LA TIMES: A series of financial setbacks left Wanda Dunn facing eviction from the house in Pasadena where her family had lived for generations. Dunn, 53, told neighbors that she would rather die than leave. Early Monday, the day of her expected eviction, firefighters pulled her body out of the house as it burned. She apparently had set it on fire before shooting herself in the head, authorities said. “We knew it was going to happen,” said Steve Brooks, who lived across the street. “It was nobody’s fault; it was everybody’s fault.” As Brooks watched the flames, he noticed that Dunn had left two of her plants on his porch, along with a note: “Please take good care of us or find us a good home.” She also had left several inexpensive toys, along with the name and address of a charity organization. On Sunday night, Dunn spent hours moving boxes and packing her car, said next-door neighbor Scott Harden. He knew about the foreclosure and eviction, and Dunn’s suicide threat, so he “was on red alert.” About 5 a.m. the next morning, Harden said he smelled smoke and saw flames in Dunn’s house in the 1000 block of North Wilson Avenue, and immediately called 911. MORE
ASSOCIATED PRESS: AKRON, Ohio – By the time deputies came to escort Addie Polk out of her home of 38 years, the 90-year-old had taken out her life insurance policy and placed it next to her pocketbook and keys in the neatly kept house. She shot herself in the chest Oct. 1 before she could be taken away from the foreclosed house, which was worth less than its mortgage from the day she took out the loan. A congressman called her the face of a national tragedy, the housing crisis that has affected millions of Americans. Neighbors were stunned and said they had no idea the widow had been about to lose her two-story, white vinyl home. MORE
COLLATERAL NEWS: Foreclosure On The American Dream