Policeman Suicide - any info?

[deucelow]

I'm very sorry to start what may well be an extraneous new thread here {although eternally grateful for having found so many fellow UM enthusiasts!}

Just wondering about a case I've seen a few times here - can't recall the name, but it was about a senior cop who went out to get some gas and pick up some yoghurt for his wife, and then was found dead in the middle of a field. They ruled it a suicide, but the family didn't accept it, and it did seem rather strange.

Apparently he had been a former organised crime buster in hus younger days, and the family speculated he may have been mudered for his part in that?

Anyone recall what I'm talking about, and if any progress was made?

Apologies once more if this has been covered someplace else.

- Deucelow -

[crystaldawn]

Welcome to the board!

The story you're referring to is Michael O'Mara and it hasn't been discussed very often on here that I can remember. I never really bought that it was a suicide. I mean he takes money to go get ice cream stops to fill up his car with gas and than right in the middle of that he gets this strong impulse to go shoot himself? It doesn't make any sense. I did find a lengthy article on him as far as I know no one has ever been arrested for the crime.

http://www.ipsn.org/omara.html

[deucelow]

Excellent article, thanks for tracking it down.

After nearly twenty years, you'd think that little or no further progress will be made here. To me it's inarguable - the man {a good man} was murdered, and the perpetrators have escaped justice.

[eteem]

Doesn't it seem strange that the police would actually consider this to be a suicide. My gut says it's a cover up. Or Maybe the police are secretly investigating it so they don't draw any attention to the real killer and keep him/her in the dark.

[crystaldawn]

Yes I can't believe they would still be trying to convince anyone it was a suicide. If you read that article I posted it even said that when his wife tried to challenge the suicide ruling (so she could get his pension) that she would receive threatening phone calls and such. That should be one of the biggest indications that this wasn't a suicide and some people don't want it investigated further.

[wiseguy182]

I wonder if they ever did a full autopsy. He was found slumped over a rock. It would seem that if he committed suicide, he would have sustained injuries from falling on the rock.

[kadrmas15]

Personally I do not believe this was a suicide either. Cover-ups are common in Chicago and Cook County, O'Mara was probably murdered by someone either in his department or someone that was known by his department. Very sad as someone has got away with murder for over 20 years now. I will say if O'Mara killed himself he went to very elaborate lengths to make it not look like he killed himself. You would have to believe he took the last couple of dollars his wife had to go get frozen yogurt, for some reason put a gas nuzzle in his car, then walk out to the middle of a field and hold the pistol a couple of inches away from his head when he pulled the trigger. If a person were to shoot themselves in the head intentionally they would put the gun against their skin as that is more natural than holding the gun a couple of inches away.

[conservativejoe]

hmm i was wondering if they found gun shot residue on his hands or not?....EDIT I read the link crystal left and it said there was some residue on both hands, but not a significant amount.

[Opal]

This was definitely a murder.
Who goes to get gasoline, leaves the gas pump in the car, walks 20 feet away and shoots himself?

[MegtheEgg86]

In a weird way, the Michael O'Mara case has always kind of reminded me of Kari Lynn Nixon. The activities they were engaged in just minutes before their disappearance/murders are not at all conducive to the speculated events.

Kari wouldn't have gone to the grocery store, bought the groceries, and started carrying them back home if she planned on running away. Likewise, the likelihood of O'Mara taking his wife's money, purchasing yogurt, and refueling his vehicle all in the moments leading up to a suicide is pretty incredible for me to fathom. He was murdered.

[idol]

I do not believe this was a suicide either, far from it.

[Jon]

This case really disturbed me. It sounded like this guy was very loyal to the police dept. and had a very solid record as a policeman. The investigators in this case seemed very callous to me. I mean, what happened to taking care of your own? They never presented a single reason why Capt. O'Mara would want to commit suicide. No depression, no financial problems, no family problems, no work problems...nothing.

“When our investigators went to the scene and they looked in the field, it didn’t appear that there was any… evidence of a struggle.”

Other than a dead man slumped over a rock with a pistol laying on the ground?

"If you were going to weight this, there would be more… weight towards a suicide or an accident than there would be towards… a murder.”

I think all of the weight is towards a cover-up.

[Calliope68]

I too believe this was a murder. He got money from his wife & went it out(this could have been so he could kill himself). But he got a yogurt(or ice cream) & was getting gas & then decides to walk over to the field & shoot himself. Why would someone whose going to kill themselves bother to eat or get gas in their car? Wasn't even his personal car. Finding gun residual on one hand(the shooting hand ) could point to a suicide but why both hands unless he was either fighting for the gun or put up his hands in reflex when whomever was holding it shot him. I could by both hands if it was a shotgun(he'd have to use both hands). Did the bullet that killed him come from his gun? I can't remember if they told us that. Also this is a policeman of long standing seems he would have planned out his suicide better and left a note for his family. I don't but this was a suicide.

[crystaldawn]

I found a recent lengthy article on this case. Thankfully it seems that his widow was just recently awarded the money she was due.

http://www.ipsn.org/omara.php

[Charli-Ann]

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

Yes I can't believe they would still be trying to convince anyone it was a suicide. If you read that article I posted it even said that when his wife tried to challenge the suicide ruling (so she could get his pension) that she would receive threatening phone calls and such. That should be one of the biggest indications that this wasn't a suicide and some people don't want it investigated further.

I have to say, of all the "was it suicide or murder?"-type cases on UM, this one seems to me to be clearest case suicide, hands down and with no question.

Charli-Ann