Associated Press
Feb. 15, 2004 12:00 AM
LAS VEGAS - Lawrence Orbe didn't come to the Las Vegas Strip looking to win big. He didn't come for the strippers or over-the-top shows.
He came to die.
Orbe, 64, checked into the exclusive Four Seasons Hotel on March 11 after driving his silver Jaguar from his condominium in Montecito, Calif.
Five days later, a maid found the businessman in his room, slumped in a chair with a gunshot wound to the head and a suicide note in his leather briefcase.
"Las Vegas was one of his very favorite places," said his former wife, Loni Chiarella. "They always treated him like a king. He loved Las Vegas."
Every year desperate men and women make the pilgrimage to the gambling capital to kill themselves. More than once a month, a visitor commits suicide here, according to Clark County coroner records dating to October 1998.
"They pick Las Vegas and kill themselves," former Clark County Coroner Ron Flud said. "It's a fact."
But saying exactly why is not so straightforward.
Experts and family members have their thoughts, from the city's culture of anonymity, to despair, in some cases, over gambling losses. But each case is different.
As one suicide note said, "Here there are no answers."
Orbe married Chiarella in Las Vegas three years ago and found the city luxurious.
"They always showered him with the attention he felt he deserved," she said.
The two had separated and planned to divorce. Chiarella said Orbe was also despondent over recent financial setbacks. But what he was thinking will always be unclear.
"Lawrence remained a mystery to those close to him," she said.
Four months after Orbe's suicide, Gloreah Hendricks, 30, jumped from the ninth floor of the Aladdin hotel-casino parking garage on July 19, 2003.
Her family thought Hendricks was on vacation in Las Vegas, which she considered beautiful, said her mother, Rosemary Pitts of Montgomery, Ala.
In her car, police found a note that said: "One stop and away I go."
Matthew Naylor didn't leave a note before killing himself on June 21, 2002, at the Plaza hotel-casino.
The 31-year-old died of a loss of hope, said his father, Lewis Naylor, an engineer in Baltimore: "He just had a lot of challenges in life and gave up. He couldn't see how it was all going to come together to make a life worth living."
David Strickland, a 29-year-old Hollywood actor, whose wrists were scarred from previous suicide attempts, toured strip clubs and partied before he put a bed sheet around his neck at the Oasis Motel on March 22, 1999.
Why Las Vegas?
Strickland was depressed because he "had fallen off the wagon," his friend and fellow actor Andy Dick told investigators. Strickland, who was in Alcoholics Anonymous, was worried his girlfriend would leave him after his relapse.
But why Las Vegas?
"I've asked myself that 100 times," said Judi Kagiwada of Middleboro, Mass., whose 39-year-old husband, Terrence, hanged himself at a downtown casino on March 5, 2003.
Relatives suggest their dead loved ones might have been attracted to a place where you can get lost and be found only when it's too late.
Experts say some might have been looking for one last sign not to pull the trigger or tie the noose: a jackpot, blackjack or smile. Anything.
"You're in a place that nobody cares. It's not famous for being warm and fuzzy. It's a place you can be anonymous and die," said David P. Phillips, a sociologist at the University of California at San Diego, who co-authored a 1997 study that found Las Vegas had the highest level of suicide in the nation for residents and visitors.
Still, he said, "I wouldn't bet big money on any particular explanation" behind the deaths.
Victims included a banker, musician, immigration officer, pharmacist, exotic dancer, taxi cab driver, disc jockey, car salesman and professional gambler. Most came from California, same as the tourists. Others hailed from Texas, Wisconsin, New York, Utah, Kansas, Maine and Oklahoma - 26 states and two foreign countries in all.
Almost all had medical, financial or domestic problems. In some cases, victims appeared to suffer from gambling addictions or killed themselves only after Las Vegas took their money.
Elton Beamish, 24, drove to Las Vegas from Ann Arbor, Mich., where he was a student at the University of Michigan. He checked into a motel Jan. 12, 2000. Four days later he was dead. His checkbook told the story.
Beamish lost his financial-aid money and became depressed. He bought a 12-gauge shotgun from Kmart, put it in his mouth and pulled the trigger.
Suicide destinations exist around the world, the most famous of which is the Golden Gate Bridge, where more than 1,000 people have jumped to their deaths since the bridge was constructed in 1937. It averages about 20 suicides a year.
Nothing protects families from the long-term hurt that follows the death notification, and yet county Coroner Michael Murphy said the news doesn't always come as a shock.
"Some even expect the call," he said.
Hard to stop them
More than 90 people, both tourists and locals, have committed suicide inside a casino or on hotel properties in Clark County since 1998. Twenty have jumped from casinos and parking garages, including three from the Stratosphere hotel-casino, the tallest building west of the Mississippi.
Casino companies could do more, but they "don't want to be connected to us," said Dorothy Bryant, director of the Suicide Prevention Center in Las Vegas. Hotels could place the center's hotline number in rooms or other places for guests, she says.
Alan Feldman, MGM Mirage senior vice president for public affairs, said saving people who are suicidal once they arrive in Las Vegas probably is impossible.
"If a person's closest friends and family ... can't prevent it, how is the bellman at the hotel all of a sudden going to have this miraculous cure?
