People on UM you tried to like, but just couldn't

[wiseguy182]

this is different than the "people interviewed on UM you just didn't like" thread. That thread concerns just people interviewed on the show, and is mostly people who we are sure they're guilty and overzealous prosecutors.

This thread is about people you felt UM tried to get you to like, but you just couldn't. Or people you tried to like, but just couldn't.

I'll start.

Tim McClure - 'nuff said.

Diane Strom - Jenny Pratt's mother never wasted an opportunity to be obnoxious, whether it be mentioning that she thought Jenny's life was over (including on one occasion with Jenny present), telling us that the program is worthless, and her constant interruption of her daughter. If Lifetime wanted to make edits, they could have cut most of Diane's parts out.

Gale Delano - easily the most egotistical person ever profiled on UM, hands down. Despite the fact that many men were intersted in her, she somehow gets the impression that they aren't and decides to travel to the oppposite end of the country and off herself, leaving her sons parentless, causing relatives to worry, and subjecting numerous people to questioning by the police and scrutinization as they become suspects. And what the heck was she so depressed about? Maine is full of beauty, nice people and seafood restaurants.

[Shahla]

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

Gale Delano - easily the most egotistical person ever profiled on UM, hands down. Despite the fact that many men were intersted in her, she somehow gets the impression that they aren't and decides to travel to the oppposite end of the country and off herself, leaving her sons parentless, causing relatives to worry, and subjecting numerous people to questioning by the police and scrutinization as they become suspects. And what the heck was she so depressed about? Maine is full of beauty, nice people and seafood restaurants.

To me this sounds like a too easy approach. If she had a depression she could not feel what other optimistic persons feel. To them life can be so beautiful, for her it could be hell.
A depression is pretty serious. Sometimes it is well threatable but if you are in such a state too long it becomes chronic.
And if you are that depressed that you actually kill yourself then it must be really bad! If you are in that kind of state you are not able to just stay on earth for the sake of your children. I imagine she thought they would get over it soon and go on with their lifes. I think she probably felt that she was not lovable enough so nobody would care, at least not for long.
I'd rather feel sorry for her that she thought that low of herself than see her as you see her..

[wiseguy182]

Originally Posted by Shahla

To me this sounds like a too easy approach. If she had a depression she could not feel what other optimistic persons feel. To them life can be so beautiful, for her it could be hell.
A depression is pretty serious. Sometimes it is well threatable but if you are in such a state too long it becomes chronic.
And if you are that depressed that you actually kill yourself then it must be really bad! If you are in that kind of state you are not able to just stay on earth for the sake of your children. I imagine she thought they would get over it soon and go on with their lifes. I think she probably felt that she was not lovable enough so nobody would care, at least not for long.
I'd rather feel sorry for her that she thought that low of herself than see her as you see her..

you have a point, but she should have seen a psychiatrist. Not just voice her problems to a late night loveline disc jockey. Perhaps if she would have seen a psychiatrist, none of this would have happened.

[kadrmas15]

Hmm, should see have seen a psychiatrist? Of course. However one must remember, this was a different time, mid 1980's, depression still has a stigma now but no where near as bad as it was then. Back then people would think you were some psycho or something for going to a psychiatrist.

As someone who has battled depression off and on, I will say that while Gale faking her own disappearance was wrong, it is something to where if your depression is bad enough it can make you at times psychotic. When I say psychotic, I mean it just makes you so you are not thinking rationally. This is a prime example of that. I mean if Gale were in her right mind, she would have never done this. I mean if she was going to do herself in she would have at least let her family know that is what she was going to do.

But I think and this is just an opinion but I think she had battled this for so long and she was just worn out. She was tired of fighting it and from the sounds of it, she had suffered from depression since she was a teenager and after 20 years or so of battling this thing day in and day out, something that from the sounds of it was constantly eroding her self esteem and mental well being she just eventually decided the only way out was suicide. It is sad but it still happens way too much, particularly in American society.

Nowadays there are better treatments whereas at that time in the mid 80's, the best you could do is tryclic (I did not spell that right I know) anti depressants, these were the days before the SSRI and NSRI anti depressants which are shown to be far superior. Those drugs, well SSRI's did not begin to come on the market until the late 1980's and early 1990's and NSRI's did not begin coming out until the late 1990's. Plus the whole mental health field, the mental health situation and the importance of mental health, while there is still way too much of a stigma there it has decreased significantly from the time Gail disappeared and killed herself. So while it was wrong what she did, I certainly would not say I disliked a person because they did this, particularly when you can tell she was not exactly in her right mind.

