Oncologist kills both sons, then himself in Miami

It's almost unimaginable. An oncologist with two sons - one four and one eight - throws each from a 15th floor hotel balcony in Florida, both still in their pajamas, then throws himself. Tragedies like these scream out - SOMETHING IS WRONG IN AMERICA.

The bodies of eight-year-old Spencer Van Dyk and his brother Carl, four, landed with such force on the lobby roof at the Loews Hotel in Miami Beach after the 125ft plunge that a chandelier was shattered.

* * *

"This is an individual who had issues with his wife and selfishly took his children's lives," said Sgt Bobby Hernandez of the Miami Beach Police Department. "What would possess someone to take his two children, dressed in their pyjamas, and throw them over the balcony? It's a terrible tragedy."

Qinuo Van Dyk told police that she and her husband, a radiation oncologist, had experienced difficulties in their marriage during the last six months but had come to Florida to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary.

She said she heard one of the boys screaming in their next-door room at the hotel and rushed in to see her husband jumping over the balcony. When she got to the balcony and looked over, she saw all three bodies lying on the roof.

"It's so horrific it's almost unbelievable," Sgt Hernandez said. Mrs Van Dyk, also a doctor, was last night being comforted by relatives and a police chaplain at the hotel while detectives continued to try to piece together her husband's motive for the murders.

A former colleague at the Norris Cotton Cancer Centre, New Hampshire, where Dr Van Dyk worked for two years before moving to the Alton Memorial Hospital 18 months ago, said:

"He had some difficult times and he had some trouble here. I guess he didn't sort of fit in."

You mean 'in the world?'

What a bizarre thing to say about a man who just killed himself and his two young sons. This doesn't sound like the act of an "oddball" who doesn't "fit in" or someone who's simply "selfish," as the sergeant described.

Obviously, this man suffered from SEVERE psychosis. How does something like this go unnoticed?

Both parents are doctors, so I will assume they are financially secure - though even the rich can live beyond their means. Come to think of it, both parents may be debt-ridden. Nevertheless, when a family with a relatively secure future IMPLODES like this - apparently out of the blue - you have to wonder, WHY?

Is this the price "professional" Americans pay for financial security? If so, God help us.