woman who met blind date, disappeared

[Tony Ballesteros]

the update yesterday stated she staged her struggle in the parking lot (hid keys, discarded purse in bushes) then flew to alabama and killed herself.
the coroner ruled it a drug overdose.

anyone else have a problem with this?

why fly to alabama and kill yourself. why with a drug overdose? why in a hotel room. why make up a ruse involving a blind date.

its more likely she was kidnapped, taken to alabama and killed. her purse was found in the parking lot days later. it possible she did meet someone, he killed her, then went back to the rendezvous point and discarded the keys and purse.

[PracTz]

Originally Posted by Tony Ballesteros

the update yesterday stated she staged her struggle in the parking lot (hid keys, discarded purse in bushes) then flew to alabama and killed herself.
the coroner ruled it a drug overdose.

anyone else have a problem with this?

Not me. Stranger things have happened!

Originally Posted by Tony Ballesteros

why fly to alabama and kill yourself. why with a drug overdose?

I believe this is what happened because when they found the body, there didn't appear to be any evidence of anyone else having been in the room or any evidence of any kind of struggle. While I can only guess, I'd say that she flew all that way there with the intention of killing herself but didn't want her family to be 'shamed' by the suicide so she decided to send them on a wild goose chase and just let them assume that she'd been done in by unknown folks in an unknown location!
And, if she did it with a drug overdose, it would have been less painful than by many other methods.

Originally Posted by Tony Ballesteros

why in a hotel room. why make up a ruse involving a blind date.

A hotel room would have more privacy than either being in her own house (with her family around) or being outside- and, if she did commit suicide, then it's likely she would have wanted privacy so no one else could have stopped her. As I said before,maybe she concocted the idea of a blind date to send the family on that goose chase.

Originally Posted by Tony Ballesteros

its more likely she was kidnapped, taken to alabama and killed.

But surely there would have been evidence of a struggle either on her body itself, the Alabama hotel room or the parking lot where her purse,etc. was found had she been kidnapped and taken alive against her will!

Originally Posted by Tony Ballesteros

her purse was found in the parking lot days later. it possible she did meet someone, he killed her, then went back to the rendezvous point and discarded the keys and purse.

I guess it's a possibilty but there doesn't seem to have been any clues, forensic evidence or witnesses to substantiate that theory!

[crystaldawn]

I believe their scenario. I think she hitchhiked to Alabama because she didn't want her family to have to find her. I don't think she even wanted her family to know she had taken her life thats why she made up the story of having the date. Maybe she hoped they would just think she had started over somewhere else. I know that seems very cruel to have them worry but people at that stage aren't exactly thinking clearly. The trucker that gave her a ride did say that he saw pill bottles in her purse.

I was just thinking today that this has got to be one of the more amazing updates and if not for UM I don't think it would have ever been solved. I mean someone from the AL Medical Examiner's office just happened to be watching and recognized Gayle's picture as resembling a "Jane Doe" they had found deceased in a hotel room. Than dna tests confirmed it was her. Amazing......

[LooksLikeCRicci]

My theory follows along the same lines as what the authorities pieced out... I do think that Gayle staged her disappearance and then killed herself... but I tend to focus more on the two-hour phone conversation that she had with "John" the night before she disappeared. It's my opinion that she DID have a blind date with John and that the date went poorly. The segment discussed how Gayle was depressed and lonely. I think that she may have gotten her hopes up about the meeting with John and was devastated when it didn't pan out... maybe he stood her up? (I realize that "John" was never found... which makes this theory less plausible.)

I'm not saying that Gayle wasn't suicidal before all this happened. It was well-documented that she had been struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts before she disappeared. I just think that the whole "John" scenario may have been enough to push her over the edge.

Just a thought. And I agree with Crystaldawn about this being one of the more incredible mysteries that UM has solved... what are the chances?

[DarkDante]

This case bothers me on several levels. It was one of the first cases to really bother me and think man this woman is a cold person. I'm sorry but her actions were so unbelieveably selfish. I know, I know that her circumstances were dire but to leave your two teenage sons in that fashion and then send them on this chase for the answers for several years, wow thats really something...

The thing with "John" always bothered me as well. It wasn't the dude from Old Orchard Beach, then who the heck was she talking to on the phone the night before she vanished. Was she just possibly talking into the reciever pretending she was having a conversation? - Who the hell knows?

It is important to note that the truck driver who had given "Gale" a ride was never able to 100% postively identify the woman as Gale Delano. In fact Delano proof positive did not hitchhike to Alabama - she took an airplane as the update mentioned and registered under the name "Jackie Stafford" which in my mind basically shoots down any theory of foul play. The woman didn't want ANYONE to know who she was and whether the suicide was accidental or intentional, Gale DeLano committed suicide.

[Tony Ballesteros]

i like that in her personal ad, she said "no overweight men". heres a gal who flew to another state to commit suicide, and may have faked a two hour phone conversation, yet shes to good for a man who is overweight. not even obese super lard ass men, it states,"NO OVERWEIGHT MEN". she was apparently looking for a triathlete to date.

