Ervin Lupoe

Overview

Ervin Lupoe killed his wife, Ana Lupoe, and their five children, then killed himself the following morning. Police described the case as a murder-suicide.

Timeline

• Jan. 26, 2009 (evening) — Police said Ervin Lupoe shot his wife Ana Lupoe and their children at their Wilmington house.
• Jan. 27, 2009 (following morning) — Police said Ervin Lupoe killed himself.
• Dec. 19, [year not stated] — In a suicide note, Lupoe said there was an initial interview with the outside agency connected to child care.
• Dec. 22, [year not stated] — In a suicide note, Lupoe said a decision about their childcare had been reached.
• Dec. 23, [year not stated] — In a suicide note, Lupoe said a hospital administrator told him, “You should not even had bothered to come to work today you should have blown your brains out.”
• Dec. [year not stated] — Kaiser Permanente launched an investigation after being informed of alleged fraud.
• About a week and a half before Jan. 27, 2009 — Ervin Lupoe removed three of the children from school, saying the family was moving to Kansas.
• Monday evening (year not stated) — Police said they suspected the killings may have occurred between Monday evening and early Tuesday.
• Tuesday morning ~8:30 a.m. — Officers rushed to the home in Wilmington after calls reporting that the family had been shot.
• Thursday (relative to Feb. 3, 2009) — Yolondo Lupoe flew back into Los Angeles after learning of the deaths.

People

• Ervin Lupoe — killed his wife Ana Lupoe and their children; was the suspect in the killings.
• Ana Lupoe — Ervin Lupoe’s wife; their mother of five children.
• Yolondo Lupoe — Ervin Lupoe’s sister.
• Thomas Watkins — Associated Press writer.
• Andrew Blankstein — reporter.
• Richard Winton — reporter.
• Ari B. Bloomekatz — reporter.
• Rebecca Cathcart — reporter.
• Kenneth Garner — Deputy Chief.
• David Cortez — Detective, Los Angeles Police Department.
• Ed Winter — Assistant Chief of the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.
• Billy Hayes — police Capt.
• Anthony Crump — hospital spokesman.
• Sam Park — LAPD Officer.
• John Romero — police Lt.
• Vic Tuvera — emergency services employee.
• Hamlet Narvaez — Kaiser transportation worker.
• Diana Bonta — vice president for public affairs at Kaiser Permanente.
• Cesar Ramirez — brother-in-law of Ervin Lupoe.
• Cherise Pounders-Caver — Crescent Heights Elementary School principal.
• KABC-TV Channel 7 — television station involved in the faxing and posted letter.
• Crystal Stairs — nonprofit child development agency connected to the child care program.
• Josephine Lupoe — Ervin Lupoe’s grandmother.
• Dennis Tibayan — deputy of the bankruptcy court in Los Angeles.
• Jim Arndt — brother-in-law of Carolyn Arndt (described as shock over the deaths).
• Carolyn Arndt — Ervin Lupoe’s mother; described as a nurse and single parent.
• Russ Heimerich — spokesman for the state Bureau of Security and Investigative Services.
• Bob Pierce — attorney who represented the Lupoes in an auto accident.
• Jaime Solache — retired truck driver and neighbor.
• Amanda Garcia — neighbor.
• Clemencia Ortega — real estate agent in Wilmington.
• Armando Chacon — neighbor.
• Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner — commented on alternatives and “Today our worst fear was realized.”
• Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa — made comments about the economic crisis and violence.

The offence

Police said Ervin Lupoe killed his wife Ana Lupoe, their 8-year-old daughter, and two sets of twins—2-year-old boys and 5-year-old girls—the evening of Jan. 26 at their Wilmington house, before killing himself the following morning.

Police said:

• In one upstairs bedroom, the bodies of twin 2-year-old boys were found beside their dead mother.
• In another bedroom, the 5-year-old twin girls and their 8-year-old sister lay next to their lifeless father.
• All the victims were shot in the head, with some multiple times.
• The killings may have occurred between Monday evening and early Tuesday, based on neighbors’ accounts of firecracker sounds.
• A revolver was found next to Ervin Lupoe’s body.

Police said investigators would continue reviewing physical evidence to rule out other possibilities, while also stating they strongly suspected the case was a murder-suicide.

Investigation

Police described the initial actions as including a faxed suicide letter and phone calls related to the deaths.

• Police said Ervin Lupoe faxed a copy of his two-page suicide letter to a local TV station.
• Kansas authorities contacted the Los Angeles Police Department after an emergency call came in from KABC-TV Channel 7 reporting that they had been faxed a copy of Lupoe’s two-page suicide letter.
• It was learned that the letters Ervin Lupoe asked Cesar Ramirez to mail were copies of the suicide note, intended for about a half-dozen family members.
• Police said the station posted the letter on its website with parts redacted.
• Police said a police dispatch center also received a call from a man who said, “I just returned home and my whole family's been shot.”
• Police were unsure who the male caller was, but suspected it was the father.

