The Secrets They Kept: The True Story of a Mercy Killing that Shocked a Town and Shamed a Family

by Suzanne Handler

*** The historical documents and pictures in this Kindle e-book may be difficult to read on some older Kindle devices. If you are experiencing this issue, please visit the author's website to view and download a high-resolution PDF file of all the documents and images found in the book. We apologize for any inconvenience and we thank you for your patience. ***Every family has its secrets. In 1937, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, an anguished father made the momentous decision to end his mentally ill daughter’s life rather than commit her to an insane asylum. After signing a joint murder-suicide pact to die together, the father first killed the girl and then attempted to take his own life. Forever known as Cheyenne’s “mercy slayer,” the man survived to face the consequences of his unimaginable crime. Yet the question What power on earth would compel a father to murder his own child? Now, after more than seven decades of silence, events surrounding this long-ago tragedy are at last being told. Author Suzanne Handler shares with readers the secrets of her family’s dark past. You will be moved by this extraordinary story of murder, mental illness, and the impact of secrets on families.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, History, Thriller, Mental Health

Kindle Edition

First published December 26, 2012

About the author

In my professional career as a mental health educator, I had the opportunity to create programs that impacted a wide range of people. Since retiring, I've changed my focus to more personal issues, including years spent researching the details of "The Secrets They Kept: The True Story of a Mercy Killing That Shocked a Town and Shamed a Family." This book, originally published in 2013, has recently been updated to include an enhanced ending, as well as discussion questions suitable for book clubs or classrooms.

My essays have been published in the Denver Post, The Rocky Mountain News, and nationally through Senior Wire News Services. My articles on mental health related topics can be viewed online at Greatist.com, PsychCentral.com and Chabod.org.

I believe secret-keeping in families can seriously impact the mental health of its members, sometimes for generations. As a result, I am currently sharing my own story with community groups across the country.

Reviews

[Katie · Rating 1 out of 5]

The story is interesting, but the author simply did not have enough information to write an entire book. She has very few facts, and many dozens of assumptions. She includes photo copies of land deeds, court documents, pictures, and newspaper articles. The land deed and her grandfather's naturalization certificate (he immigrated from Russia) took up seven pages alone. They were pointless & almost unreadable, yet counted as part of the scant 138 pages. In all, there are over 20 pages like this! Much of the information is given a second or third or FOURTH time within (and across) chapters. I felt like I was reading the paper of a school kid who had been assigned to write 1000 words, but could only come up with 500. The parts where she tries to stretch the story into a book are painfully obvious. There is some interesting (but very basic)information about both Judaism and mental illness, most of which was taken from various websites, and other ppl's books on the subject. Her story could have been told in one blog entry.

[Bonnie McCune · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Life Revealed, Questions Unfolding
When Suzanne Handler discovered an astounding fact about her family, some sixty years after it occurred, she became so consumed with it that she promised herself she would solve its mystery. The book’s subtitle (The True Story of a Mercy Killing that Shocked a Town and Shamed a Family) summarizes the entire process. For decades Handler’s relatives never mentioned Sallie, the teenage girl imprisoned by mental illness, who begged her father to kill her rather than send her to an asylum. This was Handler’s maternal aunt, and the author conducted her own research through newspapers, court records and personal interviews to try to create a sketch of the forgotten girl’s life. She was as successful as she could have been, given the scarcity of material. She was more successful in posing the questions inherent in the situation. What led her grandfather to comply with his daughter’s wish? Why did descendents agree to keep the girl’s existence secret? Was the killing justifiable in any circumstances? What impact did the family’s Judaism have on the individuals and their decisions? Readers also will wonder about the larger issues that come to mind. Have treatments for the mentally ill improved since the 1930s? Do other families have secrets that they keep to the same degree? Can secret-keeping ever be valid? It could have improved the commentary to include more reference to these topics, particularly the first. Still simply by telling Sallie’s story, Handler gives her aunt a legacy as well as encourages us to consider our own family relationships and confidences and how we deal with them.

[Veronica Noechel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not an uninteresting story about the killing of a mentally ill woman at the hands of her father. The biggest flaw in the story is the book's inability to imagine any scenario other than a compassionate one for the deceased. Since no one really knows what happened, how can you not at least entertain the possibility that the killing may have been less assisted suicide, more murder? Surely I'm not the only one who wondered if he killed her to avoid the financial impact on the family...or the embarrassment and stigma of having a mentally ill child at that point in time...or the danger she might present to others if released...or maybe she knew something the father didn't want her talking about, and so on. You can't bring out a story like this one without at least acknowledging other avenues when it comes to motive. I felt cheated by the author's almost delusional insistence that there could be only one possible reason for a murder that has never really been solved.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was so terrible that after reading the first 3 chapters, I skimmed the rest and then returned it for a refund (I was reading it on a Kindle).

