Observations on Gail Delano segment - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

crystaldawn · 04-05-2007, 04:36 PM

This was on LRW last night. I think a lot of us agree that what Gail did was very selfish. To not only end her life but to go out of her way to hide it from her family so that they would never find out what happened to her. It was just luck that the ME from Alabama happened to be watching the segment and solve the case. Anyway I did notice in the update that they think Gayle flew to Alabama. Did they find any evidence of this...possibly under the name Jackie Stafford (which was the name she was registered under in the hotel where she committed suicide)? Does that mean they no longer believe the trucker who said he was with Gail for around 24 hours when he gave her a ride? I thought he was very believable, even noted that she had a lot of pill bottles in her purse and Gail died of a drug overdose.

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?

rerungirl · 04-05-2007, 07:03 PM

I haven't seen this segment in a long, long time, but if I remember correctly the update said she had checked into the hotel shortly after she went missing. I also thought the truck driver was very believable, but he has to be mistaken if Gail was already at the hotel in Alabama during the time he says he gave her a ride.

As far as Gail being reluctant to go out and meet her friend for coffee, maybe she went through phases where she was more depressed than other times. If she was taking an antidepressent, it's possible there were times that she just felt better about things and was able to/wanted to go out more. She would place a personal ad and be hopeful that maybe things would work out "this time," only to be rejected again. I guess what I'm trying to say is maybe this was an ongoing struggle for her and there were times when she was able to manage her depression. The entries they read from her diary were so bleak...like she had given up hope.

Thiussat · 04-06-2007, 05:49 AM

This was a sad story. I saw it last night for the first time.

I think this is just a sad case of clinical depression that has went out of control. For Gail to stage her dissapearance and then head to Alabama only to later kill herself is a bit, umm, illogical, and points to someone quite unstable. Perhaps she didn't want to disturb her family by committing suicide where someone she knew would find her, but she was quite selfish to run half-way across the country. It also appears that she tried to frame this "John" guy. This was quite bizarre. It is as if she wanted her family to believe she had been murdered. That is quite cold indeed.

I wonder now whether "John" existed at all. All of her friends and family said she was very secretive about him and this was very unusual.

kamy · 07-06-2007, 10:45 AM

My husband and I thought the part where the guy walks out of the interragation room and says "You're next" to the guy in line followed by like six other men was humorous.
This was clearly a case of deep depression. Yes, what she did was very selfish, but she was obviously in the deep depths of depression, when you don't think of anything but ending your pain.
I just watched this one last night and it troubled me. I was left more troubled when I heard the update. Very surprising. Very sad.

idol · 06-26-2008, 10:29 AM

Just saw the case last night for the first time in a long time (thanks CD) and it happened in a town about 25 miles away from me. The trucker seemed legit and honest but if Gail did fly to Alabama and died a few days later than he just had to be mistaken.

MegtheEgg86 · 02-04-2009, 05:52 PM

A few little things I ran across while doing some research that you might find interesting.

Gail's father Platt died four years ago, but her mother Bette, sister Susan, and sons Tim and Ryan are still alive and well in Maine:

http://journal.maine.com/Obituaries/...0050624000273A

And apparently, Platt was a boatmaker and inventor. Gail's son Ryan wrote a nice bio about his grandfather here:

http://gaboats.com/bio/

Clockworkhigh · 06-02-2009, 12:55 AM

Yeah the trucker was mistaken. This was a year after her disappearance correct? Hey it happens. He's a trucker, he sees a million people all across the country. ONE of them I'm sure would look like Gail Delano along the way. He seemed genuine. He would have bet money on it being her and I guess the worst thing was that he would have lost money.

Yeah this story always bugged me. Gail had two sons. Two seemingly loving parents. Divorced twice yes, but like mentioned above she could have had a better life if she let it happen. Grandkids. Daughter in-laws. etc. Yes I know that is a poor substitute for a spouse but she was 34! That's young.

TracyLynnS · 06-02-2009, 10:01 AM

I don't remember this one.