Police said Ervin Lupoe was the suspect and that the fax asserted that Ana Lupoe planned the killings of the whole family.

Kaiser Permanente denied allegations that any supervisor told Ervin Lupoe to kill himself.

• Hospital said it was “confident” that none of its employees told Ervin Lupoe to take his own life or kill his family.
• Hospital said it was “saddened by the despair” in Lupoe’s letter faxed to the media.
• Hospital spokesman Anthony Crump said he could not comment on employee matters.
• Police Lt. John Romero said Ervin Lupoe was the suspect.
• Police Capt. Billy Hayes said it looked like there might have been grounds for termination and that it was not that he was laid off as a result of the economic situation.

Arrest / custody

No arrest was described.

Background

Ervin Lupoe and Ana Lupoe had lost their jobs at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center after a misconduct probe and an internal investigation.

Kaiser Permanente officials and police sources described alleged fraud and job-related circumstances:

• Kaiser Permanente officials said Ervin and Ana Lupoe were fired for allegedly falsifying income records and forging a supervisor’s signature on a child care application.
• Kaiser Permanente vice president for public affairs Diana Bonta said the couple falsified income records so they could qualify for a child care program run by Crystal Stairs, a nonprofit child development agency located near the West Los Angeles medical center where they worked.
• Bonta said the couple were terminated because “in the healthcare field, records are an important part of the process and people trust us with their health.”
• Police sources said the disparity was discovered when the child care agency called Kaiser to inquire about the couple’s income.
• Bonta would say only that Kaiser launched their investigation in December after being informed of the alleged fraud.
• Police sources reported upward of $40 an hour each in their work as radiological technicians, while the couple made it appear they were earning between $7 and $10 an hour.

Financial circumstances were also described:

• Police sources said the couple were behind one month in their mortgage.
• Investigators said they found notices of two bounced checks—one for about $15,000 and the other for almost $2,000—to pay for property taxes and penalties.
• Investigators said it did not appear they were behind on their credit card payments.
• The couple completed a home remodel in the last two years that included the master bedroom and bathroom and purchased new kitchen appliances including an industrial-grade refrigerator.

A bounced check to the Internal Revenue Service was also described as part of the financial stress.

• Police detectives said a bounced check to the Internal Revenue Service last week may have changed plans to move to Kansas.

Family and personal details

Yolondo Lupoe described the last time she saw her brother:

• She said the last time she saw Ervin Lupoe he seemed to be enjoying life with his wife and five children.
• She said he fired up a barbecue and put an inflatable bouncy house and pinata in the backyard to celebrate his twin boys’ second birthday.
• She described the family as “an amazing, happy, tight-knit family, just like their family picture.”
• She said they were “laughing, constantly smiling.”
• She said her older brother never had any mental problems.
• She blamed his actions on desperation after learning he and his wife were fired from their jobs as hospital technicians at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles Medical Center.
• She said, “They saw no hope,” and “I can imagine things piling on top of them. Constant no hope.”

The family planned to move to Kansas.

• Ervin Lupoe removed three children from Crescent Heights Elementary School and told the principal the family was moving to Kansas.
• Detective David Cortez said Ervin and Ana Lupoe were discussing plans to move closer to family in Kansas and were loading the truck to drive across country.
• Multiple accounts described Lupoe telling his brother-in-law they were on their way to Garden City, Kansas.

Relationship and background details described:

• Ervin Lupoe and Ana Ramirez were described as married in 1999.
• A neighbor described the household as normal before the killings, including birthday parties and children playing outside.

Prior history

Military and employment history were described:

• Ervin Lupoe served in the Marines for several years after graduating from high school in Northern California.
• There was nothing in his military record indicating any problems.
• After discharge, investigators said he paid his way through the Rio Hondo Community College law enforcement academy to become a police officer.
• After completing the program, he applied but was rejected from several local police agencies.
• He became a security guard before transitioning into a career as an X-ray tech at Kaiser.
• Ervin Lupoe was born in Georgia and later lived in the Bay Area’s Santa Clara County, where he went to high school.
• The couple bought their house in Wilmington for $290,000 in 2002, soon after the birth of their first daughter.

A bankruptcy history was described:

• In 1995, Ervin Lupoe filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Los Angeles.
• The filing was discharged in 1996.
• Dennis Tibayan could not confirm the amount of debts at that time.

A restraining order history and firearms licensing history were described:

• Court records said Ervin Lupoe sought a restraining order after a confrontation with a neighbor.
• In 1994, he was charged with carrying a concealed firearm but it was either dismissed or not prosecuted.
• He got a state license to work as a security guard in 1989 and a permit to carry a gun as a security guard in 1993; both expired in 2007.

Claims made in correspondence

A suicide note faxed to KABC-TV included multiple claims, including allegations about workplace and termination.

