Till Death We Part

Murder-Suicide Male/Female Relationships

There has been global media coverage of events that involve murder-suicide. Males are mostly the perpetrators of such. Murder-suicides spousal involves a man killing his wife, girlfriend, ex-wife, or ex-girlfriend. The triggering event is often the female's rejection of his as her lover and her immediate threat of withdrawal or estrangement from the relationship. Risk factors for murder-suicide are based on the relationship between perpetrator and victims which include: history of domestic violence, lack of sexual relations, infidelity, presence of divorce/separation, financial pressure, use of weapon, and history of mental illness. The most common type of killer is a possessively, controlling jealous type.

Murder-suicides occur across all demographics. The murder-suicide can be carefully planned or the result of a heated argument; no matter what, the victim is rarely a knowing participant. Individuals who commit murder-suicide have some commonalities that were evident long before their lethal actions. One of them is poor self-control, a history of chronic and often untreated depression. The circumstances around that threat are often different depending upon the age and circumstances of the perpetrator.