm, while I do think what Gail did is selfish, I also think people here are underestimating how severe her depression really was. As someone who has suffered on and off with anxiety/depression issues I will say that sometimes that condition can get so out of control it can make you just completely hopeless to the point of almost being psychotic. Gail sounds like she may have had bi polar where she was either really really depressed or she was really happy and manic but always in the extreme in her emotions and never balanced. Depression if bad enough can make you that way where you literally cannot do anything but lay in bed just because you are so unmotivated to do anything.

Now granted Gail flying to a completely different area of the country to commit suicide is extreme. My guess is she planned on killing herself the whole time but did not want her family to know. So she came up with this huge rouse and without the Unsolved Mysteries segment her body probably would have never been identified. I think she just did not want her family to have to deal with the whole suicide thing and I think she wanted to be alone when she did it and not have her family have to deal with it.

However as I said, I think people are underestimating just how serious her mental/emotional illness was. I did not know her and I am not a psychiatrist but based on my own experiences and the info provided in the UM segment, I will say that depression is not something you just snap out of, especially when it is severe like in Gail's case. The treatments these days are overall significantly better than they would have been in the mid 80's when Gail killed herself. They did have medication just like now but the kinds and qualities of it were different. In the mid 80's, the only anti depressants there were, were the older Tricyclic antidepressants, in fact in 1986 when Gail disappeared and died, none of the current SSRI's were even on the market yet, Prozac came on the market in 1988. In the 80's it was quite common still to treat depression with barbituets and other tranquilizers which ironically enough fuel depression because they are depressants however you think they are working when you are on them but when the dose gets low in your body you feel worse.

Great post!

[TheCars1986]

The fact that Gail was calling into a late night radio station just to talk to the DJ should speak volumes about her mindset at the time. She was obviously very lonely, also possibly shy, which added to her problem of not being able to find a mate. She was obviously suffering from depression, and the fact that she had two failed marriages didn't help matters.

I have also wondered whether or not there was a real "John" that she was talking to on the phone the night before she disappeared. At the time, everyone thought this "John" did exist and was probably responsible for her disappearance. With what we now know, I think it's more likely Gail made him up to spare her family from knowing she was going to commit suicide.

[owenrock]

Such a sad case this was. Things like this happen too often in our society....Depression can make people do things you would never imagine that person would do. I echo the opinion that I dont think the truck driver actually gave Gail a ride but was a case of mistaken identity. When he mentioned the pill bottles some might think it was Gail, I dont want this to come out wrong or sound bad, but in my opinion I think women who hitchhike or get into strange truck drivers semi's would have a much higher chance of having some sort of medication on them.

The DJ in this case I think might of lied a bit cause he didnt want people, especially her family, to think that maybe he was the reason that she wanted to kill herself...just my opinion there. Either way it was a sad end to a life and even though I know depression does funky things to a person I still think it was a tad selfish to do it where her family didnt know so they had that extra worrying and wasnt able to start the healing process

[scc1222]

I think the DJ was just someone she wanted to talk to.I think she had some sort of fantasy about him,and if she met him and it didn't work out,then she wouldn't have him as a friend to call anymore.It would have ruined the fantasy for her.
also I think the fact she called late at night may have indicted she wasn't sleeping well,another sign of depression.

[TripleG]

Rewatching this case again, I have to say that at the beginning, I got the feeling that she left. She sounded depressed and I began to think that foul play was less and less likely.

I think the Truck Driver was, in his mind, telling the truth. He was just mistaken, and that is understandable.

Part of what I feel like is that maybe the blind date stood her up and that was the straw that broke the camel's back for her.

[economistman192]

What I will never understand about this case, is why Gail Delano (unless she was completely insane) thought it would be less painful for her family to assume she'd been dragged off and possibly murdered by a killer or wandering the streets as a homeless person somewhere not knowing who she was, than to find out she committed suicide. There are ways she could have taken her own life, saying she was going out of town and having a car accident for example, where the speculation of suicide might still be there, but the family could always assume or tell themselves that she lost control of the car. Even a note explaining what she did and saying, you won't find me, may seem cruel, but not crueler than the speculation and not knowing.

I find it interesting, in the update, the way they show Gail hiding her keys and tossing her purse, it's so cold - like the way a killer would be in another segment, only the person Gail murdered was Gail. Gave me an interesting take on suicide - what it means to have murderer and victim in the same person. Thank God for unsolved mysteries - how else would this family have had any closure? Even with the show - it still seems like a miracle that the guy was watching and recognized her!

[ILikeTurtles]

Just came across a newspaper article that was recently uploaded on Google. Several tidbits of info that I don't think has ever been reported on this board before:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?ni...pg=1366,793659