Woman kills herself prior to foreclosure

A 53-year-old wife and mother fatally shot herself shortly after faxing a letter to her mortgage company saying that by the time it had foreclosed on her house that day, she would be dead.

Police said that Carlene Balderrama shot herself Tuesday afternoon soon after sending the 2:30 p.m. fax.

The mortgage company called police, who found Balderrama’s body at 3:30 p.m.

Taunton Police Chief Raymond O’Berg said a suicide note found next to Balderrama told her husband, John, and 24-year-old son to “take the [life] insurance money and pay for the house.”

John Balderrama said his wife handled all the couple’s finances.

“I had no clue,” he said. “I’m just lost. I tell you, I’m beside myself.”

He said that his wife had been intercepting letters from the mortgage company and shredding them and that he had no idea she hadn’t paid the mortgage in 42 months.

“She put in her suicide note that it got overwhelming for her,” he told the Associated Press in a phone interview Wednesday.

“Apparently, she didn’t have anyone to talk to. She didn’t come to me. I don’t know why,” he said.

John Balderrama filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy three times from 2004 to 2006, but the courts dismissed the petitions.

Debtors who declare bankruptcy under Chapter 13 generally are allowed to keep their homes while paying off debts under a court-approved reorganization plan.