GUILTY IN - Leanne Paulsen, 39, beaten to death, Carmel, 1 April 2007

[IndyLaw]

Here's another sad story. Carmel is the suburb immediately north of Indianapolis.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070503/LOCAL0101/70503041

CARMEL, Ind. — While the remains of Leanne Paulsen lay in an upstairs attic off the master bedroom of her posh home, hit TV writer J.J. Paulsen crafted a series of cover stories to explain his wife’s disappearance, authorities said today.


“We don’t know what his thinking was,” said Hamilton County Administrative Chief Deputy Prosecutor Jeffrey Wehmueller.
At the time when the autopsy report showed she was dead, “he was making representations to people that she was alive but indisposed, or making arrangements for her to travel out to California,” he added.

Paulsen’s body was found April 18 in the couple’s home near 131st Street and Hazel Dell Parkway by Carmel police responding to family concerns. Sisters of the slain Carmel High School homecoming queen had asked police to check on her after a series of phone calls went unanswered.

When police found the Paulsens’ 16-month-old son crying in his crib and no one to care for him, they began the search that led to his mother, concealed behind a small closet door to a crawl space that had been blocked by inline skates and storage bins.

 

[SewingDeb]

Your link isn't working right now but this one is:

Man Charged With Murder Weeks After Wife's Death
Affidavit: 47-Year-Old Tried To Cover Up Slaying


http://www.theindychannel.com/news/13251601/detail.html


and Crime Blog.US has lots of background information on the couple:

The Horrible Fall of J. J. Paulsen

http://crimeblog.us/?p=385

This is the Carmel Police Department's Press Release on the death investigation:

http://www.ci.carmel.in.us/GOVERNMENT/newsrelease/04-19-07b.htm

 

[sherri79]

Investigators said John Paulsen was on probation after a domestic battery conviction.

and this ladies is why when he hits u the first time u don't let a second time happen.

In the past year or so, Leanne had closed off from friends and family, retreated inside the house she shared with JJ. It seemed that she followed a classic abuse victim’s pattern — believing that one day her abuser might stop, and become the person she thought he was when she fell in love with him, again. Even after charges had twice been filed against JJ Paulsen in the Fall of 2006, he returned home. Leanne would not testify against him, and didn’t want him to do the sentence he’d received for one of the charges, 361 days in jail.

 

[SewingDeb]

Amen.

 

[Bobbisangel]

That house must have stunk like crazy. How could he just leave her hidden away like that right by their bedroom? I wonder if he slept in that bedroom at night? I wonder if it even bothered him? Did he think that she would just go away on her own and no one would know the difference...good grief.

How could he leave that baby alone with no one to look after him? I wonder if he was taking care of him at all? He must have been feeding him and changing him...I hope.

It's so hard to understand why she wouldn't testify against him and why she didn't want him to serve that almost year in jail. Was she afraid that it would just get worse if she testified and if he had to go to jail I wonder. So often the women won't testify against the men out of fear or because they think he didn't mean to do it. I wish she had left him or allowed him to spend that year in jail and she could have disappeared while he was there. I guess she just hadn't reached that point and then it was to late. She was a pretty lady.

 

[IndyLaw]

Your link isn't working right now but this one is:

Man Charged With Murder Weeks After Wife's Death
Affidavit: 47-Year-Old Tried To Cover Up Slaying


http://www.theindychannel.com/news/13251601/detail.html


and Crime Blog.US has lots of background information on the couple:

The Horrible Fall of J. J. Paulsen

http://crimeblog.us/?p=385

This is the Carmel Police Department's Press Release on the death investigation:

http://www.ci.carmel.in.us/GOVERNMENT/newsrelease/04-19-07b.htm

Deb, the link does work for me - thanks very much for the crimeblog link. Very interesting.

 

[Dena]

That house must have stunk like crazy. How could he just leave her hidden away like that right by their bedroom? I wonder if he slept in that bedroom at night? I wonder if it even bothered him? Did he think that she would just go away on her own and no one would know the difference...good grief.

How could he leave that baby alone with no one to look after him? I wonder if he was taking care of him at all? He must have been feeding him and changing him...I hope.