Yes Jenny Pratt's mother was obnoxious, that one I agree with you on. As for Tim McClure, I would not say I dislike him but I do not believe he killed h is mother either. A strange case regardless if you believe he did it or not really. Hmm, who did I try to like but could not? I cannot really say there were people on there that I tried to like but did not. There were people on there whose attitudes I did not care for and some people I disliked as human beings outright.

The police chief in the Dowaliby case, the police department mouthpiece in the Tommy Burkett case. The Sheriff and friend in the Eric Tamisayu case. Curtis Croft from Jenny Pratt's case. The Sheriff in the Norman Ladner case. Jule Caylor, Mark Nichols, Steve Page, Chad Noe and his mother and grandmother. The Sheriff in the Kathy Bonderson case. The prosecutor John DeSanto in the Larry Race case. The prosecutor in the Stuart Heaton case. The prosecutor who gave the most fake apology I have ever seen in the Patricia Stallings case. The Chicago police for 'losing' the jacket in the Chad Mauer case. I mean I could go on and on and on really.

[bell83]

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

you have a point, but she should have seen a psychiatrist. Not just voice her problems to a late night loveline disc jockey. Perhaps if she would have seen a psychiatrist, none of this would have happened.

She might have simply had too much pride. I've had issues with depression, before, including serious thoughts of suicide, and it's not something a rational, sane person can ever understand unless they have been there. In my case, I wanted help, but I only wanted it from someone I trusted, and thankfully, there were a couple of close friends around. Perhaps in her case, she simply couldn't stomach the thought of actually talking with someone, face to face, and felt the DJ was a better solution. People in that state of mind are not rational. What seems perfectly fine and normal to them is completely illogical to someone else.

[DarkDante]

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

this is different than the "people interviewed on UM you just didn't like" thread. That thread concerns just people interviewed on the show, and is mostly people who we are sure they're guilty and overzealous prosecutors.

This thread is about people you felt UM tried to get you to like, but you just couldn't. Or people you tried to like, but just couldn't.

I'll start.

Tim McClure - 'nuff said.

Diane Strom - Jenny Pratt's mother never wasted an opportunity to be obnoxious, whether it be mentioning that she thought Jenny's life was over (including on one occasion with Jenny present), telling us that the program is worthless, and her constant interruption of her daughter. If Lifetime wanted to make edits, they could have cut most of Diane's parts out.

Gale Delano - easily the most egotistical person ever profiled on UM, hands down. Despite the fact that many men were intersted in her, she somehow gets the impression that they aren't and decides to travel to the oppposite end of the country and off herself, leaving her sons parentless, causing relatives to worry, and subjecting numerous people to questioning by the police and scrutinization as they become suspects. And what the heck was she so depressed about? Maine is full of beauty, nice people and seafood restaurants.

You picked three good ones there wiseguy. Tim McClure was just plain weird in my opinion. I think I told the story on here before that someone emailed me with information on Tim. They were a co-worker of his and said he was a very nervous sort who just gave off very strange vibes. This co-worker also wondered after seeing the UM segment if Tim's behavior had anything to do with what happened to his mother.

I can't agree with you with Diane Strom. I know there seems to be a very anti Diane Strom vibe on this forum but you can't count me among them. I agree she comes on like a ton of bricks at times but I'm sure she was/is angry and frustrated as hell as to what happened to her daughter. I guess I can see how some sensitivity training could be in order but on the other hand I understand her anger. It's typical of a parent with a child who is dealing with a serious illness or in Jenny's case brain injury. I watched a very good film a few months back called "My Sister's Keeper" which is about a mother dealing with her child's battle with cancer. Cameron Diaz's character in that film really reminded me of Diane Strom. At times she's not very likeable but in the end all she is doing is fighting like hell for her child and not surprisingly comes off overbearing at times to everyone else.