Banal writing, boring story . . . more of a long, personal diary entry than a compelling narrative.

And so much of it was just conjecture. Poorly written conjecture.

The book seemed to lack an editor.

[Lucy Busker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reads like a not very good research paper

It should tell you everything you need to know that the author spends as much time talking about why she chose to write this book as she does actually giving information. Long quotes, unnecessary documents, and a whole lot of repetition badly mask that there is just no THERE there. There are questions, but apparently the family chose not to cooperate in answering them, and without those answers, this book boils down to maybe five pages worth of information. Most crucially, it lacks anything about why Sally needed to be institutionalized beyond her diagnosis. What *happened* in that little house? It's all so vague, and all the padding only makes it worse.

[C. · Rating 2 out of 5]

For someone [the writer] who stated she did not want to be repetitive in the story - it was replete with repetitiveness. I did not feel she got to the core of the issues in her family - just that this part of her life had been unknown to her. Most of society is well aware of how mental illness was viewed in previous generations, so I found this book to lack any depth to it.

[Heather Moyes]

one of the few books I couldn't bare to finish

Did I just waist time and money on somebody's mid term paper?? That's what it read like. It was like a bad essay, repetitive and filled with excerpts from Wikipedia!! Extremely disappointed, I thought it would be a very interesting read, it wasn't at all.

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Secrets They Kept:
Suzanne Handler


Painters create portraits in order to preserve the image of the person that is spotlighted within the frame. The colors on the pallet often depict the person’s mood, demeanor and personality. Some of us create our own portrait of a person dear to us within our minds and when something drastically changes it our lives and our perception of that person might drastically alter what we have looked hanging on our wall for so long.

Sam Levin was a family man tormented by something that would change the dynamic of his family even after his death. Life often presents challenges and obstacles that we must face but what happens when you child, your daughter hands you one that would destroy a family’s trust, love and create some than just a degree of separation among those that remain. Secrets have a way of surfacing and coming out when least expected. Imagine visiting your favorite aunt for a happy occasion and have the roof or your whole world shattered within seconds. One single revelation would send Suzanne Handler on a quest to find the truth, the hidden realities and the reasons why Sam Levin, her beloved grandfather would commit murder. A secret revealed that would shatter her life in more ways than one and would send on a quest to find out why her grandfather a man whose life was devoted to his family, strong minded, admired by the members of his community would take the life of his own child or Suzanne’s aunt. In total disbelief when her aunt revealed that her grandfather had a daughter named Sally who was diagnosed with dementia praecox, schizophrenia, took her life in order to spare her one spent within the walls of a insane asylum, Suzanne’s world crumbled right then and there. How could this wonderful man take a gun and shoot his own daughter? When we learn more about the murder and the incident is graphically revealed we hear the voice of Sam Levin and that of Sally pleading to end her life, her final request.

August 16, 1937, would be a day that she would never forget. Receiving a packet of information from one of her California cousins, she and the rest of the members of her family would learn the startling truth behind the murder, read the articles, see the documents related to the investigation and her Sally’s voice loud and clear as we try and understand: The Secrets They Kept, and the final fate for this family.

Author Suzanne Handler takes readers back to the beginning, shares the day that Sally died as we learn one more secret that would be challenged by others, make us wonder what the real truth was and just what really happened that day. The vivid description of the events that happened that day is compelling, heartbreaking and yet in some respects unclear. What happened to Sally is quite apparent the end result for Sam leaves many unanswered questions in the reader’s mind. Two separate pacts were made as a result of Sally’s death.



One pact was between father and daughter and a second that is revealed later on in the book. Sally in her own way realized that she was undergoing some type of mental problem. Her actions were uncontrollable, violent and a danger to herself and to others. Knowing that her only recourse would be placed in an institution for the mentally insane to keep her relatively safe and her family too, she pleaded with her father to take her life. Murder or Mercy Killing: You the reader will have to decide after you read the facts, hear her story, and understand more about Sam Levin and his family. Articles and documentation are provided by the author related to not only the incident, the charges filed against Sam and the eventual end result.

Living in Cheyenne, a small town gossip flies faster than a Lear Jet or a 747 and Sally’s death and Sam’s role spread through the town, changed many people’s attitudes towards him and would forever tarnish his name and bring shame to his family. But, on one hand this is true but on another hand a family member with mental illness brings shame and a serious stigma. Two prominent doctors would decide Sam’s fate and find whether he was sane or insane when he pulled the trigger. Three months after her death an officer of the court would asses the facts and tell a judge Sam’s words when he realized he was in the cot next to Sally, his reasons for committing the crime and his failed attempt to take his own life. A pact was made between father and daughter that they would both leave this earth together. So, when his attempt failed, why not try again and finish what he started? Did he realize that he was wrong in what he had done? Would he try and save Sally? How did Sam really feel?