It's so hard to understand why she wouldn't testify against him and why she didn't want him to serve that almost year in jail. Was she afraid that it would just get worse if she testified and if he had to go to jail I wonder. So often the women won't testify against the men out of fear or because they think he didn't mean to do it. I wish she had left him or allowed him to spend that year in jail and she could have disappeared while he was there. I guess she just hadn't reached that point and then it was to late. She was a pretty lady.

It's harder than you think to leave an abuser. If you're married without being abused, think how hard it is to leave. There are a lot of details that have to be taken care of. Add a child in the mix and it becomes harder to leave, then add control and abuse and it becomes near impossible - especially when you're shutting yourself off from your family.
It's so easy to wonder why she wouldn't leave. She wasn't stupid to not testify against him and have him go to jail for a year. What's 1 year? That fear takes over and you look at it like you are doing the person a favor by not testifying. You stand by them in the hopes that they will change, or appreciate that you were there for them, you try to prove your love to them.
Spousal abuse is so complicated, unless you're in the situation, there is no way to understand.
I would never EVER let a man hit me. My mother was not the same way, and I was able to learn from her mistakes. You'd be surprised how fast 13 years of abuse can fly by without a charge brought against a man.

 

[SewingDeb]

Deb, the link does work for me - thanks very much for the crimeblog link. Very interesting.

You're welcome.

I'll try your link again. It may work for me now.

 

[SewingDeb]

It's harder than you think to leave an abuser.

snip

You are so right Dena. I went through some abuse with my ex over the years and never reported him.

It was very sporadic...none the first 7 years then it started happening every few months. I fought back and that may be why it did not happen more often. I wanted to believe he didn't mean to go that far. Even though the abuse was not often, I was slowly isolated from family and friends and was beaten down emotionally.

Lucky for me, my abuser left me for another woman...I really didn't have the energy or self esteem to leave. Ironically, I was stalked by him after he left..finally had to move far away from his controlling ways.

I would leave the first time it happened now but that's after months of therapy and years of building my self esteem to what it was before that marriage.


We still need to get the message out to leave the first time it gets violent. No one should have to live that way.

 

[IrishMist]

and this ladies is why when he hits u the first time u don't let a second time happen.

Just out of curiosity, does it really take that much more effort to type a "y" and an "o"? :waitasec:

 

[misterallgood]

Thanks for the link to my blog about this very sad story.

JJ is an interesting character. One person who knew him at the start of his career painted a portrait of a workplace psycho -- a "snake in a suit." A guy who manipulated others and was out only to gain power over the situation. Then people who wrote me from the West Coast talked about a very laid-back guy, more California than Queens, where JJ was from. Leanne has been referred to in positive ways 98% of the time, but some people have intimated that she had a drinking problem -- as if that had something to do with her being murdered (?!?).

An ex of JJ's who dated him several years ago said he was a "monster," though. Whether Leanne had a drinking problem or not seems moot to me. I've also been in touch with her roommate from the time when she was divorcing a man named Blanton, and the roomie gave me no indication tat Leanne's drinking was unusual. He did say (the roommate -- he is openly gay, was not a 'boyfriend') that after she began seeing JJ, Leanne cut her old friend out of her life.

Sounds like classic abuser behavior to me -- Leanne gets together with JJ, and suddenly friends and family can't get in touch with her. Sadly classic. This case is only getting the attention it is in part because of Hollywood connections, but hopefully that's a way abuse victims can get to see a high-profile case and learn from that what they're really dealing with, since denial seems to be a strong component for some victims.

Steve/Mr. A

 

[Jeana (DP)]

Just out of curiosity, does it really take that much more effort to type a "y" and an "o"? :waitasec:

for me, everything takes that much more of an effort! However, since we're pretty much a "live and let live" sorta bunch, can't we just let her/him do it the way she/he wants without making an issue of it? PLEASSSEEEEEEEE??????

 

[IrishMist]

for me, everything takes that much more of an effort! However, since we're pretty much a "live and let live" sorta bunch, can't we just let her/him do it the way she/he wants without making an issue of it? PLEASSSEEEEEEEE??????

Sorry, Jeana, I didn't mean to make an issue out of anything, I was just curious. :silenced: :truce:

 

[Jeana (DP)]

Sorry, Jeana, I didn't mean to make an issue out of anything, I was just curious. :silenced: :truce:

Thanks darlin!!