Did she fly out of state to kill herself or did she fly out of state to meet a man, who may have rejected her, then she committed suicide?

What I'm trying to say is was her trip out of state planned specifically with suicide in mind?

DarkDante · 06-02-2009, 01:44 PM

Well there wasn't any man first off - it was a ruse on Gail's part to engineer her disappearance. Now whether she just wanted to disappear or just wanted to go off somewhere and end her life in private I really don't know.

I would say though given the amount of thought she put into her disappearance she probably never intended on coming back to her friends and family. So yeah as sad as it sounds I think Gail went to Alabama to end her life...

kadrmas15 · 06-02-2009, 02:37 PM

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.

crystaldawn · 06-02-2009, 02:48 PM

I do feel bad for Gail and her extreme depression but what she did to her family and her sons is horrible! She obviously knew they would be beside themselves with worry and grief and wondering what happened to her. She had no way of knowing her lies would eventually be found out thanks to the UM broadcast and it just shows she was way more focused on herself than her children and her family. If she was intent on ending her life she didn't have to travel across country and she could have left a note trying to explain herself to her family. That would have been easier on them in the end than the worrying and wondering for years they experienced before finding her.

Another thing about the reenactment I've always been curious about. It does show Gail on the phone with someone for hours soon before she disappeared. It shows her sons at the house during that time also so I'm guessing they told UM they were witness to the phone call. The question is was Gail talking to a male friend or did she just pretend to make the call and stay on the line for hours?

MegtheEgg86 · 06-03-2009, 03:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kadrmas15

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.

I agree. Depression is an all-encompassing illness. It wasn't that she didn't love and care for her family--she was just so very, very sick. Her judgement, her decision-making process was completely warped as a direct result. I wouldn't be surprised if she honestly believed that everyone--including her sons--would be better off without her, and that life would go on just as it had, without her as a "burden."

To normal, healthy people, yes, the act is selfish--but Gail was ill, and suicide was perfectly rational in her mind.

I've always felt very badly for Gail's family, but I feel the worst for Gail herself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

Another thing about the reenactment I've always been curious about. It does show Gail on the phone with someone for hours soon before she disappeared. It shows her sons at the house during that time also so I'm guessing they told UM they were witness to the phone call. The question is was Gail talking to a male friend or did she just pretend to make the call and stay on the line for hours?

That's a great question. If the latter possibility was the case, it's really unsettling. She had a relatively intricate plan to "disappear" as it was, but THAT would be very disturbing.

CD, I think this is the thread where you mention the DJ, Christian Roy, who was interviewed in the segment. I've never understood that relationship. Was this a man Gail just randomly called up one night while listening to the radio? He did mention something about her eventually asking if he'd like to meet her. It's always been a little vague and bizarre to me.

crystaldawn · 06-03-2009, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MegtheEgg86

CD, I think this is the thread where you mention the DJ, Christian Roy, who was interviewed in the segment. I've never understood that relationship. Was this a man Gail just randomly called up one night while listening to the radio? He did mention something about her eventually asking if he'd like to meet her. It's always been a little vague and bizarre to me.

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.

atomicfizz · 06-03-2009, 08:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crystaldawn

I do feel bad for Gail and her extreme depression but what she did to her family and her sons is horrible! She obviously knew they would be beside themselves with worry and grief and wondering what happened to her. She had no way of knowing her lies would eventually be found out thanks to the UM broadcast and it just shows she was way more focused on herself than her children and her family. If she was intent on ending her life she didn't have to travel across country and she could have left a note trying to explain herself to her family. That would have been easier on them in the end than the worrying and wondering for years they experienced before finding her.

Another thing about the reenactment I've always been curious about. It does show Gail on the phone with someone for hours soon before she disappeared. It shows her sons at the house during that time also so I'm guessing they told UM they were witness to the phone call. The question is was Gail talking to a male friend or did she just pretend to make the call and stay on the line for hours?

