Slayer ‘Couldn’t Cope With the Pain’ : Crime: Trailer park terror touched off by depression and vindictiveness was brought on by wife’s divorce action, acquaintances say.

In the weeks before Lee Jerry Kastle shot and killed his ex-wife, he had become extremely depressed and vindictive, bent on striking back at her for seeking a divorce, according to acquaintances and court documents.

“He was irrational. He couldn’t cope with the pain that she didn’t want him,” said Harvey E. Berman, the attorney for Patricia Kastle, 26, who died in the Monday attack.

As terrified residents at the Lido Mobile Home Park in Newport Beach looked on, Lee Kastle, 43, chased down his ex-wife, shot her in the head and then barricaded himself inside his mobile home where he killed himself, police said.

“When she hired me, she told me that this was going to happen. . . . She always had that fear,” Berman said.

Because of that fear, Patricia Kastle, a former world class skier, obtained a court order Dec. 11 prohibiting her husband from coming within 100 yards of her.

Nonetheless, Lee Kastle continued to contact her, becoming more threatening each time, her attorney said.

In the span of a month, he made offensive phone calls, slashed two tires on her car and tried to run her off the road with his Porsche, she said in court documents.

According to one court paper, Patricia Kastle claimed that he was a cocaine user. Other court declarations state that Lee Kastle removed $160,000 cash from a joint safety deposit box and refused to return her passport, clothes and ski equipment.

Berman said he was seeking court action against Lee Kastle for violating the restraining order at the time of the shooting.

As the incidents escalated, Patricia Kastle became more fearful, Berman said.

Ironically, it may have been her desire to confront her fears that helped lead to her death, he said.

“She was a world-class skier. She skied like the wind. She learned to face her fears all the time, and I think she wanted to face her fear head-on this time,” Berman said.

Witnesses to the shooting said Patricia Kastle drove over to meet her ex-husband Monday afternoon, possibly to retrieve her personal items. Shortly after she arrived, the violence erupted, witnesses said.

Joe Lutes, Lee Kastle’s attorney, said his client was “very excitable” and difficult to read. “One time he’s sitting there talking about the allegation of $160,000 in a safety deposit box, saying it was (untrue). Then another time he’d wink and say, ‘Who knows what was in there.’ ”

All who knew Lee Kastle, however, said his feelings about the divorce were frighteningly clear.

“He absolutely adored her,” said Margaret Argos, the owner of South Coast Travel Agency where he worked as a travel agent. “He didn’t want the divorce.”

Some of Lee Kastle’s acquaintances said he was so enamored of Patricia and the fact that she was well-known in skiing circles that he took her name when they married four years ago. His name had been Lee Strumer.

Patricia Kastle was the granddaughter of the founder of Kastle Skis, a well-known manufacturer, and skied for the Swiss Olympic team in 1984.

When Patricia Kastle began divorce proceedings, Lee Kastle “became extremely morose. . . . It really rattled his cage,” Argos said.

Argos said Lee Kastle started losing interest in his appearance and frequently did not come to work.

Although Argos said Kastle never displayed any temper in the office and was “always a very nice man,” other acquaintances have described him as having a violent streak.

Last March, he was detained by police after he allegedly drew a gun during a confrontation with potential buyers of a Mercedes-Benz he was trying to sell. The Orange County district attorney dropped the charges for lack of evidence, sources said.

Times staff writer Steve Emmons contributed to this report.