A 57-year-old Huffington Post writer, Carol Ann Burger gave her spouse, Jessica Kalish, 56, 222 puncture wounds with a Phillips-head screwdriver in their Boyton Beach, Fla., home nearly a week ago. Investigators said, however, that a blow to Kalish's neck probably killed her.Burger discharged a firearm into her head before police could question her about Kalish's death.
Burger and Kalish, a prominent software designer, had shared the home since 2000. They were married in 2005 in Massachusetts. The housemates had ceased being lovers more than a year ago but continued to share the home because of financial reasons. Kalish had a new lover, who she dated via the Internet in her half of the house. Burger told friends of her growing isolation, depression and bitterness in e-mails she composed in the other half.
Burger had recently stopped drinking coffee, told friends Jackson Browne's For a Dancer was ideal to listen to when sad, and had refused anti-depressants. The police found Burger's shoe prints in Kalish's blood on the garage floor despite Burger's clean-up attempt. "She was obviously out of her mind," an investigator said.
She was obviously filled with hatred. Two-hundred-twenty-two acts of rage--yes, Burger was OffTheBus.
One can find The Huffington Post tribute to Burger here.
3 comments:
wow - did they have some Off the Bus journals by the screwdriver-crazy, murderhappy killer linked there before? If so, it's not there now. Hunh. After all the effort and dedication, I wonder why they'd throw her writing under the bus?
It's amazing how the HuffPo article spun the murder/suicide into some sort of Hallmark Channel broken heart lost love thing. I guess sticking your head in the sand to change reality gets to be just too hard a habit to break.
phlegm, you'll find Burger's HuffPo blog posts here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carol-anne-burger
jim, the HuffPo cut off comments at the tribute site after it became clear Burger was responsible for the murder. I think journalists focused more on Burger at first because she was a crusading peer, who, on the surface, was a kind, gentle, loving advocate of the downtrodden.
I included the Lexis-Nexis and MSNBC links solely because they provided more information on Kalish, a person who worked her way through MIT and was a communications director at iS3 Software.
Burger started writing for HuffPo earlier in October--maybe not even a salaried position. She was unemployed before this for some reason I wasn't able to unearth.
It isn't my intention to make attacks on lesbians, same-sex marriage or the left. Burger was a ruthless, out-of-control killer most likely motivated by money and not being able to control Kalish's actions any longer.
Marriage is more than a legal contract made in Massachusetts or 49 other states. One should not enter into marriage to make a point, to cement a financial arrangement, or to dominate and take advantage of another.
Marriage isn't a short-term arrangement people should be able to drop out of on a whim and then start calling the former relationship anything but a failed marriage. That's something that happened in this case. It isn't right when it's a hetrosexual couple, either.
I can sense the agony of writers who struggled to depict this relationship. No matter if one calls them former lovers, housemates, spouses, husband and wife, depressed victim and depressed victim--Burger brutally killed someone she once claimed to love and respect. Obviously that wasn't the case.
If anyone views Burger differently, I don't think they can relate to blood-splattered crime scenes spread out at least five miles in some cases. Burger's shoe prints in Kalish's blood--it is cold, heartless and evil.
Post a Comment