Family of Debra Denison, Conn. grandma in apparent murder-suicide, asks why she had access to gun

CBS/AP, Feb. 28

HARTFORD, Conn. - The family of two young boys killed in an apparent murder suicide - as well as Connecticut state police - said Thursday they want to know why the boys' grandmother, with a history of mental health problems, had access to the revolver used in the shootings [.....]

Police said the gun had been taken from her home, and one relative said it apparently belonged to the woman's husband.

"It was in the house, which is hard to believe," said Marcia White, a paternal great-grandmother of the boys, who said Denison's struggles with mental health were well known to the family.

State Sen. Toni Harp, a member of the General Assembly task force charged with formulating a response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, said there appeared to be striking parallels to the Newtown tragedy, including the slaying of children and gun violence by people without permits to carry weapons.

She said her working group on mental health has endorsed changing the gun-permitting process to ask about people in the household with mental illness and lay out responsibilities for owners to keep guns away from them. [.....]

Harp said there is concern about stigmatizing people with behavioral health issues, who experts say are no more violent that others, and the legislature has to walk a fine line in taking steps to prevent future tragedies.

Several family members said Denison, the boys' maternal grandmother, had long struggled with her mental health, although she seemed to be doing better in recent months. Donna Connors, a paternal grandmother, told The Day of New London that Denison had bipolar disorder and had attempted suicide in the past.

'God spared my 13-year-old son': Grandmother who shot dead her two grandchildren before killing herself left chilling suicide note claiming God told her not to kill teenager too
Mail Online, March 2

[.....] Relatives said Denison had struggled with mental health problems, and had attempted suicide in 1989 and 1990, but family and friends were left struggling to understand what could have prompted the violence.

'She would go along and have seasons where everything was A-OK, and other times when she would be depressed, running to the doctor and getting prescriptions,' said Marcia White, a paternal great-grandmother of the slain boys. 'She seemed to be doing well.'

The boys' parents told WVIT-TV that Denison had split personalities and family members told WFSB-TV that she had bipolar disorder.

According to the Hartford Courant, her second husband filed for divorce in 1989 and the file includes documents that say Denison attempted suicide at least three times and was committed to the psychiatric ward at The William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich for more than a month in early 1990.

Documents in the file indicate she struggled with alcohol, committed crimes and was found by a judge to be not competent to care for her children [....]

Grandmother, Two Grandchildren Died Of Apparent Murder-Suicide; Teenage Son Spared
Grandmother Left Suicide Note, Says Relative
By David Owens, Kelly Glista and Christine Dempsey, The Hartford Courant, Feb. 27, 2013

NORTH STONINGTON — [....] Police aren't saying why Denison, 47, killed her grandsons and herself, but court papers and relatives detail a history of mental instability and suicide attempts in 1989 and 1990.

A 5-inch-thick divorce case on file at Superior Court in New London — filed in 1989 by her second husband, Keith Rowley, and spanning several years — includes documents that say Denison attempted suicide at least three times and was committed to the psychiatric ward at The William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich for more than a month in early 1990. Documents in the file indicate she struggled with alcohol, committed crimes and was found by a judge to be not competent to care for her children.

Investigators have not released Denison's suicide note, but the boys' paternal grandmother said police told the family that she wrote that God spared her 13-year-old son. Denison was supposed to pick up her teenage son, Jason, before she headed to the day care to pick up her grandsons.

[....]

In addition to Brenda and Jason, Denison had two other children: Jessica Rowley, 25; and Christopher Allen, 27, who is serving a 28-prison sentence for felony murder related to the September 2008 killing of a man at a Mystic boat yard.

Denison had convictions for two motor vehicle offenses, paid two tickets for minor offenses involving dog ownership, and paid fines for reckless driving and following too closely, according to a clerk at Superior Court in New London. She also received probation for a second-degree larceny charge.

Denison, who lived on Sherwood Drive in Stonington, also had financial problems. Records show liens filed against the property – owned by Denison and her husband, Jance Denison — for nonpayment of taxes and bills. The couple had been married since 1994.