Blaine woman planned suicide pact, didn't tell husband

By COURTNEY BLANCHARD, Star Tribune

Last update: December 13, 2007 - 11:38 PM

When Joe Brindley opened an e-mail Wednesday morning from his friends Noel and Sandra Hanson, he was shocked to see that it was a suicide note.

Sandra Hanson had written that the Blaine couple had fallen on hard times, were facing eviction later that day and planned to kill themselves overnight.

"Some things are best ended. We are together as always," the message read, according to a police report.

Just the night before, Brindley and Noel Hanson had discussed their next moves in a fantasy hockey league, a police report said. Brindley said he thought his friend appeared happy and was slowly recovering from a diabetic stroke that rendered him disabled a few years ago. Brindley told police that he never would have guessed that his friend wanted to end his life.

That's because he didn't, police said.

When police arrived at the couple's house Wednesday, a disoriented woman answered the door and the pungent smell of natural gas seeped out of the house. Sandra Hanson later told police that she had turned on the oven with the pilot lights unlit while her husband was asleep and that he never even knew about their financial problems or the so-called suicide pact.

Noel Hanson, 56, also didn't know that his wife had been substituting purified water for his diabetes and heart medication, police said. She said she had run out of money to pay for the medication.

On Wednesday, Sandra Rod Hanson, 55, was charged with attempted premeditated murder in the first degree and attempted intentional murder in the second degree, police said.

When reached by phone Thursday night, Brindley, of Minneapolis, said he worried that the incident would paint Sandra in "the wrong light."

"She was in a time of desperation and depression," he said. "She just made a wrong decision on this."

Brindley said he'd known Noel Hanson for more than 10 years. The two worked with at-risk kids, but Noel had stopped working because of the stroke.

"I think she was just worried that no one would be there to take care of him if something happened to her, too," he said.

Brindley said the couple still loves each other. But now Sandra Hanson is in jail, and Brindley is just trying to keep Noel Hanson from being evicted, he said.

Courtney Blanchard • 612-673-4921

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