Laurie Dann - Search For A Rationale

Search For A Rationale

Some blamed Dann's family for defending and protecting her in spite of the signs of her deteriorating mental health. Investigations were hampered by the Wassermans' refusal to be interviewed by police or to provide access to Dann's psychiatric records - the records were eventually obtained by court order. On the night of Dann's death, the Wassermans allowed only a very brief search of her bedroom, after which they cleaned it and removed potential evidence. The police were criticized for not sealing off Dann's room as part of the crime scene. Parents of the shooting victims subsequently sued the Wasserman family for damages.

Further criticism was directed at Dann's psychiatrists for failing to identify or take action regarding the signs of Dann's decreasing mental stability. At the time of her suicide, Dann was taking an unlicensed drug called anafranil (generic name: clomipramine). The effects of this drug were initially considered as contributing factors to Dann's mental well-being, but ultimately ruled out.

Two newspaper clippings were found among Dann's possessions after her death. One described a man who randomly killed two people in a public building. The other described a depressed young man who had attempted to commit suicide in the same way that Laurie did; he survived and discovered that his brain injury had cured him of his obsessive-compulsive disorder.

One theory of Dann's rationale was that she targeted people who had "disappointed" her in some way: her ex-husband, her former sister-in-law (through the firebombing attempts at her children's schools and daycare), her ex-boyfriend and his wife, the family who was moving away, as well as former friends and babysitting clients.

Dann was also briefly investigated as a possible suspect in the Chicago Tylenol murders, but no direct connection was found.

In his book The Myth of Male Power, author Warren Farrell suggests that Laurie Dann's actions are an example of women's violence against men. He claims, erroneously, that all of Dann's victims were male, that she burned down a Young Men's Jewish Council, burned two boys in a basement, shot her own son, and alleged that she killed an eight-year old rapist. Farrell corrects his mistakes on his web site for The Myth of Male Power, adding that direct and indirect victims also included three females; however Men's rights activists, academics, and the media continued to repeat Farrell's initial errors.