The thing is, she might not have realized that. You think all wrong when you are severly depressed. Many people think that those people will be better off without them. She might have even thought that to just not have to deal with her anymore would be easy for them, as she probably thought she would just disappear and they would never know. Your thinking is not rational when you are in this state, at all. Anyway, I pray for comfort for her family. I don't think what she did was right at all, but when you have depression that bad it's a whole new ballgame.

kadrmas15 · 06-03-2009, 02:37 PM

I do agree with you atomicfizz. That is the point I was trying to make earlier. It seems to me, that in my opinion, Gail Delano's depression was so severe that she was really at the point where she felt her family and friends would be better off without her. I've read about these cases many times where the person that kills themselves just feels like things will never get better and that they are tired of being a burden to their family and friends. I mean no one is saying what she did was right but I will say if your depression is severe enough your thinking can at times be very irrational and erratic.

04-05-2007, 04:36 PM	#1
crystaldawn Member Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Dec 17, 2002 Location: Illinois Posts: 4,261	Observations on Gail Delano segment This was on LRW last night. I think a lot of us agree that what Gail did was very selfish. To not only end her life but to go out of her way to hide it from her family so that they would never find out what happened to her. It was just luck that the ME from Alabama happened to be watching the segment and solve the case. Anyway I did notice in the update that they think Gayle flew to Alabama. Did they find any evidence of this...possibly under the name Jackie Stafford (which was the name she was registered under in the hotel where she committed suicide)? Does that mean they no longer believe the trucker who said he was with Gail for around 24 hours when he gave her a ride? I thought he was very believable, even noted that she had a lot of pill bottles in her purse and Gail died of a drug overdose. 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?

02-04-2009, 05:52 PM	#6
MegtheEgg86 Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Jun 19, 2008 Location: The Volunteer State Posts: 5,156	A few little things I ran across while doing some research that you might find interesting. Gail's father Platt died four years ago, but her mother Bette, sister Susan, and sons Tim and Ryan are still alive and well in Maine: http://journal.maine.com/Obituaries/...0050624000273A And apparently, Platt was a boatmaker and inventor. Gail's son Ryan wrote a nice bio about his grandfather here: http://gaboats.com/bio/
	__________________ "Why is she lying?, it makes me wonder. What is she hiding?, it makes me wonder." Go Vols!

06-02-2009, 02:48 PM	#11
crystaldawn Member Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Dec 17, 2002 Location: Illinois Posts: 4,261	I do feel bad for Gail and her extreme depression but what she did to her family and her sons is horrible! She obviously knew they would be beside themselves with worry and grief and wondering what happened to her. She had no way of knowing her lies would eventually be found out thanks to the UM broadcast and it just shows she was way more focused on herself than her children and her family. If she was intent on ending her life she didn't have to travel across country and she could have left a note trying to explain herself to her family. That would have been easier on them in the end than the worrying and wondering for years they experienced before finding her. Another thing about the reenactment I've always been curious about. It does show Gail on the phone with someone for hours soon before she disappeared. It shows her sons at the house during that time also so I'm guessing they told UM they were witness to the phone call. The question is was Gail talking to a male friend or did she just pretend to make the call and stay on the line for hours?
	Last edited by crystaldawn; 06-03-2009 at 07:01 AM.

04-05-2007, 07:03 PM	#2
rerungirl Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Sep 23, 2002 Location: Midwest Posts: 295	I haven't seen this segment in a long, long time, but if I remember correctly the update said she had checked into the hotel shortly after she went missing. I also thought the truck driver was very believable, but he has to be mistaken if Gail was already at the hotel in Alabama during the time he says he gave her a ride. As far as Gail being reluctant to go out and meet her friend for coffee, maybe she went through phases where she was more depressed than other times. If she was taking an antidepressent, it's possible there were times that she just felt better about things and was able to/wanted to go out more. She would place a personal ad and be hopeful that maybe things would work out "this time," only to be rejected again. I guess what I'm trying to say is maybe this was an ongoing struggle for her and there were times when she was able to manage her depression. The entries they read from her diary were so bleak...like she had given up hope.