Feb. 15, 2004 12:00 AM
LAS VEGAS - Lawrence Orbe didn't come to the Las Vegas Strip looking to win big. He didn't come for the strippers or over-the-top shows.
He came to die.
Orbe, 64, checked into the exclusive Four Seasons Hotel on March 11 after driving his silver Jaguar from his condominium in Montecito, Calif.
Five days later, a maid found the businessman in his room, slumped in a chair with a gunshot wound to the head and a suicide note in his leather briefcase.
"Las Vegas was one of his very favorite places," said his former wife, Loni Chiarella. "They always treated him like a king. He loved Las Vegas."
Every year desperate men and women make the pilgrimage to the gambling capital to kill themselves. More than once a month, a visitor commits suicide here, according to Clark County coroner records dating to October 1998.
"They pick Las Vegas and kill themselves," former Clark County Coroner Ron Flud said. "It's a fact."
But saying exactly why is not so straightforward.
Experts and family members have their thoughts, from the city's culture of anonymity, to despair, in some cases, over gambling losses. But each case is different.
As one suicide note said, "Here there are no answers."
Orbe married Chiarella in Las Vegas three years ago and found the city luxurious.
"They always showered him with the attention he felt he deserved," she said.
The two had separated and planned to divorce. Chiarella said Orbe was also despondent over recent financial setbacks. But what he was thinking will always be unclear.
"Lawrence remained a mystery to those close to him," she said.
Four months after Orbe's suicide, Gloreah Hendricks, 30, jumped from the ninth floor of the Aladdin hotel-casino parking garage on July 19, 2003.
Her family thought Hendricks was on vacation in Las Vegas, which she considered beautiful, said her mother, Rosemary Pitts of Montgomery, Ala.
In her car, police found a note that said: "One stop and away I go."
Matthew Naylor didn't leave a note before killing himself on June 21, 2002, at the Plaza hotel-casino.
The 31-year-old died of a loss of hope, said his father, Lewis Naylor, an engineer in Baltimore: "He just had a lot of challenges in life and gave up. He couldn't see how it was all going to come together to make a life worth living."
David Strickland, a 29-year-old Hollywood actor, whose wrists were scarred from previous suicide attempts, toured strip clubs and partied before he put a bed sheet around his neck at the Oasis Motel on March 22, 1999.
Why Las Vegas?
Strickland was depressed because he "had fallen off the wagon," his friend and fellow actor Andy Dick told investigators. Strickland, who was in Alcoholics Anonymous, was worried his girlfriend would leave him after his relapse.
But why Las Vegas?
"I've asked myself that 100 times," said Judi Kagiwada of Middleboro, Mass., whose 39-year-old husband, Terrence, hanged himself at a downtown casino on March 5, 2003.
Relatives suggest their dead loved ones might have been attracted to a place where you can get lost and be found only when it's too late.
Experts say some might have been looking for one last sign not to pull the trigger or tie the noose: a jackpot, blackjack or smile. Anything.
"You're in a place that nobody cares. It's not famous for being warm and fuzzy. It's a place you can be anonymous and die," said David P. Phillips, a sociologist at the University of California at San Diego, who co-authored a 1997 study that found Las Vegas had the highest level of suicide in the nation for residents and visitors.
Still, he said, "I wouldn't bet big money on any particular explanation" behind the deaths.
Victims included a banker, musician, immigration officer, pharmacist, exotic dancer, taxi cab driver, disc jockey, car salesman and professional gambler. Most came from California, same as the tourists. Others hailed from Texas, Wisconsin, New York, Utah, Kansas, Maine and Oklahoma - 26 states and two foreign countries in all.
Almost all had medical, financial or domestic problems. In some cases, victims appeared to suffer from gambling addictions or killed themselves only after Las Vegas took their money.
Elton Beamish, 24, drove to Las Vegas from Ann Arbor, Mich., where he was a student at the University of Michigan. He checked into a motel Jan. 12, 2000. Four days later he was dead. His checkbook told the story.
Beamish lost his financial-aid money and became depressed. He bought a 12-gauge shotgun from Kmart, put it in his mouth and pulled the trigger.
Suicide destinations exist around the world, the most famous of which is the Golden Gate Bridge, where more than 1,000 people have jumped to their deaths since the bridge was constructed in 1937. It averages about 20 suicides a year.
Nothing protects families from the long-term hurt that follows the death notification, and yet county Coroner Michael Murphy said the news doesn't always come as a shock.
"Some even expect the call," he said.
Hard to stop them
More than 90 people, both tourists and locals, have committed suicide inside a casino or on hotel properties in Clark County since 1998. Twenty have jumped from casinos and parking garages, including three from the Stratosphere hotel-casino, the tallest building west of the Mississippi.
Casino companies could do more, but they "don't want to be connected to us," said Dorothy Bryant, director of the Suicide Prevention Center in Las Vegas. Hotels could place the center's hotline number in rooms or other places for guests, she says.
Alan Feldman, MGM Mirage senior vice president for public affairs, said saving people who are suicidal once they arrive in Las Vegas probably is impossible.
"If a person's closest friends and family ... can't prevent it, how is the bellman at the hotel all of a sudden going to have this miraculous cure?
