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Search - Hillsdale: Greek Tragedy in America's Heartland

Hillsdale Greek Tragedy in America's Heartland
Author: Roger Rapoport, Bob Drews

NEW BOOK CALLS FOR REOPENING OF HILLSDALE COLLEGE SUICIDE CASE On October 17, 1999, the peaceful Michigan campus of Hillsdale College, one of America’s leading liberal arts colleges, was shattered by gunfire in the Slayton Arboretum. Found dead in a stone gazebo was Lissa Jackson Roche, the managing editor of both Imprimis, the world's mo... more »st widely read speech digest, and Hillsdale College Press. She was also the daughter-in-law of the college’s president, Dr. George Roche III, one of the most influential and trusted conservative leaders in America. Just two hours before she died, Lissa, shocked her husband George Roche IV and President Roche’s new wife, Dean Hagan, by angrily claiming that she and her father-in-law had been lovers for 19 years and that he had also had affairs with coeds. Dr. Roche denied her allegations but the college trustees failed to explore these charges in any detail. After a brief police investigation, the 41-year-old editor’s death was hastily ruled a suicide. A new book Hillsdale: Greek Tragedy in America’s Heartland (RDR Books: Oakland, California) concludes that Lissa Roche may have been the victim of foul play. Based on exclusive interviews with family members, colleagues and friends of Lissa Roche as well as new evidence, this book calls for the investigation of her death to be reopened as a possible homicide. The book points out that no discernible fingerprints were found by police on the weapon, her husband’s .357 magnum taken from a locked gun cabinet in her home. The keys she allegedly used to unlock and relock the gun cabinet were never found. The gun cabinet was never dusted for fingerprints. Police never performed a ballistics test to document that the .357 was actually used to end her life. Gunpowder residue test of samples taken from Lissa’s hands and her husband’s were never completed. George Roche IV’s alibi, contradicted by his father and stepmother, were never evaluated by the authorities. Portions of the autopsy were never made public. And Lissa Roche’s charges were contradicted by members of her own family. “There is not one single shred of evidence that Lissa Roche actually committed suicide,” says author Roger Rapoport. “She did not leave a suicide note, no one saw her pull the trigger and no one in the densely populated area near the scene of her death heard the weapon going off. The police report makes it perfectly clear that there is no proof that Lissa shot herself . In addition key witnesses who could shed light on the circumstances of her death were never asked the most basic questions by police. Often seeming more like Greek tragedy than modern real life, the book offers the first detailed account of Lissa Roche’s final hours including a dramatic hospital room confrontation with her father-in-law President Roche, behind the scenes family battles, President Roche’s dramatic resignation in a closed door meeting with the board of trustees, as well as dozens of insider interviews with key family members, friends of the family, faculty and other experts. The book considers the stories of the two “other women” in Lissa Roche’s life who turned a romantic triangle into a quadrangle. Eager to divorce her husband George Roche IV because she believed he was having a secret affair, Lissa Roche dreamed of escaping to Colorado with her father-in-law. She believed the extended family including Dr. Roche, Lissa’s son George V, her 15 year-old nephew Jake Roche and Dr. Roche’s mother Margaret Roche could possibly start a new life. But when she learned in early September 1999 that Dr. Roche was secretly engaged to a Louisville nurse named Dean Hagan, Lissa’s dream collapsed. In the final weeks of her life Lissa Roche’s battles culminated in a series of dramatic confrontations and her mysterious death. Since that time Dr. Roche, who raised over $300 million during his 28 year career at Hillsdale College, has moved to Ouray, Colorado, with his wife Dean Hagan. Lissa’s widower George Roche IV married a former Hillsdale Japanese instructor, Akiko Tani, in May. They are now living in Oregon.

ISBN-13: 9781571430885
ISBN-10: 1571430881
Publication Date: 10/2000
Pages: 208
Rating:

Currently 3/5 Stars.

3 stars, based on 1 rating

Publisher: RDR Books
Book Type: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

Genres:

Biographies & Memoirs >> General
Health, Fitness & Dieting >> Death & Grief >> Suicide
Education & Teaching >> Higher & Continuing Education >> General
Biographies & Memoirs >> True Crime >> Murder & Mayhem
Biographies & Memoirs >> True Crime >> True Crime

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