When you read pages 24- 26 you will understand how and when she was diagnosed, his rational and much more. The author also includes the Mourner’s Kaddish, which we say after the burial and in the case of when my sister passed away, someone said it every day for one year and of course on Yom Kippur, the last day of Passover and the anniversary or the person’s death each year. Sam was indicted for Manslaughter: What happens will astound the reader but first learn more about him and the author.

The author reflects on Sally’s death and she wonders whether anyone honored her by visiting her grave, saying any prayers for her or even having a headstone placed as a marker in front of her grave. The author includes the rituals of the Jewish Funeral, the grieving period and explains Shiva on pages 30- 35. On page 35 we learn that the marker or headstone placed her name, daughter and year she was born and year she died. But, her first name Sally was misspelled and no one until this day has laid claim for paying for the stone. In Chapter Four the author relates Sally’s life, her story and why she was called Blackie and the abuse she took at the hand of family members and friends. Sally was an average student but had few friends. As Suzanne relates the information we also learn that her own mother refused to speak about her and the information she learned was mainly from her own research. The author includes the family’s dynamics, the fact that her skin color was darker than the rest of her family and when she and others noticed her mental decline. No one thought when she was younger that the accident she had, which resulted in a head injury, might have had something to do with her decline. Even more startling is the fact that every family member that she questioned refused to tell her anything and most would not talk about Sally. One uncle stated that she should never speak of her again nor will he ever discuss her.

This would be the second secret or pact among the rest of the family members. The secrets they kept you will not believe and the answers to why they would not discuss her or even admit her existence more than just sad. One young woman’s life was handled as if she never existed, never lived at all and was cast aside even deeper than the 6-foot grave she’s buried in. Added in the author includes for the reader the definitions needed to understand her illness.

Mercy Slayer or Murderer: the author relates her story, her life and interaction with her grandfather in Chapter Five. In this chapter we learn more about her grandmother, the fact that she was fearful, unstable and showed little emotion makes you wonder if Sally’s illness would or should be tied to her. Describing her grandmother’s actions and personality would make you wonder whether anyone realized the many oddities she exhibited. The remainder of the chapter introduces Sam Levin, his life growing up, his religious affiliations, coming to America from Russia, dealing with the pogroms and to what lengths he went to in order to fend for and support his family. This is one compelling and revealing story that the reader needs to learn for themselves to truly understand Sam Levin husband and father. Choosing to live in Omaha, Nebraska, explaining the Galveston Movement, whose goal it was to place newly arrived young men in the interior of the country and how and why he became a homesteader. Within that chapter the author includes his Naturalization Certificate, Patent Record and Warranty Deed. In Chapter 6 the author goes into more about Sally Levin, her diagnosis, the history behind this illness, relating it back to Colonial America and a prominent psychiatrist named Rush who it is believed is the first to believe that “Mental illness was disease of the mind, rather than a possession of demons.”

Imagine a news reporter having herself committed just to prove that those placed in these institutions were abused. Read about Nellie Bly and then “ U.S. Probes Levin Case: and Slaying Took Place on Reservation as where the murder occurred would decide where he would be tried and by whom. These documents are provided within this chapter followed by a lengthy discussion and understanding of the word Probation. As you read the verdict, understand the outcome you will find yourself learning more about the legal system, the definition of the word probation which is not quite what most of us think it is and the end result.
Secrets, deceptions, lies, betrayals and one woman who would not give up until she learned the truth and find the answers to why no one wanted to talk about Sally, what really happened that day and the true definition of Mercy Killing as related by the author. Jewish law, rituals and the final verdict fill the pages of chapter 8 titled: The Good Death: You decide! Jewish law related to euthanasia and assisted suicide is discussed, his relationship with the Jewish community and how it was affected added. One man who struggled with his thoughts, conscience, motives and love for a child that he would give up his freedom, his own life and bear shame upon himself in order to honor her final and one request. Chapters nine and ten will tell you more about both Sam and his wife plus the verdict signed, sealed and delivered to you the reader.

The Secrets They Kept: They can do more than just tear a family apart it can divide them forever as well as alienate them, cause miscommunication and much more. There were five children in her mother’s family. No one knows where her two uncles were and her grandmother when things happened to change everything. Suzanne Handler till this day is haunted by what she does not know, what she found out and if anything could have prevented the chain of events that caused one family to go you might say into hiding in a different way.

The research is extensive, the heartbreaking story vividly described and the voice of the author her thoughts, feelings and frustrations come through loud and clear. A final chapter that will bring tears to your eyes and an Epilogue that will allow you to remember Sally and those that have passed within your own family. In her memory I said Kaddish and to those in her family you need to remember her and say The El Male Rachamim when you visit her grave.

