Pain likely drove RV resort couple to double suicide

Ronald and Laraine Cooper planned their deaths so as to leave no burden for anyone else.

"They planned this for quite a while," said Ronald Cooper's twin brother, Donald, 71, of Schellsburg, Pa. "Everything had been taken care of."

A week ago Lee County Sheriff's Office deputies came to unit 100 at the Groves RV Resort after receiving a curious call from Ronald Cooper. The call indicated that he and his wife could no longer stand the pain and were "leaving."

Deputies responding to the light-gray modular home with dark red shutters off John Morris Road found the couple dead, each with a gunshot wound to the head.

Donald Cooper said he was told by the sheriff's office that the couple shot themselves. Ronald Cooper was found with a 9mm handgun on his chest and, Donald Cooper added, the sheriff's office told him that a second 9mm handgun was found under the bed.

Donald Cooper had been in regular contact with his brother, talking by phone every so often.

"I talked to Ron a week-and-a-half ago," he said. "If I had thought something like that would happen I would have packed a bag and come right down."

Donald Cooper was upset at how the deaths were first portrayed with an initial story in The News-Press labeled the deaths an apparent murder-suicide. The deaths were ruled a double suicide Friday, a sheriff's office spokesman said.

"It took us two days to find out it was a double suicide," Donald Cooper said. Friends and others at their church and elsewhere inquiring about the deaths didn't help ease his grief, he said.

"I spent two days on the phone to tell people," he said. "It wasn't pleasant."

The likely scenario is that Ronald and Laraine took their own lives due to debilitating pain, he said. "That's pretty close to what's going on," Donald Cooper said.

He said Laraine Cooper, 72, could not lie down or even go to the bathroom without incurring severe pain.

"He had a bad back and also leg issues," he said, adding that his brother could barely stand to walk due to pain and the couple underwent multiple surgeries.

Overall, they were good people, he said. His brother kept busy in summer taking care of homes for those who didn't live at the resort year-round.

"He was a pretty decent guy," he said of his brother.

There will be no services for his brother and sister-in-law, Donald Cooper said. The couple had taken care of the details, deciding to be cremated, he said.

The Coopers moved to Fort Myers in 2003, shortly after Ronald Cooper retired from the FAA, where he worked since 1975 as an air traffic controller. Laraine Cooper was a former registered nurse.

Chris Robbins, a neighbor from Everett, Pa., lived near them for a few years.

"I saw Ron a few times. He was a nice guy. Mostly saw him when he cut the grass," he said. "I think his wife had some problems, but I never met her."

Close friend Jay Irvin of Pennsylvania had been planning a trip down to see the couple.

"Let me suffice to say both have been in deteriorating health and limited mobility for many years," he said. "I was to spend my yearly visit in October with them."

Neighbors of the Coopers said he was a devoted husband and caregiver who doted on keeping his pain-wracked wife comfortable while attending to the housekeeping, cooking, and shopping and lending a hand to whomever needed one.

A neighbor who didn't want to be identified said the couple had been close but affected by pain from various afflictions in recent years.

"It was very stressful, caring for his wife," she said. "He got sick and could not take it. His whole retirement was spent taking care of his wife. He cleaned and cooked and shopped and took her to all her doctor appointments."

The neighbor said she and her husband last saw the Coopers on Aug. 28 when Ronald Cooper drove them to the airport.

"He gave no indication of any problems," she said.

She said that the couple would try to do things in recent years but Laraine Cooper's pain made it impossible.

"They tried to go to the theater. And we had picnics on the block. He'd come, and she would, too, if she could. They never bothered anyone. If he saw anyone who needed anything he helped," she said. "He helped us with our computer. He was extremely smart."

The neighbor said the Coopers were in a no-win situation. "He was at the end of his rope," she said.

Why suicide?

Two mental health professionals talked to The News-Press about situations like the Coopers were in.

Dr. Frederick W. Schaerf, a neuropsychiatrist at the Neuropsychiatric Research Center of Southwest Florida:

"About 40,000 a year kill themselves. Age is a big risk factor ... the older we get the bigger the risk factor. Other risk factors include medical illness, pain and depression."

He said the highest rates of suicide are among those age 45 to 64, second highest is 85 and older and then 65 and older.

"As we get older we seem to lose our enjoyment of life, and we get more fearful of things," he said.

A key factor is when they feel helpless and hopeless, Schaerf said. "They also blindside family and friends. They think suffering is something you don't share, it shows weakness. It is a cultural thing for people that age."

He also said many contemplating suicide visit a doctor not long before they do it. "We miss it because they don't tell people," he said.

Kevin Lewis, president and CEO of SalusCare:

"Unfortunately we don't know why these people chose to do what they did in this tragedy.

Illness, aging, depression can all be contributing factors in a situation like this. We live in a state where support (ie, public funding) for behavioral healthcare is way below (one third) the average nationally, thus access to care is very limited IF they were interested in seeking it.

As some people age, their world becomes smaller and more isolated too, thus contributing to a sense of aloneness and hopelessness. Illness and chronic pain can contribute to this isolation. If this couple had been together for many years, their relationship may have been such that they could not see one surviving without the other one as part of their future.

People who are caught up in any or all of these dynamics may not see a way beyond their current circumstance, and it can lead to tragedies like this."

SalusCare, Inc., is a provider of treatment for individuals with mental health and substance use disorder, treating more than 17,000 each year.

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