Omigod, this was my doctor!!

[amber]

This lady and this guy owned the office where I got my microdermabrasion and skin peels done! They were so nice. And the office seemed really busy. And my skin looked great after. He worked in front, but I didn't know they were married. He totally took all this time to answer my questions, and he was extremely pleasant and engaging. She was great and helpful as well.


BERKELEY
Man who killed family described as grim
Suicide note said they hit 'financial breaking point'


"The Berkeley man who shot and killed his two daughters and his wife before turning the gun on himself appeared grim and expressionless at Tilden Park three hours before the carnage, an acquaintance said Wednesday.

Kevin Morrissey, 51, didn't smile back at Thea Daniels when she and her 10-year-old daughter saw him with his family at the park's Little Farm at about 3:30 p.m. Monday, Daniels said.

"I thought he was in distress," said Daniels, whose daughter was on a soccer team last fall that Morrissey had coached.

Shortly after 7 p.m., East Bay Regional Park police found the bodies of Morrissey, his wife, Dr. Mamiko Kawai, 40, and their children, Nikki Morrissey, 8, and Kim "Elena" Morrissey, 6, in the Mineral Springs parking lot off Wildcat Canyon Road.

The eyewitness account by Daniels came as more details emerged Wednesday about Morrissey.

Park police disclosed that in a typewritten suicide note found in Morrissey's pocket, he apologized to emergency responders and said the couple were at a "financial breaking point" with respect to their Aura Laser Skin Care clinic on San Pablo Avenue in Albany, which they opened in 2002.

In the note, Morrissey said other employment opportunities were "unattractive," police said. He said the foursome was "a typical family with a normal set of relationships within our community and family" and acknowledged that their deaths "will likely be a surprise to anyone who knows us," police said.

Morrissey mailed similar notes to family and friends the day before the slayings, police said.

Police also revealed that the .357 Magnum used in the killings was purchased by Morrissey on April 19 from the Old West Gun Room in El Cerrito and that he took possession of it on May 1 after a state-mandated waiting period.

When Daniels saw the family hours earlier, the girls were "skipping around" and "running around the animal pens" at the farm. Morrissey was headed for the bathroom, and although Daniels said she initially thought, "Boy, he really needs to go," it appeared that there was something else bothering him.

Daniels said she couldn't see Kawai's expression because the skin care doctor was wearing sunglasses and a hat that covered her face, as she usually did when the sun was out.

Daniels said she believed there were other factors besides financial problems that could have led to the tragedy.

"Kevin was very outgoing and friendly, but he also had a very controlling side, and he vacillated to other moods," Daniels said. "He was a very complex, intelligent, resourceful person, and I do not believe that financial stress alone would cause this."

Pamela Bouey, a Walnut Creek attorney who represented the couple on their clinic's lease, said, "I just really do just think they were in over their heads," she said. "Something sort of spun out of control, obviously. Otherwise this wouldn't have happened."

Despite the stresses he may have experienced, Morrissey "adored his family" and continued to refer to his wife as his "bride" in recent years, Bouey said.

In 2005, the couple bought their three-bedroom 1918 Craftsman home on Northside Avenue in Berkeley for $640,000 from a woman who had been a patient of Kawai's, according to public records and neighbors.

On June 6, 12 days before the tragedy, the couple refinanced the mortgage on their home and took out an additional $72,500 loan, records show.

Morrissey told several neighbors and acquaintances that he had served in the CIA. An online resume said Morrissey served in the Army Special Forces and was a foreign service officer.

Morrissey couldn't stop talking to Angela Mason when he learned that she was involved in international relief, she said. "I sensed a kind of desperation in him or a very different kind of darkness, and I'm not being dramatic. It's something I felt," Mason said.

"I always felt troubled by him because he was too bright, too brittle," she said. "I sensed a lot of anger underneath him."

Morrissey's brother, Jack Morrissey of Austin, Texas, declined comment Wednesday, saying only that the family was "deeply saddened and deeply concerned" about what happened.

"Even if true, (the CIA connection) likely has nothing to do with the tragic incident on Monday," said East Bay Regional Park spokeswoman Shelly Lewis.

Morrissey's resume also said he had served as information technology executive for Medicine International, an international relief organization.

Morrissey worked at Children's Hospital Oakland's information systems department from 1997 to 2001, said spokeswoman Venita Robinson. "People in that department are very upset and sorry to hear about his tragic death and the death of his family," she said.

Kawai was a well-respected doctor who receive high marks from patients. She went to Turkey to help earthquake victims from the massive 1999 temblor, friends said.

"Dr. Kawai was a bilingual, competent and compassionate family physician in whom patients would have immediate confidence and rapport," said Haruyo Nagafuji, a relative of a former patient of Kawai's.

