Murder-suicide hinted in phone call
The San Diego Union-Tribune - Thursday, 26 November 1992
Author: PASCALE Le DRAOULEC, Staff Writer
Staff writer Lola Sherman contributed to this report.
Days before Thomson Alo , 60, is believed to have fatally shot his bride and himself in their Vista bungalow, he told his new sister-in-law in a telephone conversation that he would kill himself and his wife before he would ever let her go.
"I felt inside me there was something wrong after I hung up," said Ginette Tremblay, the victim's older sister, who lives in Hawaii. "That's why I got so worried when I hadn't heard from my sister in a few days," she said.
At her urging, sheriff's deputies went to check in on the newlywed couple Tuesday at their black-and-white trimmed home on Salina Court. They found the body of Francine Tremblay- Alo , 41, on the bed in the master bedroom. Lying on the floor alongside the bed was the body of her husband of barely six weeks. Next to Alo , a retired Marine Corps gunnery sergeant and a native Hawaiian, deputies found a handgun and a handwritten suicide note.
"The note said he was despondent about his marital relationship and that he had decided to take his own life," said Sgt. Manny Castillo, a sheriff's homicide detective. Castillo said he was not at liberty to divulge any other details about the note.
Autopsies performed yesterday disclosed that each of the Alos died from a single gunshot wound to the head, said Investigator Robert Engle of the Medical Examiner's Office. Engle said Thomson Alo 's wound appeared to be self-inflicted. He said the couple had been dead for several days and that "both met their deaths at approximately the same time."
Engle said it appeared that Tremblay- Alo had not put up a struggle, suggesting that she might have been killed in her sleep.
A neighbor said Alo , who played piano and ukulele for a musical combo called Tommy and the Tikis, had recently purchased a .45-caliber handgun to replace one removed from his home by family members last year when he was despondent over the death of his first wife, Sybil, who had died after a long bout with cancer.
Although the case is being investigated as a murder-suicide, Castillo said, he would not be able to confirm that theory until the results of ballistics tests come back in a few weeks.
In a phone interview from Oahu, Ginette Tremblay said the last time she had spoken to her sister was early last week and they had talked about the gun.
"Francine said they had argued about the gun" and that Alo had lapsed into silence. "She asked me to talk to him," Ginette Tremblay said. "He told me 'Ginette, you know I love your sister very much but she is very stubborn. And before I let her go, I would rather kill her and kill myself and end it.' "
Ginette Tremblay said she found the statement strange, but then much about her sister's whirlwind romance with Alo was unusual.
She said her sister met Alo about four months ago while he was visiting his native state on holiday. Her younger sister, a former court reporter, had recently moved to Hawaii from Valley Field, Canada, to be with Ginette, who was recovering from the drowning death of a 19-year-old son.
When Alo sent Francine a plane ticket to San Diego two weeks later, Francine decided to go, but promised to return Sept. 27 to celebrate Ginette's birthday and to stay with her through the holidays. No sooner had Francine's plane landed in Hawaii on the 27th, did Alo call her from Vista begging her to come back, Ginette Tremblay said.
"She looked at me and said 'Ginette, he is too sad. My place is with him,' " said Ginette Tremblay, who put her sister on a plane to Vista the very next day. A few days later, Francine called to invite her to their Oct. 9 wedding at a chapel in Vista.
The day before the wedding, her sister told her that Alo had hit her during an argument and showed Tremblay a bruise on her leg. Tremblay said she urged her sister to think twice about marrying Alo but her sister said Alo had promised that he would never touch her again.
Upon her return to Hawaii, Ginette Tremblay said, she kept in daily contact with her sister by phone and, until their last conversation, her sister had seemed happy because Alo "was treating her like a queen
The San Diego Union-Tribune - Thursday, 26 November 1992
Author: PASCALE Le DRAOULEC, Staff Writer
Staff writer Lola Sherman contributed to this report.
Days before Thomson Alo , 60, is believed to have fatally shot his bride and himself in their Vista bungalow, he told his new sister-in-law in a telephone conversation that he would kill himself and his wife before he would ever let her go.
"I felt inside me there was something wrong after I hung up," said Ginette Tremblay, the victim's older sister, who lives in Hawaii. "That's why I got so worried when I hadn't heard from my sister in a few days," she said.
At her urging, sheriff's deputies went to check in on the newlywed couple Tuesday at their black-and-white trimmed home on Salina Court. They found the body of Francine Tremblay- Alo , 41, on the bed in the master bedroom. Lying on the floor alongside the bed was the body of her husband of barely six weeks. Next to Alo , a retired Marine Corps gunnery sergeant and a native Hawaiian, deputies found a handgun and a handwritten suicide note.
"The note said he was despondent about his marital relationship and that he had decided to take his own life," said Sgt. Manny Castillo, a sheriff's homicide detective. Castillo said he was not at liberty to divulge any other details about the note.
