HP Resident Allegedly Kills Self at Dallas Marriott
According to Dallas Police, Louis Rothermel III, 44, died yesterday after an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head at the Dallas Marriott. The death, which is still officially classified as “unexplained,” shortly follows the passing of Rothermel’s infant son, Harrison, on July 15.
The Dallas Morning News described the baby’s death as “suspicious” in a Page 2 brief in today’s Metro section. The write-up said Louis and his wife, Honea, were cooperating with the investigation. The couple’s older son is reportedly in foster care.
It feels like the PC has some baaaad juujuu lately… So much tragedy, death and violence.
This one is equally bizarre as the last one. What in the world is happening in HP?
Louis Rothermel was an incredibly kind man. Whatever happened, please know that Louis was well loved by many friends. Please pray for him, his little baby, his wife, their older son, and their families.
We will all miss Louis with his big smile and we will grieve along with Honea.
I don’t think there is anything happening “to” HP. I think that no community is immune to loss and tragic events.
The real tragedy is that a father likely had something to do with the death of his baby. That’s hard to fathom.
Why does everyone in our community say these people were ‘great,’ ‘loving,’etc…one attempted to murder his wife in front of their children and the other may have killed his infant son. Good Lord people. WTF?? Were both of these ‘great’ men still alive they would be facing life in prison which is where they would belong.
The baby also had a skull fracture in May? What was the story behind how the skull fracture supposedly happened?
What on earth is going on in Highland Park lately?
What’s going on in HP lately, is exactly what goes on in the real world. We may live in a bubble of what some see as “perfection,” but it is far from perfect. Lots of people with lots of troubles and problems, just like the rest of the world.
Christopher-I really have been feeling terribly sorry for these families – and believe me I do -but what you wrote gave me some comic relief in some inexplicable way. Perhaps you are right, in which case, your comments are justified. But maybe when the toxicology report comes out on Mr. Steele it may well be that he had some crazy reaction to Ambien or something. As for Mr. Rothermel, perhaps he was so grief stricken at the loss of his son he took his life because he couldn’t believe he was under suspicion on top of dealing with the indescribable grief of losing a child. The point is we don’t know. And for those who do know these men, they are certainly free to tell the world that the men they knew were great and loving.
I knew Louis for 15 years and I can’t even begin to understand what or why this has happened. I can tell you he was the most gental, kind hearted, sincere men I have ever known. I would ask that you let the police and doctors come to a conclusion before you judge Louis based on media reports and say a prayer for wife and son that are going threw a pain that no words could ever describe.
Clay Mote
Seriously, this has gotten rather eerie. In one month’s time, a 2011 HPHS grad died under mysterious circumstances in Prague, a 2012 grad died in an unexplained fire, last week we had the bizarre Steele incident, now it’s this latest horror. What is going on around here? I’ve lived in the Park Cities for only 10 years, so I’m not thoroughly indoctrinated into the apparently widely held belief that the bubble is a sancrosanct impermeable oasis of godliness and perfection immune from the ugliness of modern society, but this is all getting pretty freaky. That said, I feel nothing but compassion and sympathy for all of these grieving families, and I truly hope that this is the last of these heartbreaking stories for a long while.
@chistopher, my husband said he doesn’t want anyone saying he was a “kind and loving man from the Park Cities” if he dies. It’s become code for homicidal mad man.
Trying to figure out why my post was deleted, but Christopher’s gets to stay up…
Gringo- You made declarative, accusatory statements. We don’t take those lightly.
Thanks for reading, and commenting often.
@kk -very funny! @Gringo – why would my comment be deleted?
@mash – it’s not that we are sacrosanct, but we are a small community. This has been pretty overwhelming with all the tragic events of the last couple of weeks.
Our chickens are coming home to roost…..
Well, we can’t have chickens so it clearly isn’t that…
Do chickens eat mosquitos? If so the chicken ban is responsible for the latest death in HP.
Don’t judge, people. Geography is irrelevant. People have died. Why bring more heat to these sad stories especially when the information is incomplete? Give these families space to grieve without your speculation and criticism.
EVERYONE has a story. Including YOU.
Don’t judge.
This story is more heinous and yet more easily explainable than the Steele case. The Steele case remains a mystery, at least to people outside the Steele family and inner circle of friends, until his toxicology report is complete. There isn’t much to wonder about here. Much tougher to create a defense for this guy. Also, @ Kk: excellent “code” post.
So the DMN is reporting the HP Police warrant in this case describes the infant’s death as Capital Murder. I am going to pass on the ‘incredibly kind man’ nonsense. This guy is where he should be. I do applaud him for sparing us the cost and waste of time of a trial.
How come other media outlets are reporting on capital murder, but PCP has absolutely nothing at all on it? Further, my “declaratory” comments regarding murder were deleted even though it was stated as fact by CPS that Rothermel’s abuse led to the baby’s death. Is this a case of acting sheepishly to not upset all the folks that were ticked off about the paper’s headline regarding the Steele suicide? I guess it’s back to reporting on YMCA expansion and snapping pictures of youth sport participants getting their trophies.
I like reporting on YMCA expansion and snapping pictures of youth sport participants getting their trophies! That was why I used to buy it. There are plenty of media outlets for the other stuff. I thought PCP was in the business of reporting on neighborhood life and times, camaraderie-style. There seems to be a disconnect between what PCP wants to be and what some readers want from it. My mistake.
@Gringo Bling: We’re gathering facts, doing our reporting, and putting together a story for this week’s newspaper.
For future reference, something being declared a “fact” by an Internet troll who comments under an assumed name is not enough for us to believe it and publish it.