Fran Lewis: reviewer
To the memory of Sally and others whose lives matter and should not be forgotten: I dedicate this review

[Rossa Forbes · Rating 5 out of 5]

An intriguing quote in this book puts the secrets of the Levin family tragedy in perspective:

"Secrets are like stars. They blaze inside the heart and ultimately could be explosive. But there are two types of secrets. Small secrets, like small stars, will eventually burn out. With time and space they lose their importance and simply vanish. No harm done. But big secrets, like massive stars, with time and constant fear grow stronger, creating a gravitational pull that eventually . . . When they get so big, they become a black hole." (Jennifer Jabalay).

A true story, The Secrets They Kept reminds me very much of the family secrets that author Robertson Davies so brilliantly exploited in his novels like Fifth Business and What's Bred in the Bone.

The central question in this book is what could possibly motivate a man to kill his own daughter? Sixteen year old Sally Levin had recently been diagnosed as schizophrenic, and about to be institutionalized. Sam, her father, told the court that he wanted to relieve her suffering and she had begged him to do it. Sam's granddaughter, Suzanne Handler, leaves no stone unturned considering plausible answers where very little family history is available. Her aim in writing the book is to give Sally her rightful place in the family and to expose the consequences of the stigma surrounding mental illness. What I see when I read this book is all that and more. This is a family psychodrama acted out over multiple generations. At the end of the book, the author writes about how hidden secrets estranged her from her mother (Sam's daughter), reminding me of Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung's observation, "Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and especially on their children than the unlived life of the parent."

My review of this book draws on shamanistic beliefs that form the basis of Family Constellation Therapy popularized by ex-Jesuit priest Bert Hellinger. My family participated in Family Constellation Therapy that was precipitated by a diagnosis of schizophrenia in my son.

The Hellinger Institute of Northern California website explains that "A Family Constellation is a three-dimensional group process that has the power to shift generations of suffering and unhappiness. Bert Hellinger, the founder of this work, who studied and treated families for more than 50 years, observed that many of us unconsciously "take on" destructive familial patterns of anxiety, depression, anger, guilt, aloneness, alcoholism and even illness as a way of "belonging" in our families. Bonded by a deep love, a child will often sacrifice his own best interests in a vain attempt to ease the suffering of a parent or other family member. Family Constellations allow us to break these patterns so that we can live healthier, happier, more fulfilled lives. In a moment of insight, a new life course can be set in motion. The results can be life-changing."
([...])

From a Family Constellation Therapy perspective, there are probably two or more tragedies in the Levin family history, one buried in the history before the family immigrated to America, and the one at hand. We suspect this because of Sally's status as a black sheep and her diagnosis of schizophrenia. Sally embodied something about the Levins that they feared about themselves. She was their mirror.

Author Suzanne Handler has stunned me by fearlessly and compassionately shining a light on her own grandfather and his immediate family in order to bring respect and honor to her long dead and forgotten aunt Sally. She leads the way in showing others how compassion and forgiveness are important in even the most awful circumstances. She's done what Family Constellation Therapy would advise her to do for the sake of her own healing and for those of her children and her children's children. She brings Sally to life through this book, she erects a new gravestone bearing the proper spelling of Sally's name, and she forgives her grandfather.

Amongst other things, this book is a truelife crime story so I'll put my own thoughts on the table as to what may have motivated Sam Levin to kill his daughter on August 16, 1937.

It is not axiomatic that all parents love their children equally or at all. Some parents have favorites and some have scapegoats. From what little we know about Sally, it appears that Sally was the one who never quite fit in with the family of seven who lived a cramped existence in a two bedroom house. Her break with reality may have been the final straw for an already stressed family. Anyone who has lived with a family member who is actively psychotic knows how high tensions can run. The psychotic person is alternately feared, criticized and ridiculed by other family members who haven't a clue how to help their relative. Or, in trying to be compassionate, families often project worry and instill learned helplessness in their loved one. (There are books and courses available today that teach people how to diffuse the stress and uplift the person, but this kind of knowledge was little known then and only somewhat better known today.)

This (purely speculative) abuse may also have been a longstanding pattern in the Levin household when it came to Sally who was strikingly different from the others, being two shades darker in complexion. Her family called her "Blackie," underscoring her noticeable difference. Was she the family black sheep or the family "scapegoat"? Shouldn't at least her mother (Sam's wife) have protected her? Surely she must have known something of Sam's plans that day, or at least have had some sort of inkling. Protection is often too big a burden to ask of siblings, who are rivals for their parents' affections. When the deed was done, the family members rallied round their father and perhaps took a vow of silence to not divulge to anyone that Sally was anything other than a beloved sibling. Their shame would have been too great.

