Murder Prozac 23/07/1996 Colorado Man Murders Daughter: Attacked Father Earlier Summary:

Paragraphs 14 through 16 read:  "In 1991, he was put on Prozac, a personality-altering drug used to treat depression, after seeking help for continued bouts with depression and difficulty concentrating."

"'It seemed that the Prozac made me feel better, but if I took it too long, it gave me delusions,' Cooper told mental health professionals. He had been on the drug six weeks before he attacked his father."

There is a second article following this first article which states that this man was on an antidepressant and an antipsychotic at the time he murdered his daughter [months after attacking his father]. The Prozac made him 'delusional' but the antipsychotic was not able to control his psychosis.

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Accused dad was in mental hospital
The Denver Post
July 23, 1996
Author: Angela Cortez Denver Post Staff Writer
Estimated printed pages: 3
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A Wheat Ridge man accused of killing his 10-year-old daughter on Friday was released from the care of a mental hospital four months ago, court records show.

David Lynn Cooper, 33, has a history of psychosis and spent time in the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo after attacking his father and brother with a knife in 1992.

A Jefferson County judge yesterday ordered Cooper to remain in jail without bond while charges are filed against him. He is accused of first-degree murder, sexual assault, child abuse resulting in a death and aggravated incest.

The charges stem from the stabbing death of 10-year-old Renee Cooper, who was visiting her father for the summer. Police responded to a 911 call around 8:30 p.m. Friday at 4035 Kendall St.

When police arrived, they found Cooper outside leaning against a fence with his hands up. "Arrest me," Cooper told police. "Then go to the kitchen."

Police found Renee's body inside the house.

Her father is in the Jefferson County Detention Center under a suicide watch, deputies said.

Cooper entered the criminal justice system March 15, 1992, when he and Renee drove from their home in Chandler, Ariz., to the Denver area to visit his parents.

Once in his father's Westminster home just north of Standley Lake, Cooper jumped up and attacked his father, Charles, with a pocket knife. His brother, Daniel, intervened while their mother, Marilyn, called police.

Charles and Daniel both received facial injuries. David Cooper was arrested and jailed, then charged with five counts of assault, assault on the elderly and crimes of violence.

Once in jail, Cooper's mental condition became more evident, according to court records. A mental health worker, who interviewed him in the jail, said, "This interviewee has questions about the detainee's mental health. .. He is plagued by feelings of incompetence. He perceives his life as one of persecution and dislike by family members, including his father and mother."

Cooper reportedly told the therapist that he lunged at his father because he thought his father was going to kill him and his daughter.

Cooper had received mental health care prior to the attack on his father. After his 1988 divorce from Renee's mother, Noemi, he became depressed and sought psychotherapy.

In 1991, he was put on Prozac, a personality-altering drug used to treat depression, after seeking help for continued bouts with depression and difficulty concentrating.

"It seemed that the Prozac made me feel better, but if I took it too long, it gave me delusions," Cooper told mental health professionals. He had been on the drug six weeks before he attacked his father.

"Mr. Cooper presented as an individual who is very concerned and puzzled by his recent behavior. He feels he is in need of psychiatric help," the therapist told the court.

Cooper was found not guilty by reason of insanity and ordered to the Colorado Mental Health Institute on Aug. 26, 1992.

Cooper was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder - meaning he suffered from depression, anxiety and paranoid delusions. A Pueblo psychiatrist and a social worker determined that he was ready for a temporary release from the hospital on Aug. 28, 1993.

Police said his daughter visited him during the summers.

On March 1 of this year, hospital authorities told the court that Cooper no longer suffered from "an abnormal mental condition, which would be likely to cause him to be dangerous either to himself or to others .. in the reasonable foreseeable future."

On March 11, the court released him from the supervision of the Pueblo hospital with the condition that he continue receiving medication and outpatient care through Jefferson County Mental Health Care.

Under law, mental health facilities can't release patient information, so it is unknown if Cooper was under medical care during the time of the alleged attack on his daughter.

His father, Charles, declined to speak to a reporter yesterday except to say that the family was grieving.

Authorities notified Renee's mother of her death yesterday. She had been out of town.

Cooper married Noemi in 1984 during a tour in Panama with the Army. Renee was born there. Cooper received an honorable discharge in 1985.

