Homes Drenched in Blood: US Gov. Employ “Black Robed Executioner” Method of Killing Distressed Families

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, a chilling and untold narrative emerged—a story of shattered dreams, lost homes, and the silent screams of those pushed to the brink.

Beyond the headlines of economic turmoil lay a heart-wrenching reality: the surge in foreclosure-related suicides, each a poignant testament to the human toll exacted by the housing crisis.

As recently reported at the end of 2023, the bodies of Rakesh Kamal, Teena Kamal and 18-year old daughter Ariana Kamal were found by a relative inside their foreclosed home in Dover, Massachusetts according to authorities.

The tragic tale of Carlene Balderrama, a 53-year-old resident of Taunton, Massachusetts, serves as a haunting reminder of the 2008 financial crisis of predatory lending, and where Wall Street bankers started stealing citizens homes with the assistance of the judiciary and US government via wrongful foreclosures.

In a desperate act of despair, she sent a note to her mortgage servicer – PHH MORTGAGE CORPORATION, declaring,

“By the time you foreclose on my house, I’ll be dead.”

Shockingly prophetic, her words manifested as she took her own life just hours before her home was scheduled for auction.

As the economic downturn persisted, a sinister undercurrent swept through communities like Taunton, where countless homes faced foreclosure.

Police Chief Raymond O’Berg, grappling with the aftermath of Balderrama’s tragedy, acknowledged the broader issue, stating,

“It’s just a tragedy. Then again, someone told me that these financial stresses are tough.” The trauma extended beyond individual stories, hinting at a pervasive crisis affecting the entire community.

Psychological experts, such as Dr. Charles Nemeroff of Emory University and Dr. Harold Koenig of Duke University Medical Center, drew alarming connections between economic stress and suicide.

The historical echoes of the stock market crash of 1929 and the subsequent rash of suicides served as chilling reminders of the impact of financial upheaval on mental well-being.

In the face of this human tragedy, questions arise about the role of the government and the judiciary in facilitating a crisis that seemed to disproportionately punish homeowners.

Despite predatory lending practices by banks, judges entered foreclosure judgments, leading to what can be described as the greatest theft of citizens’ homes.

The RealtyTrac Monthly U.S. Foreclosure Market Report revealed the staggering scale of the issue, with 739,000 households receiving foreclosure notices in just a three-month period—equating to one in every 171 households in the country.

This is not just a story of economic collapse but a riveting narrative of lives shattered, families torn apart, and ultimately murdered by illegal interference by the US Government and their most dangerous branch, the judiciary.

The 2008 financial crisis unleashed more than economic turmoil; it unleashed a silent epidemic of despair and ultimate death by judge – family suicides which continues to unfold within the walls of homes across the nation and which rarely receive public press or attention.

Lina Hidalgo, a prominent figure in Texas politics, recently disclosed her battle with clinical depression and suicidal thoughts, leading her to undergo a nine-week inpatient treatment in Ohio.

Despite her success as the Harris County judge, overseeing Houston, Hidalgo felt trapped and struggled despite efforts such as exercise, proper sleep, and therapy.

She acknowledged the difficulty of admitting she needed help and faced warnings about potential political consequences.

Hidalgo drew inspiration from the experience of Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, who successfully returned to work after seeking treatment.

Despite opposition, she has now returned to her duties, expressing a renewed determination to remain in politics.

Foreclosure disrupts lives and families. Credit is ruined, families often split and years of hard work is lost with just one rap of a gavel. Beyond the dollars and cents, there is another cost of foreclosure, the loss of one’s physical and emotional health. Some folks rebound quickly while others can never get back up on their feet. Worse, some people take their own life.

Obviously Wall Street and banks share much of the blame. Corrupt mortgage brokers, regulators and appraisers share responsibility too.

Almost every foreclosure story is one of a dream lost. The stories of those who lost their home are tragic. Today, virtually everyone knows a friend, neighbor or family member who lost their home to foreclosure.

For this post, we begin with a recent foreclosure in Austin, Texas.

Austin is a vibrant city. The economy is better in Austin than in many other cities but foreclosures aren’t limited to any particular zip codes.

Earlier this month, the National Mortgage News carried the story of Craig Hutchinson and the loss of his home in the Austin suburb of Round Rock. Hutchinson was killed with his own gun just one day before he was scheduled to lose his home in a foreclosure.

Police and the local coroner haven’t disclosed all the details but we know that Craig Hutchinson was a sergeant in the Travis County Sheriff’s Department. His fellow officers found him dead after responding to a 911 call to his home. Hutchinson was killed with his own weapon and police have now determined that he took his own life.

