Laurie Dann

Case identification

Laurie Dann (also referred to as Laurie Wasserman; née Wasserman; born c. 1958; 18 October 1957; died 20 May 1988) carried out a shooting rampage in Winnetka, an affluent suburb of Chicago.

Timeline

• 20 May 1988 — Laurie Dann walked into a second-grade classroom at Hubbard Woods School in Winnetka, Illinois, carrying three pistols, and began shooting children; she killed 8-year-old Nicholas Corwin and critically wounded and wounded five others before fleeing; she later entered a nearby house, shot and wounded a 20-year-old man, and then killed herself by putting a .32 into her mouth; she was found shot to death on the second floor of the house where she had held police at bay for more than six hours.
• 21 May 1988 — Police described the incident and reported that Dann had taken her own life after barricading herself inside a nearby house for more than six hours.

Background

Laurie Wasserman was the daughter of accountant Norman and Edith Wasserman and grew up in Glencoe, an affluent northern suburb of Chicago.

She attended New Trier East High School and graduated, then attended the University of Arizona for four years but never graduated. She later transferred to Northwestern University but never graduated. She worked in various short-lived jobs and was described as a babysitter, a housekeeper, and a cocktail waitress.

She met and married Russell Dann in September 1982. The marriage later came under strain, with Russell Dann and her family noting signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder and other strange behavior. The couple separated in October 1985 and divorced in 1985 following acrimonious divorce negotiations, with Laurie claiming that Russell was violent and abusive. Following the separation, she moved back with her parents to Glencoe and received a $125,000 cash settlement.

Investigation and prior incidents

1985 stabbing allegation and dropped case

In September 1986, Russell Dann reported that he had been stabbed in his sleep with an icepick and accused Laurie Dann. A store clerk identified Laurie Dann as buying an ice pick a few days before the stabbing. Laurie was not seen entering or leaving Russell Dann’s apartment. Russell Dann had a failed lie detector test, and police decided not to lay charges. The case was dropped.

Harassing phone calls and death threats

In 1987, nuisance calls and letters to an ex-boyfriend in Tucson, Arizona escalated into death threats. Laurie also claimed she was pregnant with his child even though she had not seen him in five years.

An Arizona-based assistant U.S. attorney, Janet Johnson, listened to a tape of a threatening phone call and said she planned to indict Dann for the threatening calls, but the doctor asked for postponement so that evidence could be gathered and so he would not be alone pressing charges. The FBI became involved because the calls were across state lines.

In April, Arizona officials contacted the FBI and the FBI then contacted Illinois authorities. In May, the FBI notified Madison police that she might own a gun. Police attempted to confiscate weapons but her father refused to hand them over, saying his daughter needed them for protection from her ex-husband.

Laurie was arrested for shoplifting in March, and she was released on a $200 bond and accepted into a first offenders program.

Babysitting-related incidents and alleged property damage

In January 1987, Laurie decided to try something new, babysitting, and posted flyers at a local grocery store and the Glencoe Library. Some parents hired her. Other parents made complaints after she left babysitting jobs, reporting damages including slashed leather sofas, rugs cut up, and two electric garage door openers missing. After one couple reported it to the police, they were told of other reports, but no charges were filed. In at least one case, her father paid restitution for damages.

Events leading to the rampage

In the summer of 1987, Laurie sublet a dorm room on the northwestern campus. Complaints included leaving raw meat in sofa cushions to rot and stuffing students’ boxes with garbage. The university reached her father, who persuaded her to return home. Returning to babysitting, she continued to damage property and stole hundreds of dollars worth of food; her father covered for her and paid restitution.

In November 1987, Laurie moved to Madison, Wisconsin to live in a student residence while being followed by a psychiatrist specialized in obsessive-compulsive disorder. She began taking clomipramine and lithium carbonate for mood swings, and behavioral therapy was initiated to work on phobias and ritualistic behaviors. She was also described as “the elevator lady” for riding up and down in an elevator for hours, wearing gloves constantly and never touching metal, and appearing naked in hallways and turning her dorm room into a public health hazard, with garbage and rotting food.

She purchased a .22 automatic Beretta at the end of December 1987, and in March 1988 stopped attending psychiatric and behavioral therapy appointments.

In May 1988, a janitor found her lying in a fetal position inside a garbage bag in a trash room; she convinced police she needed no medical assistance. FBI and Madison police had attempted to look for her before she had already left for Illinois.

A federal indictment had been prepared. A close friend of Laurie Dann, Sheri Lynn Taylor (34), was arrested on 26 May 1988 and was charged with making threatening telephone calls to her ex-husband. The Winnetka police chief Herbert Timm said investigators believed she may have played at least a passive role in Dann’s violent spree, and Taylor was committed for psychiatric evaluation.

The rampage on 20 May 1988

Poisoned food and juice deliveries

In the days before 20 May 1988, Laurie Dann prepared rice cereal snacks and juice boxes poisoned with diluted arsenic and delivered tainted snacks to fraternity houses and homes. She also mailed packages to friends and acquaintances.

Descriptions included:

• She delivered snacks and juice “samples” to friends, acquaintances, and families for whom she had babysat, including Alpha Tau Omega and Psi Upsilon fraternity houses at Northwestern University in Evanston.
• An associated press report said she also delivered juice to at least six homes where she once worked as a babysitter. One note on a juice package read: "Love your little sisters. Enjoy."
• Investigators believed a syringe was later found in her room with traces of poison.