Cooper was born in Boulder. He earned an associate's degree in electronics and was employed by Intel Electronics Corp. in Arizona as an engineering technician prior to his trip to Colorado, during which he attacked his father. Denver Post staff writer Marilyn Robinson contributed to this report.
  Caption:
Caption: PHOTO: David Cooper
Edition:  Rockies
Section:  Denver & The West
Page:  B-01
Index Terms: murder; children; child molesting; mental illness; Wheat Ridge; metro
Copyright 1996, 1997 The Denver Post Corp.
Record Number:  DNVR650537

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Accused dad was in mental hospital

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In this second article, paragraphs 14 & 15 read:  "Even before the attack on his father, Cooper had sought mental health care. In 1991, he told therapists he was depressed and could not concentrate following his divorce from Renee's mother. He was given Prozac, a mood-altering drug widely prescribed for clinical depression, a serious medical illness that afflicts up to 10 percent of the population, according to court records."

"A judge released him from state hospital supervision in March on condition that he continue taking anti-depressant and anti-psychotic medications and remain an outpatient at the Jefferson County Center for Mental Health. He is now in jail under a suicide watch.
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Slaying puts attention on mental illness
The Denver Post
August 1, 1996
Author: Angela Cortez Denver Post Staff Writer
Estimated printed pages: 6
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People talk openly about diabetes and even cancer, but the stigma and silence that surround mental illness can be deadly.

Mental health professionals say many patients with mental disorders can function well with medication and other treatment, especially given recent innovations in drug therapy.
 
But problems arise when the treatment is inconsistent, family and friends do not understand the patient's changing behaviors and support systems are lax. Those breakdowns are more common with mental disorders than physical ailments because of the silence and lack of funding that plagues mental illness treatment programs.

Those problems can lead to suicide and even homicide in some extreme cases, psychiatrists say.

On July 19, David Lynn Cooper, a 33-year-old former mental patient, was arrested after Wheat Ridge police discovered the nude, mutilated body of his daughter Renee inside his home.

The 10-year-old girl had been stabbed and sexually assaulted.

Last week Cooper was charged with her murder, sexual assault and abuse of a corpse.

Cooper lived alone except for summer visits from Renee. His mother, Marilyn Cooper, said she didn't know if he was on anti-depressant or anti-psychotic medications or if it had recently changed.

"If we had any concerns, we would have done something," she said.

It's uncommon for those under mental health treatment to act violently against others - although they often commit suicide, said Doris Gunderson, medical director of the University North Pavilion/Medication Clinic and professor of psychiatry at University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

The rage can turn outward if the medications are stopped or adjusted without supervision. That is a possibility in the case of Cooper, who was under court order to take anti-psychotic and anti-depressant medication, she said.

Cooper had been released from the supervision of the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo just four months ago.

He was ordered to the hospital by a Jefferson County district judge in 1992 after he was found not guilty by reason of insanity in a knife attack on his father. While there, Cooper told therapists that his father was also known as Jimmy Hoffa. Cooper was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, court records show.

Even before the attack on his father, Cooper had sought mental health care. In 1991, he told therapists he was depressed and could not concentrate following his divorce from Renee's mother. He was given Prozac, a mood-altering drug widely prescribed for clinical depression, a serious medical illness that afflicts up to 10 percent of the population, according to court records.

A judge released him from state hospital supervision in March on condition that he continue taking anti-depressant and anti-psychotic medications and remain an outpatient at the Jefferson County Center for Mental Health. He is now in jail under a suicide watch.

Harriet Hall, chief executive officer for the Jefferson County Center for Mental Health, said she could not confirm that Cooper was on medication or even that he was seen as an outpatient because of medical privacy laws. Colorado Mental Health Institute officials refused to discuss Cooper as well.

But his case bears a striking resemblance to two 1993 murders in Greeley and Hudson.

In Greeley, Paul Wilkinson, then 28, told two officers that he was reading Bible verses to his mother, 66-year-old Dorothy, then beat and stabbed her to death because he thought she was the devil.

He cleansed himself in bleach, then walked down the street, kicking signs, talking to himself and stuffing grass in his pants after the slaying on April 27, 1993. He referred to his mother in many different ways, including "Babylon," Detective Clay Buckingham said.

His attorney, Michael Emmons, argued that a change in Wilkinson's medication sparked the attack. Wilkinson was diagnosed as bipolar, or manic-depressive, which is characterized by depression alternating with episodes of mania.

On the day of the slaying, Wilkinson's parents noticed a change in his behavior and called a local mental health clinic. They could not get an appointment until the following day.

Bruce Moser was 41 when he stabbed his 70-year-old mother, Marguerite, eight times, leaving her partially nude body in his bedroom in their rural Hudson home. Police had to coax Moser from his room, where he was wrapped only in a sheet.

