Friday, September 17, 1999
Father takes disabled son in murder-suicide
BY DAN KLEPAL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Ralph Burgin did everything with his son. They followed a routine.
Mr. Burgin drove Gary, his 51-year-old son who suffered from Down syndrome, to school every day. In the evening, they sat under a tree in front of their cozy two-story, brick home on Knollwood Lane until it got dark, waving at neighbors who passed by.
Saturday nights they went for hamburgers; every Sunday it was a buffet dinner at a restaurant.
Neighbors in this quiet College Hill neighborhood say Ralph Burgin loved his son very much. Police say Ralph Burgin loved his son too much.
The pair were found shot to death Wednesday in an apparent murder-suicide. Police believe Ralph Burgin, 88, shot his son and then turned the gun on himself.
“Ralph was about the best neighbor you could have,” said Andy Gleason, who lived next door. “Ralph was a best friend to my 2-year-old, and Gary loved to come over and play with my animals.
“But Ralph always said that nobody could take care of Gary the way he could. He was always afraid that (Gary) would go into a group home or a nursing home.”
Experts are seeing more and more of these tragedies because medical science allows people with disabilities to live longer.
Parents who once would outlive their disabled child now have to worry about what will become of the child when they are gone. Sometimes, when they see no other options, the result is tragedy.
But the real tragedy is that many agencies can help, said Mark Shannon, president of the Board of Trustees for the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Cincinnati.
People born with Down syndrome in the 1940s had a life expectancy of about 18 years, he said. Now they can live well into their 60s.
“The phenomenon is not peculiar to people with Down syndrome,” Mr. Shannon said. “But the first generation of parents who chose not to institutionalize their Down syndrome children were those after World War II, and at that time physicians assured those parents they would survive their children.
“The problem is that many of these families feel isolated and are not connected with the many supports that are available and are afraid to leave their children behind.”
Some have nowhere to turn, said Janet Schultz, an associate professor of sociology at Xavier University.
“This is a considerable problem,” Ms. Schultz said.
Ralph Burgin's solution angered Sheila Gilman, who has lived four houses away for more than seven years.
“Ralph was called mayor of the street because he kept an eye on everything,” Ms. Gilman said. “Ralph told me years ago he had everything taken care of, so this really shocked me.”
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