In some accounts, investigators also said none were made seriously ill due to arsenic dilution, while other accounts stated that three people who ate the snacks at Alpha Tau Omega became seriously ill and additional people were treated and released. Laboratory tests showed the juice contained arsenic; another account described a “very heavy concentration of arsenic.”

Fires and attempted access to daycare and a school

Before the shooting at Hubbard Woods School, she attempted to set fire at Ravinia School with gas in a plastic bag and then went to a daycare center with a can of gasoline where she was chased off by a daycare worker.

Returning children to their home, she used gasoline to set fire to the house, briefly trapping the mother and her two children in the basement; they escaped by breaking a small window and crawling through to safety.

Shooting at Hubbard Woods School (Winnetka)

Laurie Dann arrived at a school and daycare center where her ex-sister-in-law had children enrolled. She then proceeded to Hubbard Woods Elementary School, armed with handguns.

She entered a second-grade classroom and began shooting. At least one account described her ordering children into the corner of the room and a teacher refusing to comply and attempting to disarm her, unloading the Beretta in the struggle. Dann then drew a .32 Smith and Wesson revolver and shot at several groups of students.

Nicholas Corwin, age 8, was killed instantly. Five others were critically wounded and additional wounded were reported in some accounts, with differences in counting between reports. A Reuters report stated she killed one child and critically wounded five others and described the ages of the wounded as ranging from 7 to 9.

Police chief Herbert Timm said:

"They were all very young children," Winnetka Police Chief Herbert Timm said at the school. "She just walked into the room, walked past the teacher, indicated the gun was real and started firing at random. "You have to ask yourself why. For the life of me I don't know why."

Other witness and police descriptions included a report that she indicated the gun was real and began firing at random after walking past the teacher.

She fled the school after the shooting, and she was prevented from leaving by closed roads due to a funeral cortege in one account.

Shooting and hostage confrontation at the Andrews home

After fleeing, she crashed her car into a tree on a one way street in one account, stripped bloodsoaked shorts, and tied a blue garbage bag around her waist. Another account described that she entered the Andrews’ large home where a mother and a 20-year-old son were in the kitchen.

Laurie Dann claimed she had just been raped and shot her attacker and stated it was a misunderstanding while she held the family at bay for more than six hours. In one account she used their phone to call her mother and told her family that police were involved. The 20-year-old son attempted to wrestle the gun away and was shot in the chest.

Another account said:

Dann was shot him point-blank in the right side of his chest.

The Andrews family escaped in some versions of events after attempts to get her to put down the gun. Police surrounded the house and a negotiating team was unable to establish contact in one account. An assault team entered the house at about 7:00 pm in one account while Russell Dann and her parents were brought to the house. Police found Dann’s body in an upstairs bedroom, and she had shot herself in the mouth.

Medical and psychiatric information

Investigators and medical examiners reported that she had been on psychiatric drugs at the time of the killings, including lithium and Anafranil (clomipramine). Different reports described:

• Autopsy result revealing lithium (manic depressant) and Anafranil (anti depressant).
• Blood tests performed in conjunction with the autopsy showing traces of clomipramine (Anafrail) as the only drug that turned up.
• That some reports believed the drugs could cause violence in patients, while the account also stated that the effect of this drug was considered as a possible cause though ultimately ruled out.

Her psychiatric diagnosis included obsessive-compulsive disorder and a belief described as “erotomania” in one narrative.

Aftermath

Wounded victims eventually recovered in one account, with a victim from the school receiving emergency surgery and eventually surviving.

The incident led to community involvement in gun-control issues and debate about criteria for committing mentally ill people against their will. Members of the community sought to encourage mental health responses and support for psychological after-effects among wounded children, other children, and parents.

Philip Andrews became active in local and state gun-control organizations and executive director of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence in one narrative.

Investigations were complicated by refusals to be interviewed and to allow access to psychiatric records. The psychiatric records were eventually obtained by court order in one account, and police were criticized for not freezing her room as part of the crime scene in one narrative.

In September 1988, a Winnetka Park District board voted to name a park after Nicholas Corwin, following a petition with about 1,000 signatures.

A negligence suit was filed in Cook County Circuit Court by the father of an 8-year-old boy against Dann’s parents Norman and Edith Wasserman, alleging they ignored a recommendation that Dann be committed to a mental institution. The suit sought an unspecified amount of damages.

Popular culture and references

A made-for-TV movie titled “Murder of Innocence” was broadcast by CBS on November 30, 1993. The movie was based on the book “Murder of Innocence: The Tragic Life and Final Rampage of Laurie Dann” by Eric Zorn and others, with the names of characters changed. Valerie Bertinelli was cast as Laurie Wade, a character based on Laurie Dann.

The American death metal band Macabre recorded a song about Laurie Dann titled “Hey Laurie Dann” and later lyrics were included:

Hey Laurie Dann Hey Laurie Dann where ya going With those guns in your hand? I'm going round to shoot young children I just can't cope with the world were in Hey Laurie Dann I heard you shot Those young children down Yes I did, I shot 'em You should have seen them hit the ground I took my guns and I shot 'em Hey Laurie Dann where ya gonna run to now? I'm going to a house that's not too far away I'm gonna shoot one more Then take my own life away