Regarding Sam's wife, I thought immediately of the Mrs. Dempster character in Davie's book, Fifth Business. Both were alike in that the townsfolk said they were never right in the head. Mrs. Dempster wandered off one day and took a tumble with a tramp down by the river, to the lasting shame and horror of her pastor husband. Perhaps Sally Levin's complexion gave rise to suspicions on Sam's part that she was not his biological daughter and he treated her accordingly, despite his professed love for her.

What is a scapegoat? In Family Constellation Therapy a scapegoat is someone on the receiving end of a subconscious family process spanning multiple generations. Like the Biblical animal scapegoat, one family member, as a form of atonement, takes the brunt of the collective sins of the community/family and then is forcefully driven away from them. The family honor is thereby restored and the family can point to the scapegoat as the strange one who is not like them.

If one believes that there is some truth to the intergenerational scapegoat theory, then Sam was sacrificing one child for the good of the many. He was unconsciously carrying out his duty to his ancestors, while problematically creating a new burden for future generations of the family.

Did Sam Levin really intend to kill himself along with Sally? I doubt it. It was Sally's idea for him to join her in death, not his. He needed to live to support the rest of his family. He was a dutiful husband, son, and father. His suicide note cleverly introduced the idea that he was insane himself, and destined to go the local insane asylum if he didn't kill himself first. His suicide note says nothing about loving his daughter, nor anything about his daughter, for that matter, other than signing her name at the bottom. He was sane when he killed her. Not even temporarily insane. And yet, I can also imagine him fearing he was becoming temporarily insane because of stress. I've almost been there myself. The label of schizophrenia was enough to push me into a spiraling psychedelic anxiety that if not checked, could have made me temporarily insane. There is nothing I can tell from the story that leads me to believe that Sam loved his daughter, although the investigators came to the conclusion by interviewing relatives and church leaders (all people who would want to protect Sam) that "the defendant was so obsessed with the love for his child that he himself would lay down his life with her." Except . . . he didn't lay down his life for her. This is a psychic anomaly. It seems that he visited her grave many years later, and that shows a certain amount of contrition and respect for her, but love for Sally may not have been the case while she was alive.

There is another interpretation of Sally's outcast status that comes from Family Constellation Therapy which shows how Sally herself was perhaps sacrificing herself for someone in a previous generation of the Levin family who was denied their right to belong to the family, through an untimely death, a murder, prison or some other form of estrangement. The Levin parents were immigrants from the pogroms of the Ukraine whose known family history was lost along the way. Sally chose to offer herself in atonement for some long forgotten exclusion. She was intuitive to the suffering in the Levin household. She was their mirror.

According to Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt, schizophrenia often has its roots at the fourth (intuitive) level of healing because schizophrenics are particularly sensitive to these familial exclusions or injustices and will act out the role of victim. Dr. Klinghardt maintains that if schizophrenia is not cured at the physical level (level 1), it is usually because the issues lie in the realm of intuition (level 4). According to the Family Constellation theory, the root of schizophrenia is almost always found three or four generations removed from the present. The current family environment isn't directly responsible for the origins of the schizophrenia, but the family is implicated because of the way its members might unconsciously deal in the present with the aftermath of the family event from the past.

On a non-Family Constellation note, I'm of the opinion that it is the original diagnosis of schizophrenia that is a recipe for disaster because it causes people to lose all hope. Sally might well have lived had her doctors not painted such a bleak scenario of her future. This non-medical diagnosis of schizophrenia (there are no biomarkers) and similar mental illness labels should be dropped in favor of empathic treatment of people, not treatment of labels masquerading as diseases.

I highly recommend this book because it shows us how the author explores and attempts to resolve the ominous burdens of her family history.

[Kay Castaneda · Rating 5 out of 5]

A secret life

I wanted to read this book because the title caught my eye. What is mercy killing? Is it the same as euthanasia? The author discovered that she had an aunt she never knew about and that is why she began investigating this family secret. She was shocked, then angry because no one ever talked about this girl. Why had her relatives hidden her Aunt Sally's life away in the past? Handler is a journalist so she used her skills to uncover the secret. Sally was mentally ill. When a doctor diagnosed that Sally had schizophrenia, it was shocking to her parents. The disease was not well known in the 1930s, especially with Sally's mother and father, Russian immigrants who were barely able to understand English. The author wanted to find out why Sally was erased from family history. The book is a detective story and a biography of Aunt Sally. Someone killed Sally. Who? Why? Where?

[Edna Foster · Rating 1 out of 5]

Have you ever told a story and some well-meaning friend says, “Gosh, you should write a book!”? Don’t do it. Yuck. This was a book club selection. Thank goodness it was less than 200 pages. That said, most of that was quotes, copies of articles or legal documents or photos, all of which I skipped. I didn’t feel like I knew much more about this mercy killing after reading the book.

