Posted on 12/20/2002 4:40:59 PM PST by Minutemen
Posted on Fri, Dec. 20, 2002 Dr Laura's Mother Apparently Murdered in L.A. BY DAN WHITCOMB Reuters
LOS ANGELES - The badly decomposed body of a murdered woman, identified as the mother of popular radio talk-show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger, has been found at a Beverly Hills home, police said on Friday.
Though police said they had not yet confirmed that the elderly woman found on Monday was Yolanda Schlessinger, the talk-show host issued a statement addressing the death of her mother and alluding to their bitter estrangement.
"I am horrified by the tragic circumstances of my mother's death and so sad to learn that she died as she chose to live -- alone and isolated," Laura Schlessinger said in the statement.
"My mother shut all her family out of her life over the years, though we made several futile attempts to stay connected," she said. "May God rest her soul."
The body believed to be that of Yolanda Schlessinger was found by police after concerned neighbors said they had not seen her in several weeks. An autopsy revealed that she had been murdered, said Beverly Hills Police Lt. Gary Gilmond.
"I cannot confirm that it is in fact (Schlessinger's) mother but we are operating on that assumption," Gilmond said.
Although the body was found in Yolanda Schlessinger's home, it was so badly decomposed that identification was not yet possible, he said. Gilmond said the state of the body and home suggested that the woman had been dead for a "substantial period of time," possibly several months.
Gilmond said coroner's officials were working to positively identify the murder victim.
A spokesman for the Los Angeles County Coroner's office said further tests were required to determine the cause of death and that medical examiners had not yet issued a report.
Schlessinger hosts one of the country's most popular syndicated radio programs, which according to her Web site is heard by 12 million listeners on 315 stations across the U.S.
Schlessinger, who has a doctorate in physiology from Columbia University, dispenses advice to her listeners and is known for her brusque persona and emphasis on personal responsibility.
According to a Vanity Fair profile in 1998 and other press reports, Schlessinger was estranged from her mother, and had not seen her in 14 years. Schlessinger had told People magazine four years earlier that her mother was "filled with negativity."
The former Yolanda Ceccovini was an Italian war bride who was divorced from her husband, Monty, who died in 1990. Their other daughter, Cyndi, was also estranged from Laura, according to Vanity Fair.
That is quite possible. But it strains credulity to not even make an attempt to communicate for "months", then act all shocked and shaken when the old dear ends up dead. Laura could easily have hired a service or asked a neighbor to at least check that Mom was still alive once a month or so.
Yes but the familial love, no matter how thin, should still be there. Is your 77 year old mother sick, or dead? Where is even the appearence of courtesy or respect or concern? My opinion of Dr. Laura goes down a few notches, even in her time of grief, assuming that is the true emotion. Sometimes people can be killed by neglect, a sin of omission.
She presumes to give advice to callers on family relationships on a commercial basis (that means she gets paid). I didn't say that being estranged against her mother wasn't "walking the talk," I said in so many words that she was a public figure and that it does not reflect well on her to make no attempt to contact her mother in "months." Most sane people believe that to be, how do I put this kindly, "unusual" behavior.
I have listened to her show. And I have heard her give the advice that you sometimes have to let go of a situation.
So if your child refuses to stop smearing its own feces on the walls, eventually you have to just "let go" of the situation and allow the kid to become a professional feces-smearer?
SO BEFORE YOU go presuming she didn't walk the talk, maybe you should listen in.
I have listened to her show several times. I found it tedious and boring, and just couldn't get those awful Internet pictures out of my head while doing so.
In California, unless a physician is present at the time, a death is ALWAYS treated as a murder. This insures that the scene is treated as a crime scene and potential evidence isn't destroyed. As soon as an autopsy verifies a cause of thead, the staus will be updated.
Usually it turns out not to be murder.
Old people get "grumpy" and can be unpleasant, but they need the help of the children more and more. That seems to have been lost on Laura. Maybe the "care" Laura provided for her (if there was) is the perp. Funny, I never seem to hear Laura discussing the problems of the elderly. It's usually the pregnant teen or philandering husband getting her two bits. Could be a ratings issue.
Interesting observation. Maybe geezers don't bring in the ratings like they used to ;)
In my opinion, not having the inclination to at least make a phone call to Mom and inquire about her welfare in months qualifies as something other than "honoring" her.
Unless mom does not want to be called. Then respecting her wishes would be honoring her.
I do think it is a shame that she didn't but not knowing the inner workings of that family I do not wish to speculate on why or why not. I just hope my future children do not have cause to issue such a statement about me.
Sounds like he/she has an NEA grant in his/her future...
hummmm.....didn't know we could define our own meanings for God's word.....neat concept.....
Wow, so she's calling people at their homes to harangue them, and harrassing people on the streets, and....? People are calling her ASKING for her advice. If you don't like the show, do as I do, and don't listen to it.
I have plenty of sins; some quite entertaining to watch. I don't make my daily bread presuming to hector other people about their sins though.
I am so glad that your mother has been perfect.
Closest thing to an angel I've ever known on this mortal coil.
For those of us that know the pain of that not being REALITY, there is a time you stop calling.
How sad for you. And I mean that sincerely. I was fortunate enough to have a mother and a father who were cordial and kind to me every day of their lives.
"God's word" shows up in a lot more contexts and a lot more dictionaries than just the Holy Bible.
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