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Thursday, October 30, 2008

Women in Love

posted by on October 30 at 9:51 AM

Sad.

Carol Anne Burger killed her former lover by stabbing her 222 times with a Phillips-head screwdriver and then took pains to hide her crime, police said Wednesday.

Jessica Kalish, who shared a house with Burger despite breaking up with her more than a year ago, was found last Thursday stuffed in the backseat of her gun-metal BMW sedan, abandoned behind a medical office at 2300 S. Congress Avenue. Her blood was splashed around the rear end and undercarriage of the car, as if her killer had tried to load her into the trunk. The driver-side window was shattered….

Their situation really was a bad one, friends said, but for financial reasons Burger and Kalish had continued to share the house they’d bought together in 2000.

Burger, who on Oct. 7 was tapped to cover the election for the Web site, The Huffington Post, still sometimes felt sad and isolated. Kalish, whom Burger had married in Massachusetts in 2005, had met another woman. At 3300 Churchill Drive, Burger had her half of the house, a room and office where she would write and read and surf the Internet, and Kalish had hers, where she would spend hours absorbed in cyber dates with her new companion, friends said.

You have to wonder if things might have turned out differently if these women had been able to sell their damn house.

RSS icon Comments

1

I wish I hadn't been eating lunch when I read "222 times". That's terrible...

One of my in-laws is a Chicago cop, and she once said that gay domestic disputes are even worse than straight ones (more vicious and difficult to handle). I was surprised by that because it wasn't something I had ever heard before... Not that one incident proves that point, but still, this sounds particularly brutal.

Posted by Julie in Chicago | October 30, 2008 10:07 AM
2

If you had told me a year ago that we'd soon be having homicides and suicides across this country over real estate, I'd never have believed you.

Very, very, very sad.

Tuesday can't be over fast enough.

Posted by whatevernevermind | October 30, 2008 10:07 AM
3

This is why this gay boy will never marry one of those fucked up lesbian chicks.

Shit, they are fucking CRAZY!!!

Posted by Cato the Younger Younger | October 30, 2008 10:10 AM
4

When you pull a juvenile stunt like splitting the house in two, only bad things can happen.

Posted by Bellevue Ave | October 30, 2008 10:12 AM
5

@1 I've heard that's believed to be true because, in same-sex domestic disputes, the people at odds are more evenly matched physically, so the fight isn't over as quickly or decisively.

I don't think that applies in this case, where the killer apparently just lost her sanity completely. She just also happened to be gay.

Posted by whatevernevermind | October 30, 2008 10:14 AM
6

This is the saddest thing I've read all week.

Posted by Uncle Vinny | October 30, 2008 10:19 AM
7


You left out an important detail, Burger committed suicide after Kalish's body was found.

Posted by Dave M | October 30, 2008 10:23 AM
8

Really sad.

Did y'all see the depressing story in the NY Times about the divorced (straight) couple living in a divided-up mansion, taking out their anger with each other through the house...

Posted by cdc | October 30, 2008 10:25 AM
9

jesus, that is horrible. That's 222 times to think about what the fuck you're doing.
I'm not really sure I'll believe that gay domestic disputes are much different from straight ones, I think it all comes down to the people disputing, really. And what they are willing to do to prove a point.

Posted by angelika | October 30, 2008 10:26 AM
10

Darn this housing market. Who wouldn't stab their ex 222 times with a screwdriver with home buyers so few and far between?

Posted by elenchos | October 30, 2008 10:33 AM
11

@10: Seriously. Clearly she was completely sane but the housing market forced her into such an otherwise-avoidable situation, 222 times.

Posted by Chris | October 30, 2008 10:39 AM
12

The concept that gay couples are somehow immune from jealousy, fear, hatred, and paranoia is, quite frankly, not viable.

Some people are brought together in tough times, others driven apart.

Posted by Will in Seattle | October 30, 2008 10:41 AM
13

About Burger: "She recently stopped drinking coffee."

Maybe she shouldn't have given up the caffeine. Just sayin'...

Posted by genevieve | October 30, 2008 10:41 AM
14

Is it cynical to think that this will get trotted out for Prop 8 and Prop 2?

Posted by Lavode | October 30, 2008 10:57 AM
15

No indication they ever put their house up for sale. Bought it in 2000 for $189,500. Current assessor value $273K. Current on their property taxes. They had two mortgages, one for $25,000 and one for $131,500 for a total below both the purchase price and the assessed value. Both mortgages fully paid off according to recorded Satisfactions filed 11/05 and 1/06 respectively.

Posted by tomasyalba | October 30, 2008 10:58 AM
16

No indication they ever tried to sell their house, though. Public records show they bought it in 2000 for $189,500. Current assessor value $273K. Current on their property taxes. They had two mortgages, one for $25,000 and one for $131,500 for a total below both the purchase price and the assessed value. Both mortgages fully paid off according to recorded Satisfactions filed 11/05 and 1/06 respectively.

Posted by tomasyalba | October 30, 2008 10:59 AM
17

222? Is this some kind of sick sacrifice to Karen Valentine?

Posted by Jubilation T. Cornball | October 30, 2008 11:20 AM
18

If it's getting that bad, then for fucks sake crash on a friends sofa!
And nasty domestic events are inevitable in a a percentage of all long-term relationships, no matter who's in them.
Knowing some of the stuff done in hetero marriages, I can't say that the gay ones could be much worse.

Posted by bakerb | October 30, 2008 11:25 AM
19

No offense to the victim, of course, but how perhaps she couldn't afford to move out because she was busy buying high-end things like BMW Sedans. People spend all their money on frivolity then act shocked when the tides turn and they suddenly have nothing.

Posted by Ugh | October 30, 2008 11:25 AM
20

I also fail to see what this has to do with the housing market, other than Dan's lame attempt at a tenuous connection so he could link the story to the election. Desperate much? I know Dan, actually thinking about actual issues is hard.

Posted by Ugh | October 30, 2008 11:31 AM
21

Of course they could have sold the house. They might have taken a lose, but that's capitalism here in the US of A. Of course one of the gals could have left the house altogether. Of course I know it's not easy to leave, but hell I would think it's easier than taking 222 stab wounds and hoping to survive. I might be wrong on that, hmmmm.

Posted by Sargon Bighorn | October 30, 2008 12:02 PM
22

bloggers is crazy, yo.

Posted by josh barn | October 30, 2008 12:16 PM
23

This sounds pretty much like any murder/suicide with the slight exception of the 222 stab wounds. I wonder if she had OCD? Couldn't stop until she had the count right.

Posted by inkweary | October 30, 2008 1:25 PM
24

IF ONLY I COULD SELL MY HOUSE! I WOULD NOT HAVE HAD TO STAB YOU 222 TIMES WITH A SCREWDRIVER!

WOE IS ME!`

Posted by Brian | October 30, 2008 1:47 PM
25

@ 22 -- They don't call it the nutroots for nuthin'.

But it sounds like she was at least lucid enough not to stab her 222 times in the house?

Posted by RonK, Seattle | October 30, 2008 1:55 PM

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