'A mercy killing,' neighbor says of Elgin murder-suicide
An Elgin man who shot his ailing wife and then killed himself must have done so because "he was devoted to her," a neighbor said Monday.
Donald Stephens, 77, and Lynn Stephens, 75, were found dead Saturday morning after police conducted a well-being check at the couple's home on Brookside Drive.
Donald Stephens used a handgun to kill his wife five days before killing himself, and he left a note giving his reasons, Cmdr. Colin Fleury said, declining to detail the contents of the note.
"We only have his side as for why he felt he needed to do this," Fleury said.
Police believe Donald Stephens shot his wife Monday, then traveled out of state to visit someone, whom Fleury declined to name. Stephens returned Friday and alerted a friend Saturday of his intention to kill himself, and the friend called police, Fleury said.
Donald Stephens was a full-time caregiver for his wife, who had been bedridden for a few years after having back surgery, next-door neighbor Jennifer Bosak said. He, too, had back problems and underwent heart surgery at some point, she said.
"I don't like the murder-suicide thing. I think they should have called it a mercy killing," Bosak said. "He loved her. He worshipped her. How could you do that (care for someone) without loving someone? He was devoted to her."
Donald Stephens' son, Christopher Stephens, a senior pastor at Gurnee Community Church in Gurnee, echoed those words. He said he hadn't seen his father and stepmother in several years for "complicated" reasons.
"Given our understanding of the situation, that (a mercy killing) seems like a reasonable thought," he said, adding his stepmother was in very poor health.
"He was certainly very devoted to her," he said. "Recently his whole life was devoted to taking care of her."
Bosak said the couple, who had three purebred poodles, kept to themselves but were very nice.
"When I moved in 10 years ago, he was the first, the nicest friend to me," she said, adding Donald Stephens loved to tend to his garden with tomatoes and elephant ear plants.
Lynn Stephens had a great sense of humor and liked to bake cookies in her better days, Bosak said.
"The day I moved in, she comes out and says, 'Can't you get your dogs to shut up?' I said, 'Can't you drink more wine?' And after that we became friends, because we had the same sense of humor."
Lynn Stephens was "a wonderful woman" who worked in human resources at the former Larkin Bank in Elgin, Colette Martin of Elgin said. Martin remembered that Lynn Stephens was instrumental in getting her a job at the bank in the 1980s despite the fact that she hadn't worked since age 16 in order to raise her children.
Donald Stephens was always attentive toward his wife, she said. "In the winter he would drive over if it snowed, start off the car for her and clean the windows, so when she got off at 5 it was warm and clean for her," she said. "That was their relationship."
Donald Stephens also was a writer, Bosak said.
According to his profile on Amazon.com, he wrote 21 action novels under the name "D.J. Stephens."
His online profile states he spent two years in the seminary and then joined the U.S. Army after high school. He served for 10 years and competed nationally for the 2nd Army Division Rifle Team, and he made 1,400 parachute jumps as a member of a post sky diving team, the profile states.
According to buybooksontheweb.com, Stephens later worked in the computer industry "doing everything from programming to company president."
But of late, Bosak said, "I just think that life became unbearable for them and they just couldn't take it anymore. It's just my opinion."
The Stephens were "an ideal couple," Martin said, adding she, too, believes Donald Stephens must have killed his wife because she was ill.
"The minute I read that I said, 'There was no way this is a murder.' I knew it had to have been a mercy killing."