• The note included a section where Lupoe wrote: “So after a horrendous ordeal my wife felt it better to end our lives and why leave our children in someone else's hands, in addition it seems Kiaser Permanente want's us to kill ourselves and take our family with us.”
• The note included the handwritten line: “Oh Lord my God is there no hope for a widow's son!”

The note contained names and ages of the children:

• Brittney Lupoe-8yrs
• Twin daughters Jaszmin and Jassely-5yrs
• Twin boys Benjamin and Christian, 2yrs 4mo

The note included an alleged workplace comment on Dec. 23:

“You should not even had bothered to come to work today you should have blown your brains out.”

Other quotations from the note included:

“Why leave our children in someone's else's hands” “They did nothing to the manager who stated such, and did not attempt to assist us in the matter, knowing we have no job and 5 children under 8 years with no place to go. So here we are.” “Oh lord, my God, is there no hope for a widow's son?”

FoxNews.com quoted additional parts of the note:

“So here we are.” “They did nothing to the manager who stated such and did not attempt to assist us in the matter, knowing we have no job and five children under 8 years with no place to go. So here we are,”

The note also stated or asserted:

• Lupoe and his wife were being investigated for misrepresentation of employment to an outside agency for childcare.
• Their initial interview had occurred on Dec. 19 (as described in the note).
• Lupoe wrote that his wife suggested ending their lives and killing their children.
• Lupoe wrote that the hospital administrator suggested he shoot himself.

Phone calls and messages

Police sources described phone calls involving Cesar Ramirez.

• The day before the killings, Lupoe made an 8 a.m. phone call to Cesar Ramirez and said he was in the car with his wife and five children and that they were on their way to Garden City, Kansas.
• The next day, Ramirez’s phone rang at 6:30 a.m., and Lupoe asked Ramirez to do several favors, including paying his lawyer and putting the family’s possessions into storage.
• Lupoe also asked Ramirez to mail letters to family members.
• A source familiar with the case said Lupoe told Ramirez: “Your sister and the kids are dead,”
• The same source reported Lupoe then said: “I'm sorry, I had to do it. We love you and I'm next,” and hung up.

Autopsy / medical findings

Coroner’s Assistant Chief Ed Winter said:

• “All were shot in the head, some multiple times.” Winter also confirmed identities and described ages as:
• He confirmed identities of the girls; boys’ names were pending in one report.
• Another account said Winter said the children were ages 2 to 8 but his agency would not release the names.

Victims

Police described seven deaths:

• Ana Lupoe (wife)
• Brittney Lupoe (8-year-old daughter)
• Jaszmin Lupoe (5-year-old twin girl)
• Jassely Lupoe (5-year-old twin girl)
• Benjamin Lupoe (2-year-old twin boy)
• Christian Lupoe (2-year-old twin boy)
• Ervin Lupoe (suicide)

Sentencing

No sentencing was described.

Appeals

No appeals were described.

Outcome

Police and multiple accounts described the killings as a murder-suicide, with Ervin Lupoe killing his family and then himself the following morning.

Aftermath

Burials and memorials were described:

• Ervin Lupoe and the couple’s twin sons would be buried in California, but Yolondo Lupoe declined to say where exactly.
• Yolondo said Ana Lupoe’s body would be returned to Guatemala along with the bodies of the couple’s three daughters.
• Ana Lupoe was described as a dual Guatemalan and U.S. citizen.
• Two memorial services were planned: one in Spanish on Wednesday and another in English the following day.

Community reactions were described:

• Neighbors gathered to cry and pray beside a makeshift memorial outside the home.
• Deputy Chief Kenneth Garner said: “Today our worst fear was realized,” and “It's just not a solution. There's just so many ways you find alternatives to doing something so horrific and drastic as this.”
• Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said: “Whatever was the cause of the desperation that triggered this violence, there's help out there,” and “There's nothing, no option so horrible that can make you do something as horrific as this.”

The case was described as part of several other recent mass deaths:

• It was described as the fifth mass death of a Southern California family by murder or suicide in a year.
• Another described event in the same period involved a murder-suicide in Chatsworth and other killings.

Other contemporaneous comments:

• Police urged those facing tough economic times to get help rather than resort to violence.

Other details

Additional descriptions included:

• Ervin Lupoe’s faxed letter asserted “why we are dead” and included a claim that the wife planned the killings, though police believed Ervin Lupoe was the suspect.
• The revolver was found next to Ervin Lupoe’s body.
• A suicide letter included details about workplace grievances and alleged discrimination and HIPPA violations, including that Lupoe said he had to file a grievance with the union for discrimination and HIPPA violations and that another administrator had to correct the DA regarding union procedures.

Residential and neighborhood details were included:

• The two-story home sat in front of a railroad track in Wilmington.
• A children’s playset stood in the backyard.
• Neighbors described the home as much larger than its one-story neighbors.
• A sign above the driveway read: “The Lupoe’s Pad.”