[patricia toms · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heart rending

Heart rending story ...glad that it brought some closure to some family members. It's very important to be open with these matters

[Glitter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really, truly, wanted to love this book. I read it in its entirety and ended up numb, apparently the same as the writer. End result? Good secret family story that nobody divulges.

[Mx. Andy Feje · Rating 2 out of 5]

Masyadong binanat; pwede namang isang mahabang essay.

[Deanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story was heartbreaking and hard to imagine. I don’t believe there would be the same consequences today as those imposed when this crime happened. Worth reading.

[Maryann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sad memoir about a family tragedy and how burning the event hurts all involved.

[Barbara Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a challenge being held in the library where I work for the employees to read 52 books this year, in addition to whatever else we are reading, with specific instructions for the content, genre or other characteristic of each book. We must read a book over 500 pages, a book that can be read in one day, one with an author who shares our initials and so on. I confess to having pounced on this book at work one day because it seemed the perfect candidate for a one-day read, and it was. (This may be a downside of the challenge, a sort of reading to the test, as it were.)

Not really surprisingly, the book was a little more than I had expected. It is impossible to give a star rating on this one, so I just tossed three stars in for the effort. The author is clearly not an expert writer or perhaps even a writer at all, but more a historian of her family. Because many families, including my own, have secrets in the past which have not been solved, I feel a personal connection to this little, but dramatic, story.

The cover of the book shows a picture of the unfortunate and tragic Sally Levin, whose father (the author's beloved grandfather, waited early one morning for the pawn shop to open in Cheyenne, Wyoming, drove to town and bought a gun and returned home to collect the seventeen-year-old, who apparently went willingly on a drive to a quiet location where her father shot her, then turned the gun on himself. Failing to kill himself the man, Sam Levin, made an effort to stab himself, also without the ultimate success of a suicide. Whether or not the suicide attempt was completely wholehearted, it did seem to be the aim of Sally's father to kill them both. As an Orthodox Jew, suicide would also have been abhorrent to Sam Levin and perhaps this affected the outcome.

The dark, quiet Sally had had a shy and perhaps painful life with few friends, from what the author could learn. There had been almost absolute silence in the family about this so-called mercy killing, even when the author directly asked her mother (Sally's sister) to let her know the truth. Her mother died without ever saying more than a few words about her sister. Sometime before she was fatally shot, Sally had been diagnosed with dementia praecox, or what we now call schizophrenia, a mental illness that often shows itself in teenagers or young adults. It had been expected that she would have to be committed to an institution in Evanston, a plan that Sally was wildly disturbed by. She had tried, unsuccessfully, to commit suicide on two occasions and also had asked to be killed to save her from being institutionalized. There was some evidence that the family may have known something was afoot, as Sally's sister, the author's mother, had left for a trip to California just before the killing and no one seems to have been around to put a stop to the proceedings. There was also some indication that the plan was for it to be a murder-suicide.

In any event, Sam Levin was charged with manslaughter, pleaded guilty and was convicted. In one of the most compelling parts of the book the text of the judge's sentence is included in full--in the compassionate voice of an enlightened man, the judge evaluates the nature of the crime and sentences Sam Levin to 5 years probation.

There are photos in the book, court records, newspaper accounts, photos of Sally and her mysterious gravestone, erected anonymously after the family left town and with Sally's named spelled incorrectly. The author has since had a proper gravestone added to the first, with proper Jewish inscriptions and Sally's name in both English and Hebrew. There are many small stones on the surface of the headstone, showing the many visits made to the site. If you wish to read more about this interesting story, there is information online with even more details that appear in the book.

[K.A. Krisko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I was somewhat disappointed in this book. I started it in kind of a breathless rush, fascinated by the idea of a hidden murder mystery discovered in the author's family. But it turns out that there is no mystery; the perpetrator and his reasons for the crime are known and were known immediately at the time, in 1937 Wyoming. There's little other information here, and while the review of the crime itself and the sketchy events leading up to it are enough to make an article, in order to extend it to novel length the author had to resort to reviewing the history of the Jews in Russia, of mental health treatment and diagnosis world-wide, of the development of mental-health facilities in the U.S., and a detailed history of the mental-health facility in Evanston, Wyoming, where the murdered girl might have ended up had she lived, but in which she never actually set foot. I also didn't need photos of every land-patent filed by her grandfather and three photos of the above-mentioned peripherally-associated facility from three different angles (since no one in this story was ever there). In addition, oddly, after the author inserted lengthy quotes from a variety of tracts into the texts, the disposition of the court case was presented in a series of scans of photocopies of original documents instead of being transcribed, and these were pretty much unreadable on my Kindle.