Gail DeLano...I feel some degree of sympathy for Gail having battled depression myself at various times in my life but I'm in total agreement with what you said. I've always regarded suicide as a very selfish act and the way Gail staged her disappearance to me came off as especially cruel. I mean looking back on that case, her family was very fortunate that medical examiner from Alabama was watching UM because in my opinion due to the way Gail DeLano staged her disappearance her case had about a million in one chance of being solved. If that medical examiner wasn't watching UM on that evening, I think the case would still be unsolved today as Gail DeLano did everything possible to cover her tracks and quite frankly she covered them very well.
===========================
Now as far as my picks go:

Huey Littleton Obviously what happened to The Ellender family was tragic and Littleton was understandably wrecked by what happened but in my opinion his situation isn't all that different from hundreds of others profiled on UM and the family members of those victims all came across a lot more likeable than Huey Littleton. Maybe it was due to the fact that Littleton was sort of portraying a dual role in the segment as both a relative and a PI but I actually think at times he does come across as unlikeable which given his situation is very hard to do because you want to feel sympathy for what he's gone through.

Jeanne Tovrea Not Jeanne specifically because obviously she wasn't interviewed but between the UM segment and the special A&E did on this case awhile back I can honestly say that not one friend or family member of Jeanne Tovrea's that was interviewed in either broadcast was likable. Her sister was obnoxious, her friend (the artist) was obnoxious, her brother who I believe was interviewed for A&E was obnoxious.

Being that this is case about Ed Tovrea's children not liking their stepmother and then allegedly having her killed because of how their father's estate was divided...to me Jeanne Tovrea's likability factor is a key issue in how I view this case. So being that I've found a lot of Jeanne Tovrea's friends and family to be off-putting it really makes me wonder if the Tovrea children actually had a legitimate gripe about Jeanne Tovrea and her family being unlikeable.

[Shahla]

Originally Posted by wiseguy182

you have a point, but she should have seen a psychiatrist. Not just voice her problems to a late night loveline disc jockey. Perhaps if she would have seen a psychiatrist, none of this would have happened.

Like someone else said, it was a different time. Maybe she did not even thought about it as a depression. Maybe she just saw it mostly as feeling very alone and lonely. Something that would go away if she found the right spouse. But one day she clearly had enough. Maybe realised it was more serious and did not see any light at the end of the tunnel?

A psychiatrist is no wonder maker, in my opinion. There are people that did take their own lifes while under the care of a psychiatrist. If the depression is too severe or when someone is worn out, isn't able to feel that it will be better one day the chances are there they'll just give up. It is an illness. Not something you can easily snap out of. Even some very depressed people do underestimate this.
For example: thinking it will go away. Which will not in most cases.
Or another option: when they get the wrong medication and it only got worse to the point there was no barrière anymore to nót take their own lifes.

In the eyes of others it may seem selfish but to me it's not. If you can't feel anymore that others wíll miss you, need you etc. because you got an illness then it isn't. And the chances are they think the other way around. That their family is better of without them, off planet earth.

[Shahla]

For myself I can't name anyone in an UM segment I saw I tried to like but couldn't. But don't get me started about some law enforcement people in for example 48 hours mystery, cold case files etc.

[rhzunam]

I was going to start a thread about people you didn't feel for but I really had very few cases and it seemed off puting.

But the case that inspired me was the one about the vicitm in the Ann Corricelli case. She was the fortune teller that conned people by telling them there are cursed. The 2nd case was tougher but the 1st case just didn't left me with much sympathy. It was this women who got conned out of 4k that she was supposed to throw down the river with a brick to "erase the curse". That case bothered me as all the stuff was so out there that I just found it hard to feel sorry for somebody to believe all that stuff. Plus it was hard for me to feel something. When she threw it down the river, she supposedly started praying, so she didn't know if Ann threw it or exchange it or what happened. She goes on with "I turned my back to pray and I didn't know what happened to it". You mean the 4k you were going to throw down a river where it can be lost forever? That money?

The 2nd case carried a lot more sympathy since it was the old ladies life savings but yet there is something about how she allowed to supposedly burn 40,000 dollars that makes it out like, well you really should know better. Still that looked more gullible and more tragic. But the lady with the 4k, it wasn't even that much money, so I don't feel anything for her.

