Laurie Dann

Laurie Wasserman Dann (c. 1958 - 20 May, 1988) was one of the first schoolyard killers. Dann grew up in Glencoe, an affluent northern suburb of Chicago. She was the daughter of accountant Norman and Edith Wasserman.

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1958 - 20 May - 1988 - Glencoe - Chicago

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In 1985 she was suspected to attack her husband Russell Dann in his sleep, by stabbing in his chest with an icepick. The case was dropped, and the couple divorced in the same year.

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In 1988 she started to make nuisance-phonecalls to an ex-boyfriend she dated 18 years earlier, that turned into death threats. Hence was already under investigation by the FBI for extortion as she was demanding money in return for halting the phone harassment.

Related Topics:
1988 - FBI

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Shortly before the shooting she delivered marshmallow and rice cereal snacks tainted with arsenic to Alpha Tau Omega and Psi Upsilon fraternity houses at Northwestern University in Evanston. Several students were treated for poisoning.

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On 20 May 1988, the then 30-year old Dann walked into a Winnetka, Illinois second grade classroom carrying three pistols and began shooting children, killing an eight-year old boy - Nicholas Corwin - and wounding five others before fleeing. She entered a nearby house where she shot and wounded a 22 year old man before killing herself.

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20 May - 1988 - Winnetka, Illinois

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Subsequent blood tests revealed that at the time of the killings, Dann was on a psychiatric drug of a class clearly shown to cause unexplained hostile and violent behaviour.

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There were also reports that, just before the shootings, Dann mailed as many as 24 packages of tainted food and juice to friends and acquaintances in Wisconsin and California and several suburbs north of Chicago. (United Press International - May 26 1988)

Related Topics:
May 26 - 1988

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