A memorial service has been scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Alta Bates Campus auditorium, 2450 Ashby Ave. in Berkeley. Dr. Kawai was formerly a physician with the Albany office of the Alta Bates-Summit Medical Center.

In addition, the Sycamore Congregational Church, with which the family was affiliated, will open its sanctuary from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. today for those who wish to offer a prayer, light a candle or otherwise seek solace, said Pastor Sharon MacArthur. The church is located at 1111 Navelier St. in El Cerrito. "

[Sahara]

A similar event happened here in Ireland a few weeks ago, a couple and their two little daughters -- it's so tragic, I'm so sorry to hear this.

[michelle2677]

omg that is so awful!!! oh my god. I don't even know what to say



refer to my "i'm quickly losing faith in the human race" thread

[Rickypt]

Wow, amber, I've been following that story closely and didn't know she was your doctor. It is a very sad story.

[amber]

^^^
It is so weird, they seemed so level headed. Well, she did. His eyes were really, really sparkly. But he was sooo nice. So nice that it was slightly odd, like the article says. But not really. Some people are just really nice.
The thing is, I want to know what was really going on, because I agree that just financial worries wouldn't cause most people to do what he did. And ostensibly, the wife agreed. And of course his CIA background makes it all the more intriguing. It is just horrible they couldn't leave the kids with some relatives or something.

[golden braid]

I've been reading some about this family in my paper and it's just so sad for the wife and kids. Do we know for sure he was in the CIA?

[amber]

Originally Posted by golden braid

I've been reading some about this family in my paper and it's just so sad for the wife and kids. Do we know for sure he was in the CIA?

I was under the impression that the article confirmed it.

[BombaySapphire3]

So far it is not confirmed that he was indeed in the CIA ..I would not be surprised if it were not true ..being in the CIA is a frequent grandiose delusion of mentally ill people and it appears he was mentally ill.

[amber]

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

So far it is not confirmed that he was indeed in the CIA ..I would not be surprised if it were not true ..being in the CIA is a frequent grandiose delusion of mentally ill people and it appears he was mentally ill.

Yes, but...I thought it was confirmed third party. Wait...wait...yes, you are right. The only confirmation we have is from what he told people. What with their work with the overseas people and stuff, and some other evidence, I am at this juncture choosing to believe that he was in the CIA. It's all pretty weird, though, don't you think? I'm torn between believing that someone would SAY they were in the CIA when they were not, and the other evidence that indicates he might have been in the CIA. Okay, I guess that isn't really torn. I suppose I just can't imagine this particular person, and his wife, with their record of helping overseas people, pretending they were in the CIA. I mean, why bother? And their close ties with helping overseas people, and his/her long record of doing such, make me believe more that he was in the CIA.
And I see your point about crazy people saying they are in the CIA - but, he wasn't THAT crazy. He doesn't strike me as an especially delusional kind of crazy. Plus, he just told his friends/aquaintances he was in the CIA.

[BombaySapphire3]

Well obviously he was a very high functioning person as a doctor and I understand that you actually met him but having worked in psych wards for many years I have heard the CIA delusion ad nausem..it's right up under "I am God" ..I'm sure we'll find out more details but my hunch is that he was mentally ill and was not seeking any help for his problem and was probably in denial completely ..very tragic.

[gldstwmn]

This is tragic. The CIA thing could definitely be a red herring. Would they even confirm that he worked for them?

[BombaySapphire3]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

This is tragic. The CIA thing could definitely be a red herring. Would they even confirm that he worked for them?

He is dead so if he worked for them it wil likely come out ..even if he did I still maintain that he was certifible..those letters that he sent out apologizing for the killings and suicide before they happened ..way twisted IMO.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

He is dead so if he worked for them it wil likely come out ..even if he did I still maintain that he was certifible..those letters that he sent out apologizing for the killings and suicide before they happened ..way twisted IMO.

I agree. It was premeditated. Why couldn't he have left the wife and kids out of it?

[Betsy]

Suicide....one must be terribly low, distraught, and hopeless...not able to look to the future for comfort...to decide to kill oneself.

In the 80's I taught with a high school social studies teacher, who was a winning coach, and a very friendly guy. On a Saturday morning he went to get his haircut, got breakfast at the local Village Inn and then went home to commit suicide that afternoon. We all felt so guilty....like what could we have done to prevent it.

"Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem."

Money isn't everything...and not worth giving ones life for it.

[BombaySapphire3]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

I agree. It was premeditated. Why couldn't he have left the wife and kids out of it?

That is precisely why I think he was very disturbed .suicide is one thing but to murder his family as well indicates he was really out there.