Will foreclosures lead to more suicides?

WHDH, the Boston NBC affiliate, reports that a woman committed suicide because she thought that her mortgage lender was on the verge of foreclosing on her house. There are questions about whether she knew the mortgage company had granted her an extension. But those questions were not resolved before she took her life.

The Patriot Ledger reported that she faxed a suicide note to her mortgage lender. It excerpted her fax: "By the time you foreclose on my house I'll be dead." It also indicated that a suicide note found next to the body urged the woman's husband and son to "take the insurance money and pay for the house."

The woman and the mortgage company did not communicate clearly. The Patriot Ledger noted that the woman had asked the mortgage company for an extension and been granted one. Yet interested buyers showed up at the property expecting an auction while her body was still inside. It also interviewed a neighbor who said that her husband, a plumber, had replaced the backyard deck on the couple's home so he must have had some money.