The shooting occurred hours before he was scheduled to lose his home to a foreclosure by SunTrust Mortgage.

Sadly, we are away of many suicides related to foreclosures. Most of them don’t get the publicity that Hutchinson’s story received.

Over 2 years ago, the Huffington Post said that foreclosures and the recent recession have been linked to over 10,000 suicides.

One California man, Norman Rousseau, shot himself, apparently worried about being forced out of his home and on the street.

Unlike Sgt. Hutchinson, Rousseau was actively fighting back against the bank.

He had already hired a lawyer and had filed a lawsuit against Wells Fargo.

Like many homeowners trying to fight big banks, Rousseau found out that fighting big banks isn’t easy.

Intrigued by the news story, I obtained his lawsuit from the Superior Court of Ventura County, California. His tale reads like so many others, unfortunately he paid the ultimate price for his bad mortgage.

Bad mortgage? Rousseau’s lawsuit claims that he sought a conventional 30 year fixed mortgage. With a fixed mortgage, you know what you must pay each month. No matter what happens to interest rates, your rate and monthly payment is fixed.

Instead of getting a fixed rate loan, however, Rousseau and his wife claim they were pressured by a banker to an adjustable rate product (“ARM” or Adjustable Rate Mortgage).

The banker assured them they would “save” $600 per month and that ARMs were “the new industry standard.” They were also told that in two years, they could refinance into a permanent loan and that rates would likely be lower.

The date was October 2007. The height of the market.

The Rousseau’s say that much of what they were told were lies.

The payment they were promised was just an introductory rate payment. When their payments escalated, the Rousseau’s were unable to keep up. They may not have defaulted, however. There is evidence that one of their payments was not properly credited by the bank. That alleged missed or misplaced payment may have been all that was necessary to cause things to spiral.

Anyone who has ever missed a payment with a bank knows what usually happens next… default notices, fees, added interest, legal fees and penalties. It becomes impossible to dig out.

Like so many other people, the Rousseau’s were forced into foreclosure.

Unlike many others, however, the Rousseau’s fought back and sued their lender which by this time through mergers and acquisitions was now Wachovia (Wells Fargo).

Rousseau never was able to finish his case. Despondent, he committed suicide.

Any suicide is a tragedy. Obviously we don’t believe that Wells Fargo or SunTrust wanted to see anyone lose their life over a mortgage.

But even the threat of losing one’s home is devastating for most people.

Banks have an obligation to dot every “i” and cross every “t.”

It’s one thing to repossess a jet ski or boat for nonpayment, that can easily be reversed and fixed. But take a family’s home?

We started this story with Sgt. Chris Hutchinson and will end with him. Had he not died, Craig Hutchinson would have retired next week. He served the sheriff’s department for 32 years.

“By the time you foreclose on my house, I’ll be dead.”

So read the note that 53-year-old Carlene Balderrama of Taunton, Mass., faxed to her mortgage company, according to Taunton Police Chief Raymond O’Berg.

The message turned out to be tragically prophetic.

According to local reports, PHH Mortgage Corp. — the company foreclosing on Balderrama’s home — notified police of the message less than an hour and a half before the home was to go on the auction block. By the time officers arrived at Balderrama’s house, they found she had fatally shot herself with her husband’s rifle.

O’Berg said Balderrama’s death has been officially ruled a suicide.

But though the case is closed, he notes that the tragedy underscores a problem that is affecting many in the community of about 60,000, which lies roughly 40 miles south of Boston.

“It has a lot of people talking, because there are a lot of homes in foreclosure here,”

O’Berg told ABCNews.com.

“It’s just a tragedy. Then again, someone told me that these financial stresses are tough.”

And with no end in sight to the country’s economic downturn, some psychological experts say that cases like these may become more common.

“Stress is a huge factor in suicide, and looming very large is stress related to the economy,”

said Dr. Charles Nemeroff, chairman of psychiatry at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., and president of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

“Suicide is certainly a response to hard economic times,”

noted Dr. Harold Koenig, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C.

“Consider what happened when the stock market fell in 1929. There was a rash of suicides.”

According to the RealtyTrac Monthly U.S. Foreclosure Market Report released Friday morning, the number of U.S. homes receiving a foreclosure notice between April and June of this year shot up 121 percent compared with the same period last year.

That means that 739,000 households received a foreclosure notice during this three-month period — which translates into one out of every 171 households in the country.