"I also learned that some of my neighbors couldn't handle the idea and quickly retreated to ther homes once they found out there was a dead body involved."

Maybe some of these people didn't know the couple very well and didn't want to seem intrusive.

"The worst of it is that I simply don't understand how one could be so shallow and selfish to kill themselves in a way that was going to cause the most pain to the one closest to them. He'd planned it for days (as the story came out, this way clear) -- how could he not plan to do it somewhere less... damaging? I can understand suicide; I can't understand this. Was it a last attempt to hurt the world that he felt so hurt by?"

You have to remember that it is very probable that the balance of his mind was so disturbed that you can't judge it by your own rational standards. As someone who has suffered from severe depression, I know I considered doing many things then is grief and ger and depression, which I would find horrific to consider now. Your mind works in a totally different way when you are in that place, and I now find it a lot more difficult to judge other people who are thinking in such a distorted way.

That said, it must have been very traumatic for you - and even more so for the poor girl who found him, and my thoughts are with you.

Bagpuss