Cops: Oak Lawn man in suspected murder-suicide had medical issues

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The scene of a murder-suicide that occured Jan. 30 on the 9400 block of Tulley Avenue in Oak Lawn. | Larry Ruehl~Sun-Times Media

Updated: March 2, 2012 8:12AM

An Oak Lawn man who apparently killed himself after shooting his wife to death on Monday had medical issues, including epilepsy, his family told police last month after the man got in a spat with a cop following a crash.

Mary Mauger, 47, and Kenneth Borkowski, 53, were found dead Monday morning in their Oak Lawn home in the 9400 block of Tulley Avenue, police said.

Mauger died of a shotgun wound to the neck, and her death was ruled a homicide, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said Tuesday. Borkowski died of a shotgun wound to the chin, and his death was ruled a suicide, the medical examiner’s office said.

Borkowski’s family told police his epilepsy factored into a Dec. 5 crash at 88th Street and Central Avenue in Oak Lawn. He became combative with a police officer after the crash and was charged with battery, negligent driving, driving off the roadway, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and no insurance, police said.

Neighbors told police there was no evidence of any problems in the couple’s relationship, and they did not hear the gun shots. Police had never answered a call at that address, Police Chief Bill Villanova said.

“I’m numb. I’m trying to get my mind off of this,” next-door neighbor Lisa Brennan said Tuesday morning.

The couple mostly kept to themselves, she said, but her husband and Borkowski — both electricians — sometimes talked shop. She said Borkowski used to walk up and down the block with his dog, Zeus, every morning.

“I sense they got along very well,” Brennan said. “It’s disturbing.”

The couple had lived at the home for several years, police said. The couple did not have children together, but Borkowski had children from a prior marriage and grandchildren, authorities said.

Police found the bodies about 8:30 a.m., after making a well-being check at the house at the request of family members, Villanova said. No suicide note was found. No one else was at the house when the shootings took place, Villanova said, adding that the couple were seen by neighbors between 7 and 7:30 a.m.

He said Mauger worked at a Burr Ridge law firm.

“They seemed like the nicest people,” said Kathleen Kerlin, another neighbor. “It seemed so out of the blue.”

Contributing: Sun-Times Media, Steve Metsch