Suicide Attempts

Despite a defendant's testimony that he was overcome with remorse for triggering a train wreck that killed 11 people three years ago, prosecutors Wednesday portrayed Juan Manuel Alvarez as a manipulative liar who often carried a weapon and sometimes threatened violence. Peppered by rapid-fire questions from Deputy District Atty. John Monaghan, Alvarez acknowledged that he would carry a knife -- sometimes a machete -- and at one time damaged his brother-in-law's car and paid $1,000 to fix it.

Surrounded by family and friends in a Santa Barbara courtroom Friday, James Wheeler, 84, entered a plea of no contest to the attempted murder of his ailing 85-year-old wife by carbon monoxide poisoning. Prosecutors dropped a second charge of elder abuse in return for the plea. Defense attorney Steve Balash said he will push for probation, based on Wheeler's lack of a criminal record and the unusual circumstances of the case. But Deputy Dist. Atty.

A man was shot to death and a woman critically wounded Tuesday in an incident being investigated as a possible murder-suicide attempt at a home in Glendora, authorities said. Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies declined to identify the victims, describing them only as a white male and a white female. The shooting occurred about 5:20 p.m. in the 300 block of North Washington Avenue.

A 16-year-old girl accused of killing another driver in a failed suicide attempt after being spurned by a classmate was charged Wednesday with murder. Louise Egan Brunstad was indicted by a Fulton County grand jury in the Oct. 30 death of Nancy Salado-Mayo, 30. A statement from Dist. Atty. Paul Howard said Brunstad crossed the center line and intentionally struck Salado-Mayo's car with the intention of killing herself.

A man accused of killing his wife -- former state Controller Kathy Augustine -- attempted suicide by slashing his wrists a day after testifying in his defense, authorities said in Reno. Washoe County District Judge Steven Kosach suspended the trial after Chaz Higgs was found bleeding in an apartment he shared with his mother. The judge also revoked Higgs' $250,000 bail and ordered both sides to return to court today.

Jerry Hadley, once an acclaimed American tenor, was on life support after apparently shooting himself in the head with an air rifle Tuesday morning in his home in upstate New York, according to a senior investigator with the New York State Police. Hadley, 55, was taken to St. Francis Hospital and Health Centers in Poughkeepsie, where neurosurgeons determined that he suffered severe brain injuries, investigator Robert Rochler said Wednesday.

American tenor Jerry Hadley remained on life support and "do not resuscitate" orders Thursday, two days after being found in his upstate New York home after apparently shooting himself in the head with an air rifle, family spokeswoman Celia Novo said. Hadley, 55, was in St. Francis Hospital and Health Centers in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., where neurosurgeons determined that he has suffered severe brain injuries, said New York State Police senior investigator Robert Rochler.

Ten years ago, Anthony Almeida sat on his bed, loaded a single bullet into a Glock .45 and put the barrel in his mouth -- exhausted by the storm of anger, distrust and isolation his life had become. Almeida was a strong, barrel-chested Los Angeles firefighter. But he couldn't relate to people. He was jealous of his wife, combative at work, distant with his children. Watching his daughter and son turn the age he was when Father Clinton Hagenbach began to molest him in the rectory of St.

That laid-back Texas drawl. The zany, off-kilter sensibility. An uncanny ability to improvise. It was seemingly impossible to square actor Owen Wilson's public persona as a happy go-lucky bon vivant with news that he was hospitalized over the weekend after widespread but unconfirmed reports that he had tried to commit suicide.

Santa Monica police and paramedics went to the home of actor Owen Wilson on Sunday after receiving a call about an "attempted suicide," according to police logs. The logs, posted on the Santa Monica Police Department website, said the attempted suicide call came in about noon. The logs do not identify Wilson specifically. But Santa Monica Fire Department officials have already confirmed that paramedics and police officers were dispatched to the actor's house Sunday.