[crystaldawn]

The whole long phone call with "John" the night before she disappeared was the only thing that I could never quite figure out. I can't imagine that she would sit there in front of her sons on an imaginary phone call for 2 hours. Maybe John was someone that she met through her personal ads as according to the story she was still doing that or maybe its someone she had met in the past and she reestablished contact with him that night as part of her plan to fool her family. I realize the police questioned the men she had dated but it is possible that they didn't have all the numbers of the men she was in contact with.

I do agree with Dante that her actions were extremely selfish. If she had given any thought to her family she would of course have realized that they would search from her and her sons weren't old enough to live on their own so she apparently didn't give any thought to what would happen to them.

This is not really relevant but any of you guys find that dj friend of hers a little strange? When he said he thought Gayle was just going to cease to exist literally right there on the couch. What does that mean? Also one thing that sort of confused me was whether him and Gayle were an item or not. First he said that Gayle wanted to know if he wanted to meet her and would call him frequently then later he says he couldn't even get her to go out with him for a cup of coffee. That latter part doesn't seem likely if she was so desperate to find a man as to take out an ad in the personals. Any thoughts on Christin Roy?

[Tony Ballesteros]

i thought it was wierd that she was even up at 3am listening to that d0uchebag, didnt she have two sons and a job?

she was described as being incredibly shy, but shy people usually dont call radio shows, and they definitly do not become friendly with radio personalities.

the phone call with "john" should be pretty easy to figure out, i mean, phone companies do keep records.

[LooksLikeCRicci]

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

This is not really relevant but any of you guys find that dj friend of hers a little strange? When he said he thought Gayle was just going to cease to exist literally right there on the couch. What does that mean?

You know the expression "shrink away?" I have a feeling that's what the DJ meant. I think that he meant that Gayle was so uncomfortable and timid with who she was that if she could have, she would have "shrunk away" right there on the couch.

In response to the comment about why she was up at 3am listening to a radio show, I think the answer is simple. She was depressed. Insomnia, for some people, is a part of depression. For others, it's sleeping all day. And perhaps the reason that this "timid" woman called a radio personality to talk is because he was a friendly voice that seemed approachable. (I realize I may be reaching here...)

And yes, I concur with everyone else that Gayle's action were very selfish. I feel for her sons.

[Tony Ballesteros]

were her sons interviewed for the segment?

[eteem]

I didn't get the impression that there was any thing wrong with the D.J.. Does any one else? Just looking for input not a challenge, I love to hear different points of view.

[DarkDante]

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

The whole long phone call with "John" the night before she disappeared was the only thing that I could never quite figure out. I can't imagine that she would sit there in front of her sons on an imaginary phone call for 2 hours. Maybe John was someone that she met through her personal ads as according to the story she was still doing that or maybe its someone she had met in the past and she reestablished contact with him that night as part of her plan to fool her family. I realize the police questioned the men she had dated but it is possible that they didn't have all the numbers of the men she was in contact with.

I do agree with Dante that her actions were extremely selfish. If she had given any thought to her family she would of course have realized that they would search from her and her sons weren't old enough to live on their own so she apparently didn't give any thought to what would happen to them.

This is not really relevant but any of you guys find that dj friend of hers a little strange? When he said he thought Gayle was just going to cease to exist literally right there on the couch. What does that mean? Also one thing that sort of confused me was whether him and Gayle were an item or not. First he said that Gayle wanted to know if he wanted to meet her and would call him frequently then later he says he couldn't even get her to go out with him for a cup of coffee. That latter part doesn't seem likely if she was so desperate to find a man as to take out an ad in the personals. Any thoughts on Christin Roy?

Depression is a strange animal. You would think that people suffering with their demons would turn to people who are close to them (family, friends) or even better a trained professional but unfortunatley this is not always the case.

When I was growing up, I remember being told that hairdressers and bartenders were the unofficial psychologists of the world. Nothing could be more true, when women have problems they usually will turn to another person while men usually will just try to drink the problem away.

In Ms. Delano's case she turned to this late night disc jockey whom she could lay all her baggage on but still keep at arms length. This is very similar to what people do today with the internet. There are tons of people who are very happily married but have "internet boyfriends" and "internet girlfriends" with whom they dump all their baggage on. It's much easier to talk to someone over the phone or over a keyboard than to confront the problems face to face with a person with whom you interact on a daily basis.

So thats where a lot of these so called "internet relationships" come about. Thats not to say that in most cases these same people are not communicating their problems to their spouses and friends but in Ms. DeLano's case, I would say the late night disc jockey actually bought her some time although with someone like DeLano who was so consistantly depressed, there was really nobody that could truly help her but herself.

[IndyGirl]

Does anyone have a downloadable clip of this segment? (Gale Delano) I would like to see this case.