 

[Peter Hamilton]

That house must have stunk like crazy. How could he just leave her hidden away like that right by their bedroom? I wonder if he slept in that bedroom at night? I wonder if it even bothered him? Did he think that she would just go away on her own and no one would know the difference...good grief.

--We see that a lot in true crime--a murder happens and the perp is afraid to move the body--very risky--reminds me of that famous Philly murder in the 1970's when a hippie guru murdered his girlfriend,stuffed her body in a trunk in his closet,she was there for weeks before cops found her--He split to France and finally was extradited back to US 20 years later

 

[kato]

--We see that a lot in true crime--a murder happens and the perp is afraid to move the body--very risky--reminds me of that famous Philly murder in the 1970's when a hippie guru murdered his girlfriend,stuffed her body in a trunk in his closet,she was there for weeks before cops found her--He split to France and finally was extradited back to US 20 years later

Yeah, Ira Einhorn. He was/is sick! He had him a pretty cozy life going on over there in France. Remarried, house in the countryside.

 

[Bobbisangel]

It's harder than you think to leave an abuser. If you're married without being abused, think how hard it is to leave. There are a lot of details that have to be taken care of. Add a child in the mix and it becomes harder to leave, then add control and abuse and it becomes near impossible - especially when you're shutting yourself off from your family.
It's so easy to wonder why she wouldn't leave. She wasn't stupid to not testify against him and have him go to jail for a year. What's 1 year? That fear takes over and you look at it like you are doing the person a favor by not testifying. You stand by them in the hopes that they will change, or appreciate that you were there for them, you try to prove your love to them.
Spousal abuse is so complicated, unless you're in the situation, there is no way to understand.
I would never EVER let a man hit me. My mother was not the same way, and I was able to learn from her mistakes. You'd be surprised how fast 13 years of abuse can fly by without a charge brought against a man.

I don't think that any woman is stupid for not leaving. My daughter was in a 7 year abusive marriage. I totally understand why she didn't leave her husband until she reached a certain point and got the courage to leave. She lived 7 months after she left him.

I believe that the choice to press charges and testify against an abuser should be taken out of the wife's hands. The state should press charges.
I fully understand why a abused person doesn't leave. I wanted to grab my daughter and make her leave. She was so afraid to leave because she was afraid he would do exactly what he did. I know we can't make our children get out of a abusive relationship but it is just so hard to not do something to get them out of there. In the end they have to reach that point and get together enough courage to leave. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't and they die anyway.

 

[IndyLaw]

Here's the latest re Leanne Paulsen's husband:

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070619/LOCAL0104/70619064

Evidence that television comedy writer J.J. Paulsen murdered his wife and abandoned his child will emerge in court next month in a hearing challenging his probation for domestic battery.


Paulsen, an Emmy-nominated writer who also was executive producer for the “Cosby” show before marrying and moving to Carmel in 2004, faces a possible 361-day jail term because the crimes constitute a violation of the terms of his probation as a convicted wife beater.
In a hearing in Hamilton County Superior Court today – in which prisoner Paulsen appeared via a television video link to the Hamilton County Jail – Magistrate David Najjar told the 47-year-old native of New York that the alleged probation violations would be addressed in court at 9:30 a.m. on July 10.

***
Prior to the April 18 discovery of the nude and battered body of Leanne Serrano Paulsen in an attic of the couple’s fashionable home in Delaware Trace, Paulsen had been placed on probation after pleading guilty to domestic battery.

***
The presiding judge in the battery case could order Paulsen to serve the balance of his suspended one-year sentence following the July 10 hearing.

Regardless, Paulsen will remain in jail with no chance of bail due to the pending murder charge.

***

With his father confined, Christopher Paulsen is now being cared for by one of Leanne Paulsen’s sisters, Gerri Shaffer, and her brother-in-law, Mark Shaffer.

State officials placed the child with the Shaffers the night Leanne Paulsen was found dead in her home and her husband was found walking a nearby street and detained.

 

[Taximom]

Just out of curiosity, does it really take that much more effort to type a "y" and an "o"? :waitasec:

I write/text/IM like this with my 22 yr old and sometimes start to do that here, but I don't for fear of comments like this. I understand some people don't like to read shorthand like that. It is much quicker to use when texting or IMing.

 

[Taximom]

It interests me that this guy could write for a family-type show like Cosby without ever revealing his true feelings (abuse etc.) I'm glad her sisters were keeping in touch with her.