- Phyllis Walsh, courtesy of the Walsh family
The last time neighbors saw her alive, 65-year-old Phyllis Walsh was walking her dog, Arnie, as she did nearly every day. But Walsh's life was in turmoil. Her husband, a factory worker named Jerry, died in 2009, and Walsh had struggled to pay the mortgage on the small white bungalow in South Seattle that she was now solely responsible for.
"When he passed, it was very hard on Phyllis," says Joell Rhyner, who lives across the street. "But she was active, trying to go out and do things."
Walsh, who was retired, had been trying to refinance her mortgage so she could keep the home. Still, Walsh had not been able to stave off US Bank, which, according to King County property records, was trying to collect more than $15,000 in past-due payments and had sold her home at auction.
On the evening of Tuesday, July 30, Rhyner saw a police car in front of Walsh's home. Walsh had fired a single pistol shot into her head, killing herself, in the front yard. A note pinned to her shirt mentioned the "foreclosure vultures" were coming.