One of the great things about the PCPeople is it covers local school kids as well as provides facts on crimes for those of us who can’t get them from the insiders.
@Dan Koller- I don’t know if you don’t read the “real” paper or watch the “real” news, but what I stated on your blog regarding the CPS caseworker who testified at a custody hearing regarding Rothermel’s multiple instances of abuse that that led to the death of his son had already been reported by legitimate news sources including the DMN, WFAA, NBC 4, CBS 11, etc. I’m not sure whether you and your staff keep up to date with new details regarding stories happening your own backyard or not, but censoring my post when the facts were already reported was completely unjustified.
Further, as for calling me an internet troll, I’m not sure you know the definition. In Internet slang, “a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community”. If you consider the posting of stated facts in a police report and a custody hearing as inflammatory, then you really shouldn’t be in the newspaper business. If anything, you are the one hurling the inflammatory remarks.
As your struggling blog’s number of posters continues to dwindle, I’m one of the few people that even post on stories. That will end with this post and I’m pretty sure when my paid subscription ends later this year that I will not renew.
Ok, fine, one more post. I can’t keep quite!
Louis may have been “kind and loving” with his family and close friends ….. however, for some of us who worked with him at Prescott Realty we saw another side to his character. Frankly, Louis could be rude, brusque and pompous. Yes, the baby’s death and Louis’ suicide are a huge tragedy for his wife and remaining child …. Louis definitely adored them. But from what’s been revealed about this incident and Louis’ volatility, I do believe he played a significant role in Harrison’s demise.
If you read the fox dfw site, it quotes Officer Koppa saying the warrant was to search for items in the house that could indicate capital murder, which they did not find.
In comparing the WFAA report to the Fox article, WFAA comes across as schlocky & full of tabloid journalism whereas Fox seemed like they wanted to report the news.
http://www.myfoxdfw.com/story/19094577/search-warrant-describes-babys-injuries
According to wfaa.com: “Doctors ordered a rape kit for the baby due to some other disturbing physical trauma.”
@Another Perspective: According to Fox Dallas:
“Police also investigated whether Harrison was sexually assaulted but did not find any evidence of that.”
I am not trying to defend Louis, just adding to your post.
In 4 months of life, this special needs child suffered multiple occasions involving a skull fracture, bruising, broken rib, and unnamed traumas that merited suspicion of sexual assault. I don’t think those facts are in dispute, whether you consider WFAA slanted/schlocky or not. Someone killed that poor baby, and not that many people could have been around him during his few months of life.
I’m glad there was no evidence of sexual assault. That was a little to much to try to comprehend, not that the other abuse is comprehensible.
Louis was the kindest person you could ever meet in a million years. People jump to conclusions about the injuries to his son. EVER thought about the fact that Louis was reported to be alone with his kids while Honey was out of town and something legitimate did happen to the baby, i.e. Louis wasnt paying attention and the baby fell down the stairs? He takes the poor child to the hospital and he dies……I might kill myself if I let that happen on my watch. Open your eyes people.
@ ZZ_two: “for some of us who worked with him at Prescott Realty we saw another side to his character. Frankly, Louis could be rude, brusque and pompous.”
Louis was a Managing Director at Prescott Realty. If you really are an employee and knew he was such a bad person, then how did Louis become a Managing Director? It makes me question the quality of your other Managing Directors and Prescott Realty as a whole.
PC Blogger: It’s not possible for a 4 month old baby to fall down the stairs accidentally. A 4 year old maybe, but not a baby.
@PC Blogger: Yes it is possible the new born was tragically, accidentally injured. Back in May when he had a skull fracture, and then recently when he had the bruises, broken rib and fatal injuries. But not likely.
Citizen: Not sure if you work but in the course of my career I have known plenty of Managing Directors who are not particularly great people. Being a good person is not a prerequisite for attaining the title of MD.
@PC Blogger – if this man was indeed the ‘kindest person you would ever meet in a million years’ then I really hope he is the only person you have ever met. He was a murderer, even worse a child murderer. Again, the only positive thing one could possibly say about this POS is that he off’d himself, making the world a slightly better place.
What I meant to say was the evdience strongly suggests this man may have murdered his child, of course this has not been proven.
PC Blogger: I’m sure “Louis was the kindest person you could ever meet”, I just wouldn’t want to meet him if I was a four month old.
A 4 month old baby probably hasn’t even learned how to flip over yet. On average a typically developing baby will flip tummy to back at 4 months, back to tummy at 5 months. Down syndrome babies have gross motor delays and hypotonia and won’t roll over until around 7-8 months. That baby could barely hold his head up on his own yet. He didn’t get hurt accidentally all on his own. Twice.
Citizen –
In the real estate biz, the qualities required to be a Managing Director do not require one to be ‘kind and loving’ to the hired help. And I’m not here to argue that Louis did have ability to charm and be engaging with his fellow monied Park Cities crowd. However as I experienced firsthand, there was another side to the man. And yes, Jud & Vance were aware that Louis did have this less than positive aspect ….. in their defense, I doubt they ever could imagine Louis was capable of such violence to others or himself.
Shelley Stanzel @ July 19, 2012 at 2:33 pm
Louis Rothermel was an incredibly kind man. Whatever happened, please know that Louis was well loved by many friends. Please pray for him, his little baby, his wife, their older son, and their families.
We will all miss Louis with his big smile and we will grieve along with Honea.
Shelly,
He seems like a perfectly horrible excuse for a man to me. What was good about him? Plus, if you read out of town papers where they actually report the news you will find that authorities also ordered a rape kit on the baby. An incredibly sick man if you ask me.