Autopsies performed yesterday disclosed that each of the Alos died from a single gunshot wound to the head, said Investigator Robert Engle of the Medical Examiner's Office. Engle said Thomson Alo 's wound appeared to be self-inflicted. He said the couple had been dead for several days and that "both met their deaths at approximately the same time."
Engle said it appeared that Tremblay- Alo had not put up a struggle, suggesting that she might have been killed in her sleep.
A neighbor said Alo , who played piano and ukulele for a musical combo called Tommy and the Tikis, had recently purchased a .45-caliber handgun to replace one removed from his home by family members last year when he was despondent over the death of his first wife, Sybil, who had died after a long bout with cancer.
Although the case is being investigated as a murder-suicide, Castillo said, he would not be able to confirm that theory until the results of ballistics tests come back in a few weeks.
In a phone interview from Oahu, Ginette Tremblay said the last time she had spoken to her sister was early last week and they had talked about the gun.
"Francine said they had argued about the gun" and that Alo had lapsed into silence. "She asked me to talk to him," Ginette Tremblay said. "He told me 'Ginette, you know I love your sister very much but she is very stubborn. And before I let her go, I would rather kill her and kill myself and end it.' "
Ginette Tremblay said she found the statement strange, but then much about her sister's whirlwind romance with Alo was unusual.
She said her sister met Alo about four months ago while he was visiting his native state on holiday. Her younger sister, a former court reporter, had recently moved to Hawaii from Valley Field, Canada, to be with Ginette, who was recovering from the drowning death of a 19-year-old son.
When Alo sent Francine a plane ticket to San Diego two weeks later, Francine decided to go, but promised to return Sept. 27 to celebrate Ginette's birthday and to stay with her through the holidays. No sooner had Francine's plane landed in Hawaii on the 27th, did Alo call her from Vista begging her to come back, Ginette Tremblay said.
"She looked at me and said 'Ginette, he is too sad. My place is with him,' " said Ginette Tremblay, who put her sister on a plane to Vista the very next day. A few days later, Francine called to invite her to their Oct. 9 wedding at a chapel in Vista.
The day before the wedding, her sister told her that Alo had hit her during an argument and showed Tremblay a bruise on her leg. Tremblay said she urged her sister to think twice about marrying Alo but her sister said Alo had promised that he would never touch her again.
Upon her return to Hawaii, Ginette Tremblay said, she kept in daily contact with her sister by phone and, until their last conversation, her sister had seemed happy because Alo "was treating her like a queen
Murder-suicide hinted in phone call
The San Diego Union-Tribune - Thursday, 26 November 1992
Author: PASCALE Le DRAOULEC, Staff Writer
Staff writer Lola Sherman contributed to this report.
Days before Thomson Alo , 60, is believed to have fatally shot his bride and himself in their Vista bungalow, he told his new sister-in-law in a telephone conversation that he would kill himself and his wife before he would ever let her go.
"I felt inside me there was something wrong after I hung up," said Ginette Tremblay, the victim's older sister, who lives in Hawaii. "That's why I got so worried when I hadn't heard from my sister in a few days," she said.
At her urging, sheriff's deputies went to check in on the newlywed couple Tuesday at their black-and-white trimmed home on Salina Court. They found the body of Francine Tremblay- Alo , 41, on the bed in the master bedroom. Lying on the floor alongside the bed was the body of her husband of barely six weeks. Next to Alo , a retired Marine Corps gunnery sergeant and a native Hawaiian, deputies found a handgun and a handwritten suicide note.
"The note said he was despondent about his marital relationship and that he had decided to take his own life," said Sgt. Manny Castillo, a sheriff's homicide detective. Castillo said he was not at liberty to divulge any other details about the note.
Autopsies performed yesterday disclosed that each of the Alos died from a single gunshot wound to the head, said Investigator Robert Engle of the Medical Examiner's Office. Engle said Thomson Alo 's wound appeared to be self-inflicted. He said the couple had been dead for several days and that "both met their deaths at approximately the same time."
Engle said it appeared that Tremblay- Alo had not put up a struggle, suggesting that she might have been killed in her sleep.
A neighbor said Alo , who played piano and ukulele for a musical combo called Tommy and the Tikis, had recently purchased a .45-caliber handgun to replace one removed from his home by family members last year when he was despondent over the death of his first wife, Sybil, who had died after a long bout with cancer.
Although the case is being investigated as a murder-suicide, Castillo said, he would not be able to confirm that theory until the results of ballistics tests come back in a few weeks.
In a phone interview from Oahu, Ginette Tremblay said the last time she had spoken to her sister was early last week and they had talked about the gun.
"Francine said they had argued about the gun" and that Alo had lapsed into silence. "She asked me to talk to him," Ginette Tremblay said. "He told me 'Ginette, you know I love your sister very much but she is very stubborn. And before I let her go, I would rather kill her and kill myself and end it.' "
Ginette Tremblay said she found the statement strange, but then much about her sister's whirlwind romance with Alo was unusual.