I also have some questions about the depth of research that went into this story. 1937 was a long time ago, that's for sure, but the author claims there is only a single surviving photograph of her relative, who was murdered at the age of 16. Now, that's possible, but I personally have class photos and school photos of my relatives from the early 1900s, these having been taken at remote, isolated schoolhouses on a yearly basis. Photos in the 1930s were hardly rare. Are there really no records of this girl who attended school for eleven years? The author visited her gravesite, but there's no mention of trying to talk to people in the town to find out if anyone was alive who still remembered the event, or if there were school or church records and photographs. Perhaps she did, but if so, she doesn't say.

The book left me feeling unsatisfied. While the first few chapters are interesting, it's pretty much over after that. It's somewhat disjointed and surface-level, with many repetitions in the text indicating a lack of thorough editing (I was told three times in one chapter that a small village is called a 'shtetl', thank you). The author hits on many things that could be interesting if researched in more depth, but they weren't. Her interactions with her family are superficial. No real conclusion is reached despite the facts of the case all being there for the world to see. Read the first few chapters and you're safe quitting after that.

[Melita · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am seriously speechless reading this book. The whole book can be done in just one chapter (or perhaps one or two pages). I felt like I am reading a newspaper article that is being repeated again and again and again so it becomes one whole book. I am not sure the purpose of writing this book, when her only source of information is only the newspaper and all the articles. In the end, it's all guesswork and we all can do that. Reading this book is a waste of my time.

[Kavan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Leo Tolstoy once famously observed, “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. I also believe every family, happy or not, has their secrets. In The Secrets They Kept Suzanne Handler is trying to get to the heart of a dark secret in her family. On August 16, 1937 the author’s grandfather Sam Levin murdered his daughter Sally in an attempted murder-suicide. After the death neither Levin or any of his children ever spoke of Sally again.
Herein is the makings of a rich family mystery. The problem is Handler’s mother and her brother won’t talk. And outside of the family no one knows much of what happened or why it happened. And that lack of knowledge really limits the book.

I really respect Handler’s desire to delve into the mystery of Sally’s death. And I did find the sections on mental hospitals of that era very interesting. The problem is the story is just too vague. Handler has to make too many assumptions.

And troublingly I think Handler ignores some darker possibilities. She loved her grandfather and clearly wants to believe he suffered and repented. But the evidence really isn’t there.

I was left feeling that whatever went down on August 16, 1937 was much, much deeper and more complex that a father mercy killing his mentally ill doctor to protect her from exile in a mental hospital. After all if it was an attempted murder/suicide why was Sam Levin so unharmed that he walked into the hospital? How could he live decades and decades, without even mentioning a daughter he professed to be unable to live without? And then I began to understand why the siblings refused to cooperate. What would be worse to accept a mercy killing or to delve deeper and find no mercy in the intent or the action?

[Marcia Reece · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel honored to have meet the author, Suzanne Handler, personally. Knowing the author always makes for a more interesting read.

Suzanne's book spoke to my heart in ways she can not begin to imagine. Mental illness in 2015 is still as much a family stigma as it was back in the early 1920's when Suzanne's aunt was born. My brother, two years my junior, was oxygen deprived during a difficult birth which resulted in him being a high-functioning mentally retarded fellow. My father could not accept the fact his only son was not "perfect" and I have watched first person as the first grandson born into the family became the son my father always wanted. The actions of my parents have split a family and have been incredibly hurtful to my brother who knows he was replaced.

These actions have been heart breaking to our entire family and has left my sister and I as the POA's and caretakers for my brother, even though we live in different states.

I hope Suzanne's book is able to shine some light on mental illness in ways which can positively impact our society. My brother has a heart that is bigger than all outdoors. Just as Sally knew she was different in a socially unacceptable way, so does my brother. I have felt Suzanne's pain in never knowing her aunt in a very real way.

While her book leaves too many unanswered questions, that is irrelevant to the message it offers to the readers.

Thank you for accepting the aunt you never knew. Each time I work with my brother, I will think of Sally and her spirit which lives within you and those of us who have read your book.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not really a story...

More of a research paper. There are pages of information on Jewish customs and mental illness. There is more information about the Grandfather than anyone else. The author knows very little about Sally and her life, that does not change throughout the book, just reiterated almost every chapter. There are also numerous pages of scanned court documents, not all worth reading. And beware, some of the handwritten information, no fault if the author, is illegible.
The book is, as a research paper,is well written and informative. As a story, there's just very little information about Sally and the family during her short life to warrant an actual book.
The author did attempt to gather more information, but the family was not close and swore to secrecy over Sally and the incident.
So, if you are looking for a story of a young girl living on the 30's with mental illness, there's only a paragraph or two of actual information. If you are looking for a history of Russian Jews in the late 1800's and mental institutions in the early1900's, you will find the book fascinating. It was not what I expected at all.

