Slush Pile: 'We thought it would work out'

2007 Slush Pile

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'We thought it would work out'

2007 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

Family and friends heard Derrek Duh threaten to kill his wife weeks before the couple was found dead Tuesday in a murder-suicide, and police said now many are wondering if the deaths could have been prevented.

Police found Duh, 35, and his wife, Amy Duh, 33, dead in their home in Bethlehem Township. Derrek Duh, a part-time Tatamy police officer, used his police handgun to kill his wife and then himself.

"There are a lot of people wondering if there were any signs that were missed or any action they could have taken to prevent this," said township police Chief Daniel Pancoast. "We have people telling us they wish they would have come forward."

Police were no strangers to the Duhs' home at 1906 Third St. They were called there three times this year for domestic disputes, but none involved any serious threats of violence, Pancoast said. Amy Duh had filed two protection-from-abuse orders against her husband this year, but she later dropped them.

"When she took the PFA off, they were thinking about getting back together again," said her father, Ronald VanBuskirk. "The way he was begging her to come back, we thought maybe it would work out."

VanBuskirk said his daughter had sometimes told her mother about threats Derrek Duh made. The VanBuskirks were worried, but they never dreamed he'd carry them out.

"I thought that he had enough common sense that he was just making threats," VanBuskirk said.

"You wish you could turn the clock back," he added, fighting back tears.

Threats to harm or kill someone should always be taken seriously, said Pam Russell, executive director of Turning Point of the Lehigh Valley, a victims assistance agency that runs two shelters and a 24-hour help line.

Russell acknowledged that family members or friends may not want to involve themselves in a relationship marred by violence.

"If you are hearing a threat to hurt or kill someone, call police," Russell said. "Do whatever you have to do to keep that person safe."

Michele Andreacchio, who was Derrek Duh's girlfriend for about three months while he was separated from his wife, said she found a series of suicide notes a few weeks after she moved into his Third Street house in June. All of the letters indicated he planned to kill Amy Duh and himself.

Andreacchio said he hid the letters again after she confronted him. She said she didn't alert authorities because she knew he was stressed and they were about to leave on a vacation to Florida.

"When he wasn't Amy-focused, he was the greatest guy," Andreacchio said. "He was funny, he was charming."

But whenever he thought about his marriage, he was like a different person. "It was a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality," Andreacchio said.

Andreacchio said she is two months pregnant with Derrek Duh's child, but she said she had accepted that he planned to rebuild his marriage. Andreacchio and Derrek Duh broke up in early September.

Andreacchio said she sometimes wanted to call police when Derrek Duh started acting strangely, but "he would just get upset and say, 'I knew you'd snitch on me,' " she said.

Andreacchio said she did call 911 after Derrek Duh picked a fight with her over the phone on Sept. 7. When Bethlehem Township police came to the house, she said, they told her that if she was truly scared she could file a protection-from-abuse order and get out of the house. She chose to stay.

For someone to be charged with harassment or terroristic threats, a threat has to be credible and not necessarily made out of anger, Pancoast said.

"We train our officers to understand what they're hearing from both parties may be based on emotion and those comments may sometimes be deceptive," he said. The Duh murder-suicide reinforces the need for police training for domestic violence issues, he said.

"We'll see what we can learn from this," Pancoast said.

Derrek Duh's family could not be reached for comment.

His friend Leroy Bruch said the last hours of Derrek Duh's life were full of stress and anxiety, but there had also seemed to be hope for a reconciliation with his wife.

Bruch, of Bethlehem, said he had been friends with Duh for years and never heard him threaten to kill or hurt his wife.

"I know if Derrek was hurting, he probably was keeping it all inside and it just exploded right there," Bruch said.

Duh spent a few hours Tuesday morning at Bruch's home. Bruch said at 11 a.m. the Duhs were to go to a marriage counselor.

Bruch said he sensed his friend was withholding something, but he wasn't sure what. In three hours, Derrek smoked a whole pack of cigarettes. He told Bruch that he hadn't slept in days.

Possibly minutes before shooting his wife, Bruch spoke by phone with Duh. He said Duh kept repeating he was in a hurry and had to go.

Bruch later learned of the deaths in a phone call from Andreacchio.

"When I heard, I just put my head against the wall for five minutes and just couldn't move," he said.

pamela.lehman@mcall.com 610-861-3636

Submitted on 09/21/2007

Submitted by:
Reference: By Pamela Lehman and Michael Duck

>> Moderator Scores <<

Bruce said:
Definitely Toss: Other
Suicides simply aren't allowed, and neither are incidents involving innocent bystanders (which is what the murdered wife would be). Also, shootings are so common that they likely would be rejected unless it was a really unique/bizarre incident.

James said:
Definitely Toss: Other
Alas, Pamela/Michael, we cannot accept this as this amounts to a murder-suicide. It is also plain that one or both parties had psycological issues which are clearly to blame for this tragedy. For the record, we seek stories of stupidity! Thanks for a good first try and please do consider submitting again in the future!

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2007 Slush Pile

'We thought it would work out'

2007 Reader Submission Pending Acceptance

2007 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance