Husband Kills Himself and Wife After Writing Essay on Wife’s Alzheimer’s

A few months ago, Charles Snelling contributed an online essay to The New York Times that discussed how he was coping with his wife’s Alzheimer’s disease. In the essay, posted just months before Charles and his wife, Adrienne, celebrated their 61st wedding anniversary, Charles wrote that Adrienne had cared for him for 55 years and that the last six years were his turn to care for her as she battled Alzhiemer’s. Sadly, Charles took his own life after killing Adrienne last Thursday. According to the coroner’s report, Charles, who was 81, shot himself, but the ruling on Adrienne’s death, who was also 81, was still pending.  

In a public statement, the Snelling family said Charles’ actions came “out of a deep devotion and profound love.” According to one of the Snelling children, Charles and Adrienne had discussed taking their own lives, but the family did not expect the couple to follow through with the plan. Three years ago, Adrienne wrote letters to her family to explain how she and Charles had decided to handle and adjust to her Alzhiemer’s. In a letter dated Nov. 22, 2009, Adrienne wrote, “All of our lives, Dad and I have talked over our end of life beliefs. We are both in agreement that neither one of us wants to live after all reasonable hope for a good life is over.”

For more on this story, see Man Who Wrote Poignant Essay About Alzheimer’s Kills Wife, Self, The Washington Post, Mar. 30, 2012. 

Special thanks to Naomi Cahn (GWU Law School, John Theodore Fey Research Professor of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.