Suicide Suspected in Apparent Drowning, but Wife Disagrees

Although sheriff’s investigators say they are leaning toward calling the apparent drowning death of a Newbury Park man a suicide, the man’s wife said Wednesday that her husband, a stroke victim, was physically incapable of killing himself.

Steve Hale, 51, was found Tuesday at about 4 p.m. floating face down in his backyard swimming pool with his hands fastened behind his back with duct tape, said Sheriff’s Sgt. Dave Paige.

Three hours after sheriff’s officials pulled Hale from the water, he was pronounced dead at Los Robles Regional Medical Center.

“He had limited use of his right hand and leg,” his wife, Dianne Hale, said in an interview Wednesday. “And his balance was off just enough that there was no way he could do this . . . Someone has done this to him.”

But sheriff’s deputies say it is possible that the retired department store manager fastened his own hands behind his back. And, while not ruling out the possibility, they say they have found no motive for murder.

“It sounds like it is probably going to be a suicide,” Sgt. Paige said. “There was no struggle, no blood, nothing to indicate any foul play. There was just enough to indicate suspicious circumstances.”

Results of the autopsy and further examination of key evidence--including fingerprints on an undisclosed object--will be released today, police said.

The evidence should enable investigators to determine whether Hale’s death was a suicide, said Det. Larry Robertson, head of major crimes investigations for the Sheriff’s Department.

But, angered over reports that her husband was despondent after suffering a stroke about two years ago, Dianne Hale and her daughter, Kim, said Wednesday that Steve Hale was upbeat in the weeks leading up to his death.

“He was not anywhere near [being despondent].” said Dianne Hale, who drove home Tuesday expecting to meet her husband for an exercise date at their health club. “He was very motivated.”

Since suffering a stroke, Hale had spent two years in physical rehabilitation to strengthen his speech patterns and regain some use of his right hand and leg.

But his spirits were high, said his wife. He was especially excited about their plans to fly to San Diego this weekend for a four-day getaway, she said.

Neighbors who saw Hale taking a walk and checking his mailbox about an hour before he was found in the pool reported that he was upbeat and in a “good mood,” Dianne Hale said.

After his stroke, Hale quit his job as a store manager of Montgomery Ward & Co. in Ventura and had fallen into a steady routine, passing the day cleaning the house, doing yard work and taking walks around the neighborhood.

Tuesday was no different, Dianne Hale said.

“You just don’t eat lunch and get up and go for a stroll and then go out and say, ‘I think I am going to jump into the pool.’ ”

Dianne and Kim Hale believe that Steve Hale may have startled an intruder when he returned from his daily walk.

But officials said they have no evidence to support that theory.

“The absence of motive is key here,” said Patti Dreyer, a senior sheriff’s deputy. “There are usually four motives in a murder case. Love, hate, sex and money. We have none of those appearing here.”

Nothing in the home was disturbed or taken, Dryer said. Nor was there a suicide note.

Although difficult, Dryer said Hale could have taped his own hands behind his back.

“You have to consider the fact that if someone is intent on doing something, they will find a method,” she said. “Many people don’t like to think that a family member is in a mental state that will allow themselves to kill themselves.”

But Dianne Hale insists that her husband could not have taken his own life.

“There is no way you will ever convince me that he would do that,” she said. “He was doing so well.”

* Correspondent Andrew Blechman contributed to this story.