She said her sister met Alo about four months ago while he was visiting his native state on holiday. Her younger sister, a former court reporter, had recently moved to Hawaii from Valley Field, Canada, to be with Ginette, who was recovering from the drowning death of a 19-year-old son.
When Alo sent Francine a plane ticket to San Diego two weeks later, Francine decided to go, but promised to return Sept. 27 to celebrate Ginette's birthday and to stay with her through the holidays. No sooner had Francine's plane landed in Hawaii on the 27th, did Alo call her from Vista begging her to come back, Ginette Tremblay said.
"She looked at me and said 'Ginette, he is too sad. My place is with him,' " said Ginette Tremblay, who put her sister on a plane to Vista the very next day. A few days later, Francine called to invite her to their Oct. 9 wedding at a chapel in Vista.
The day before the wedding, her sister told her that Alo had hit her during an argument and showed Tremblay a bruise on her leg. Tremblay said she urged her sister to think twice about marrying Alo but her sister said Alo had promised that he would never touch her again.
Upon her return to Hawaii, Ginette Tremblay said, she kept in daily contact with her sister by phone and, until their last conversation, her sister had seemed happy because Alo "was treating her like a queen
The San Diego Union-Tribune - Thursday, 26 November 1992
Author: PASCALE Le DRAOULEC, Staff Writer
Staff writer Lola Sherman contributed to this report.
Days before Thomson Alo , 60, is believed to have fatally shot his bride and himself in their Vista bungalow, he told his new sister-in-law in a telephone conversation that he would kill himself and his wife before he would ever let her go.
"I felt inside me there was something wrong after I hung up," said Ginette Tremblay, the victim's older sister, who lives in Hawaii. "That's why I got so worried when I hadn't heard from my sister in a few days," she said.
At her urging, sheriff's deputies went to check in on the newlywed couple Tuesday at their black-and-white trimmed home on Salina Court. They found the body of Francine Tremblay- Alo , 41, on the bed in the master bedroom. Lying on the floor alongside the bed was the body of her husband of barely six weeks. Next to Alo , a retired Marine Corps gunnery sergeant and a native Hawaiian, deputies found a handgun and a handwritten suicide note.
"The note said he was despondent about his marital relationship and that he had decided to take his own life," said Sgt. Manny Castillo, a sheriff's homicide detective. Castillo said he was not at liberty to divulge any other details about the note.
Autopsies performed yesterday disclosed that each of the Alos died from a single gunshot wound to the head, said Investigator Robert Engle of the Medical Examiner's Office. Engle said Thomson Alo 's wound appeared to be self-inflicted. He said the couple had been dead for several days and that "both met their deaths at approximately the same time."
Engle said it appeared that Tremblay- Alo had not put up a struggle, suggesting that she might have been killed in her sleep.
A neighbor said Alo , who played piano and ukulele for a musical combo called Tommy and the Tikis, had recently purchased a .45-caliber handgun to replace one removed from his home by family members last year when he was despondent over the death of his first wife, Sybil, who had died after a long bout with cancer.
Although the case is being investigated as a murder-suicide, Castillo said, he would not be able to confirm that theory until the results of ballistics tests come back in a few weeks.
In a phone interview from Oahu, Ginette Tremblay said the last time she had spoken to her sister was early last week and they had talked about the gun.
"Francine said they had argued about the gun" and that Alo had lapsed into silence. "She asked me to talk to him," Ginette Tremblay said. "He told me 'Ginette, you know I love your sister very much but she is very stubborn. And before I let her go, I would rather kill her and kill myself and end it.' "
Ginette Tremblay said she found the statement strange, but then much about her sister's whirlwind romance with Alo was unusual.
She said her sister met Alo about four months ago while he was visiting his native state on holiday. Her younger sister, a former court reporter, had recently moved to Hawaii from Valley Field, Canada, to be with Ginette, who was recovering from the drowning death of a 19-year-old son.
When Alo sent Francine a plane ticket to San Diego two weeks later, Francine decided to go, but promised to return Sept. 27 to celebrate Ginette's birthday and to stay with her through the holidays. No sooner had Francine's plane landed in Hawaii on the 27th, did Alo call her from Vista begging her to come back, Ginette Tremblay said.
"She looked at me and said 'Ginette, he is too sad. My place is with him,' " said Ginette Tremblay, who put her sister on a plane to Vista the very next day. A few days later, Francine called to invite her to their Oct. 9 wedding at a chapel in Vista.
The day before the wedding, her sister told her that Alo had hit her during an argument and showed Tremblay a bruise on her leg. Tremblay said she urged her sister to think twice about marrying Alo but her sister said Alo had promised that he would never touch her again.
Upon her return to Hawaii, Ginette Tremblay said, she kept in daily contact with her sister by phone and, until their last conversation, her sister had seemed happy because Alo "was treating her like a queen
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