04-06-2007, 05:49 AM	#3
Thiussat Member Forum Regular Join Date: Mar 09, 2007 Posts: 601	This was a sad story. I saw it last night for the first time. I think this is just a sad case of clinical depression that has went out of control. For Gail to stage her dissapearance and then head to Alabama only to later kill herself is a bit, umm, illogical, and points to someone quite unstable. Perhaps she didn't want to disturb her family by committing suicide where someone she knew would find her, but she was quite selfish to run half-way across the country. It also appears that she tried to frame this "John" guy. This was quite bizarre. It is as if she wanted her family to believe she had been murdered. That is quite cold indeed. I wonder now whether "John" existed at all. All of her friends and family said she was very secretive about him and this was very unusual.

07-06-2007, 10:45 AM	#4
kamy UM Fanatic Forum Regular Join Date: Apr 25, 2007 Location: Texas Posts: 625	My husband and I thought the part where the guy walks out of the interragation room and says "You're next" to the guy in line followed by like six other men was humorous. This was clearly a case of deep depression. Yes, what she did was very selfish, but she was obviously in the deep depths of depression, when you don't think of anything but ending your pain. I just watched this one last night and it troubled me. I was left more troubled when I heard the update. Very surprising. Very sad.

06-26-2008, 10:29 AM	#5
idol Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Jun 18, 2008 Location: Maine Posts: 280	Just saw the case last night for the first time in a long time (thanks CD) and it happened in a town about 25 miles away from me. The trucker seemed legit and honest but if Gail did fly to Alabama and died a few days later than he just had to be mistaken.

06-02-2009, 12:55 AM	#7
Clockworkhigh Member Forum Regular Join Date: Apr 29, 2009 Posts: 604	Yeah the trucker was mistaken. This was a year after her disappearance correct? Hey it happens. He's a trucker, he sees a million people all across the country. ONE of them I'm sure would look like Gail Delano along the way. He seemed genuine. He would have bet money on it being her and I guess the worst thing was that he would have lost money. Yeah this story always bugged me. Gail had two sons. Two seemingly loving parents. Divorced twice yes, but like mentioned above she could have had a better life if she let it happen. Grandkids. Daughter in-laws. etc. Yes I know that is a poor substitute for a spouse but she was 34! That's young.

06-02-2009, 10:01 AM	#8
TracyLynnS Don't Look Up Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Jan 07, 2009 Posts: 3,107	I don't remember this one. Did she fly out of state to kill herself or did she fly out of state to meet a man, who may have rejected her, then she committed suicide? What I'm trying to say is was her trip out of state planned specifically with suicide in mind?

06-02-2009, 01:44 PM	#9
DarkDante Member Senior Member Join Date: Jul 27, 2002 Posts: 1,569	Well there wasn't any man first off - it was a ruse on Gail's part to engineer her disappearance. Now whether she just wanted to disappear or just wanted to go off somewhere and end her life in private I really don't know. I would say though given the amount of thought she put into her disappearance she probably never intended on coming back to her friends and family. So yeah as sad as it sounds I think Gail went to Alabama to end her life...

06-02-2009, 02:37 PM	#10
kadrmas15 Retired from Board 03/03/11 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 11, 2006 Location: Minnesota Posts: 1,910	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.

06-03-2009, 02:37 PM	#15
kadrmas15 Retired from Board 03/03/11 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 11, 2006 Location: Minnesota Posts: 1,910	I do agree with you atomicfizz. That is the point I was trying to make earlier. It seems to me, that in my opinion, Gail Delano's depression was so severe that she was really at the point where she felt her family and friends would be better off without her. I've read about these cases many times where the person that kills themselves just feels like things will never get better and that they are tired of being a burden to their family and friends. I mean no one is saying what she did was right but I will say if your depression is severe enough your thinking can at times be very irrational and erratic.