[Diane Lybbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

A true story about love, mercy, and family shame. Handler researches the story of her grandfather's actions in 1937 Wyoming. She has grown up knowing there is a deep, dark family secret, but she was never told about it. Mental illness was misunderstood and frightening in the 1930s, and treatment was hard to come by. When the only solution to his 16-yr-old daughter's illness was to put her in an asylum (which had a reputation for being filthy and brutal), her father made a pact with her that he would kill her and himself. The plan, however, did not go well, and the father survived his wounds. He was then tried and found guilty of murdering his teenage daughter. The family put the secret away and kept it hidden. Handler found documents from the trial, newspaper stories from the shooting, and other information to piece together the sad story. She is finally able to understand her grandfather and the rest of the family, and comes to grips with the pain and shame they felt. Very interesting memoir, and a personal inside look at mental illness and the ripple effect through generations.

[Akayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This non-finction book was absolutely addicting all the way from start to finish. It had real life photos and documents that made the story come to life. This book is about a father and a young daughter who had a mentel illness. The father made a unknown pact with his daughter to die together so neither one of them had to go through the pain alone. Eventually, the father survies his suicide attempt and he has to live with the guilt of killing his daughter. This story is told in the point of view of a relative who finds about this tragic death is 2004, and she wants to find out the real truth and share it with the world. I loved this book, but the only thing is that it gets kind of confusing because there is so much factual information that I found myself rereading the same paragraph multiple times. I would recommended this book to anyone who loves nonfiction and wanting to know the truth no matter how depressing or nasty it is.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

This premise of this story lured me in as I live close to the city in which this occurred but I was sadly disappointed with how the author wrote it. I didn't like the statistics in which she would throw in and was disappointed by what little she knew of the story.

The author tried to get family members to discuss what happened with their sister, but no one would speak so the author only had her research from court documents, newspaper articles and a few accounts of those who would speak. Not that I would want to speak if this would have happened in my family but I wanted to know the answers as well.

I guess there was a part of me that also didn't like that the author tried to paint what her grandfather was thinking/feeling during the time of the incident. He never spoke of that time in his life, so who knows what one truly thinks unless they express it.

I just wanted something more and it didn't deliver.

[Janet Carroll · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tgis was a quick read and not as sophisticated as one would suppose. What the author lacks in style is more than made up for her passion and resolve.The book opens with a man (author's grandfather) who commits an unspeakable act which brings shame and scorn from his community. The act itself is not unknown to us in modern America but during the Depression when people and families struggled to survive, it was not common. Oddly enough, the lack of empathy and understanding from the community does not parallel the legal system's attitudes. Part of the misunderstanding of the community stems from cultural attitudes of the mentally ill. The entire family is forced to re-locate. The author's mother, grandmother, aunts, and uncles are profoundly changed. Undeniably, family secrets have a life of their own and can color family identities.

[Pamh1955 · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author did an outstanding job of describing a long ago held family secret. What keeps the book from being a full story, through no fault of the author, is the refusal of surviving member to fill in many needed details. Much of the book depends on honest speculation and the true story is never fully revealed. As with most self-published books, it is in need of some editing. My heart goes out to the author and her brave attempt to tell her story. I was left,however, regretful that the full story cannot and will never be told. As of this time all surviving witnesses have passed. It was short and easy read and was worth my time. It just lacked so many facts that made the story a bit shallow.

[Valerie Oswalt · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Mercy Killing" is a hot topic in 2016

which is why I decided to read this true story. I assumed that "assisted death" was somehow invented by Dr. Kevorkian.
Never before have I given thought to the religious ramifications of Mercy death. Adding this additional topic to the already controversial title topic was crucial to telling this story. I appreciated the author's inclusion of documents, photos and newspaper articles. I love that she is was able to feel compassion for her Aunt Sally and her grandfather. The addition of a second, traditional Jewish marker combined with the acknowledgement within the Jewish congregation gave this true story a much deserved happy ending.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of a father who in 1937 killed his 16 y.o. daughter at her request. She was diagnosed with dementia praecox, now known as schizophrenia, and had been ordered to a state institution for the insane. She had made 2 suicide attempts in the weeks prior to her death. Her father was a devout Orthodox Jew who loved his 5 children and was, by all reports, a very loving father. The story is written by a granddaughter who, along with her cousins and brother, grew up never knowing anything about this family event as it was never mentioned again after the trial and the family leaving Wyoming. It is a very interesting story.

[Lorri · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short, but interesting true story about the short life of Sally, a teenage girl who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Instead of having to spend the rest of her life in a mental institution, Sally and her father made a death pact...after killing her, he would commit suicide. The only problem was, he wasn't successful and lived to a ripe old age. When we hear mental illness, most people run the other way, not only because of the affects on the family, but all the unknowns about the condition.

I was provided a complimentary copy in exchange for my honest opinion.