Moser had been admitted to the state mental hospital in Pueblo twice and had attempted suicide prior to his mother's slaying on July 17, 1993. His mental evaluations were sealed, but he was under psychiatric care at the time of the attack, police said.

Both Wilkinson and Moser were found incompetent to stand trial and remain in the custody of the Colorado Mental Health Institute.

"(People with mental illnesses) can be dangerous," said Gundersen. "But the great majority are not violent. They more often are victimized.

"But because mental illness is misunderstood and stigmatized, the few (violent cases) become sensationalized and draw attention from media and the public," she said. "People ask, "What's wrong with this person?' The important thing for the public to know is that these individuals have treatable illnesses."

The problem is they often don't receive the proper medications or decide they feel fine and choose to discontinue the drugs, she said.

"No one wants to have a medical illness, and people in general are reluctant to take medications," Gundersen said. "They want to believe that they are in control and can manage a situation. There is a great deal of stigma about psychotropic medications. Individuals are conditioned to believe that taking a medication is a crutch when, in fact, those medications may allow them to function successfully in society and suffer less."

Friends and family must learn to recognize the early signs of trouble and intervene in a nonthreatening way. If they can't, Gundersen said, relatives should not feel guilty about calling police to get the ailing family member treated and keep others safe.

"For me, that is the most frustrating thing, when they refuse to take their medications," said Catherine Ray, whose sister is bipolar. "It's scary because from time to time ... she is suicidal. But it's a difficult subject for us to handle because there is so much attention to the violent behavior and little to those who stay on their medication, hold down a job and function reasonably well."

People with mental illness need support from family, friends, employers and the medical community. Ray said it's hard to deal with her sister at times, but she knows her support is crucial.

"Some of our family members don't want to see her," Ray said. "They don't want to talk to her. I tell her, "You look like an adult, but when you're not well, you don't act like an adult.' I have to remember that's not her, it's her illness talking, and we have to get her some help."

Another dilemma affecting some patients is financial. State laws allow health insurers to pay less for mental health than physical health problems and government facilities are over-taxed. Because patients are prone to ignore their medications, they need supervision. "That is why adequately staffed outpatient services are so crucial, Gunderson said. "There has to be several checks and balances with these patients. There are mental health centers in every county, and they do a good job, but when funding shrinks, you have less staff people handling more clients. Some patients slip out of treatment, and we may not know where they are. It's hard."

The Colorado Alliance for the Mentally Ill provides information on mental disorders and support services for families. It can be reached by calling 321-3104. 3 common disorders and their symptoms: *Bipolar: A mood disorder that is mainly genetic. Symptoms include depression, a subdued mood, social withdrawal, pessimism, insomnia, deterioration in work performance and an increase in interpersonal difficulties. In time, the condition can worsen, developing into suicidal feelings, disregard for personal hygiene and eating disorders, which can lead to severe impairment or hospitalization.

The flip side of bipolarism, which is mania, is characterized by such symptoms as rapid speech, abundance of energy, and overly optimistic behavior, which can lead to careless driving, impulsive spending, hyper sexuality and a general lack of regard for consequences. Persons with this disorder can also become physically agitated and display provocative behavior. Two out of every 100 Americans suffer from manic depression. Many go untreated or try to medicate themselves through alcohol or drug abuse.

*Schizophrenia: A thought disorder recognized by structural abnormalities in the brain and also some genetic links. It is characterized by delusions, which can lead patients to believe they are possessed by an alien force, are being poisoned by family or friends, or that they are God or Jesus. They also may have visual hallucinations or hear voices. Voices may instruct them. They may experience paranoia, believing they are being controlled by outside forces or followed. Thought processes tends to be disorganized so that concentration, comprehension and judgment may be impaired.

Persons with this disorder generally become ill in their teens or early 20s, so they miss out on learning and tend to be uncomfortable in social situations. One in 100 Americans is schizophrenic and 15 percent commit suicide.

*Schizoaffective Disorder: The hybrid diagnosis. Sufferers show signs of schizophrenia and mood disorders. They generally need anti-psychotic and mood-altering medications. They can possess any of the symptoms listed above for bipolarism and schizophrenia. Very similar to schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder strikes about the same percentage of people as does schizophrenia. Source: Doris C. Gundersen, M.D.
Edition:  Rockies
Section:  Denver & The West
Page:  B-01
Index Terms: mental illness; health care
Record Number:  DNVR651439

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Slaying puts attention on mental illness