http://www.kutv.com/news/top-stories/stories/vid_12308.shtml
(KUTV) A Roy man who police say killed his wife sent ominous letters to her siblings talking about assisted suicide months before her death.
Dennis Chamberlain is charged with murdering his wife of 48 years and apparently made no secret that he had death on his mind. According to Chamberlain's sister in law Janis Farran he, "would often send bizarre letters about this or that, but when Jean died they began to wonder if he was laying the groundwork for her murder."
Chamberlain wrote a letter stating some research he was doing on ending a life, but no one thought he'd actually do such a thing. Family members thought it was just another bizarre letter from their odd brother in law.
Farran says the letter came seven month before her sister Jean died. In the letter Chamberlain talked about books he was reading, including Final Exit which is a handbook on assisted suicide.
Farran said she was not immediately alarmed, "You just didn't think he would do such a thing. I just kind of thought what a strange guy who would write something like that you know, you just don't think anything like that would really happen,"
Chamberlain was infamous for his peculiar writings says Farran, many in the family simply ignored him or returned the letters to him unopened.
"I did speak to another sibling about it and whether or not we should do anything about it and we both just thought well he's probably just writing a crazy letter. He'd always write letters to people with crazy stories and all that," explained Ferran.
Jean who'd suffered a stroke years ago died in February and her husband didn't contact police or doctors. He simply announced to family members that their sister was dead. Earlier this year police exhumed her body in part because of the letter and a search of Chamberlains internet history showed he had searched for information on gases and medicine that could not be detected in an autopsy.
Ferran is understandably upset by the news saying, "I'm just heartbroken that I didn't do more about it, oh my God, I never thought this would happen."
While there are second thoughts, there is also relief that Jean's alleged killer is behind bars. Ferran added, "I'm just so happy that this guy is not going to get away with it, I thought he was going to get away with it."
Although she had a stroke, Farran says her sister was not that sick. She says Dennis made her seem more ill than she ways and it set the stage for her death.
(Copyright 2014 Sinclair Broadcasting Group.)
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SALT LAKE CITY (KSTU) -- A state lawmaker is proposing a bill that would create a sort of "assisted suicide" law in response to the death of a Utah County girl and a man charged with murder.