[kadrmas15]

Hmm, I don't know about this one Dark Dante. I personally do not view suicide victims as selfish. I mean yes I suppose you are technically correct that suicide is a selfish act because they people are killing themselves. However in my opinion at least a majority of the time these people are not truly being selfish when they do this. They are at such a low point they honestly think the world is better off without them. Thus they think people would be better off if they are not around. So in their own deranged way they are thinking about other people. Again when someone seriously gets to that point where suicide is the only way out for them or it is looking attractive to do that then clearly they are not thinking rationally. You are thinking about something that is irrational from a rational perspective hence why you view it was a selfish act. However I think a lot of these folks when they kill themselves are thinking of anybody but themselves.

[kadrmas15]

As for Jeanne Tovrea, you know I have mixed feelings in terms of the relatives being obnoxious. I can see how they would come off that way and perhaps they were. However I always attributed this to cultural differences. Jeanne's relatives, her brother and sister both lived in rural Arkansas where they and Jeanne had grown up. I think her brother and sister tended to view not really Ed but his kids, they tended to view his kids as being a bunch of spoiled brats, elitists who thought they were better than everyone else.

Now, I for one believe James Harrod to be innocent. I have contacted him off and on through the years. If you look at that case there is a lot more to that case than what you would think. The UM segment did go WAY over the top in painting Jeanne as some goodie too shoes. Do I think Jeanne was a bad person? No. Do I think she married Ed for his money? No. Do I think she truly loved Ed? Yes. But that said, she was into her own shady dealings and particularly after Ed's death was hanging around people and involved with activities she should not have been involved with. She was involved with some people who were shady characters to say the least. She was known to be into cocaine. Plus in the five years she was alive after Ed's death she was blowing through his money like water. In fact had she not been murdered she probably would have gone broke within a few years at the rate she was spending.

As for Ed, well, his kids, at least from what I can gather had always been a disappointment to him. He was disappointed that they had no desire for an education or to raise a family and make a home but instead were just content to live off his money. In fact, at one point he was so fed up he was going to cut them out of his will altogether. In fact for as much as those kids hated Jeanne, I will give Jeanne credit for this, she was the one that convinced Ed not to cut his kids off and not cut them out of his will. He reduced what they would get but he did not throw them completely out and he basically told them it was because Jeanne had convinced him not to so he told them to be happy with whatever they got.

[colt45allstar]

Having battled depression the majority of my life. (I'm 30 now, have been depressed on a fairly constant basis since my early teens) I would agree that suicide can be seen as a selfish act.

Having 'almost' been depressed enough to end it all a few times and to play devil's advocate, I would argue that it's just as selfish for a person's friends and family to try to force someone to live, that clearly doesn't want to.

I don't begrudge Gail for what she did, as mentioned previously on this thread even now there is a certain stigma with depression... can only imagine how bad it would have been back then.

Do I feel bad for her children and the rest of her family?!?, yes I do... but when your that depressed you aren't rationale and I'm sure Gail if anything held on as long as she could for her family's sake and it simply got to the point of being overwhelming.

[dynoguy88]

You guys are really making me upset that I missed that special A&E did on Jeanne Tovrea.

Anyone know where I could get a copy of it?

[Kane]

This thread is about people you felt UM tried to get you to like, but you just couldn't. Or people you tried to like, but just couldn't.

I'm not sure if that's the right way to put it. If anything, there have been some UM interviewees who said or did something that I didn't like, even without making me dislike them.

One example that I can cite is Henry Rollins. In the UM interview, Rollins struck me as a trooper who held his own while doing the onerous task of having to recall the night his friend Joe Cole was murdered. My only complaint about it, however, was his brief comment on how the American justice system "seems to benefit only a certain skin color and a certain economic place." But it was somewhat mitigated by his subsequent stated desire to see justice exacted on Joe's killers.

Diane Strom - Jenny Pratt's mother never wasted an opportunity to be obnoxious, whether it be mentioning that she thought Jenny's life was over (including on one occasion with Jenny present), telling us that the program is worthless, and her constant interruption of her daughter. If Lifetime wanted to make edits, they could have cut most of Diane's parts out.

Although I still have sympathy for Diane, I agree that some her remarks (especially the one about the program being "worthless") were inappropriate. I would hope that she has since regretted those comments.

[kadrmas15]

Actually Kane, you and I agree on that. That is something that had always bothered me about Rollins comment. While I admired what he was trying to do I felt it was not appropriate or necessary for him to get in his personal opinion about how the American Justice system only benefits people of a certain skin color and certain economic strata. Besides the fact his view was wrong it was not appropriate for the topic at hand.