ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 9, 1997 TAG: 9703100063
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-15 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Helen Livengood's body was found Thursday in a hotel room in suburban Detroit, an apparent suicide.
Helen Livengood was a frail, gray-haired woman with delicate features who would drop off mail for neighbors and chat with them about their pets before crippling arthritis confined her to her home.
Her body was found Thursday in a hotel room in suburban Detroit, an apparent suicide. The 59-year-old woman had flown to Michigan from Richmond on a charter airplane.
The lawyer for Dr. Jack Kevorkian now represents her interests. Geoffrey Fieger, however, would not say whether Kevorkian was involved in the death.
``I knew her from a distance. She was a nice lady,'' said Felicia Whitener. ``I talked to her sometimes, but she never told me about her life.''
Whitener lived across the street and down the block from Livengood's neat home with its well-trimmed lawn in a working-class neighborhood near Philip Morris' huge cigarette plant. She said Livengood once exchanged advice about getting her pets spayed.
Neighbors said they occasionally saw Livengood playing with neighborhood cats, walking her dog and working in her garden. That ended when Livengood became an invalid about a year ago.
Whitener said Livengood lost weight in recent years but never discussed her illness. A nurse visited the house about one week ago, Whitener said. ``I thought something was going wrong. I figured she was sick.''
Fieger said Livengood ``ended her own life peaceably after years of tortured suffering from crippling arthritis which had left her confined to a wheelchair for the last four years.'' He said Livengood weighed 50 pounds and suffered from chronic arthritis.
Neighbors, however, said they never saw the woman in a wheelchair.
``I've never seen anybody there [the Livengoods' home],'' said neighbor Lisa Robinson, who has lived in the neighborhood one month. ``I thought the house was for sale.''
The blinds were drawn at the Livengood home and most of the lights were off Friday night. ``I've been through enough already,'' said a middle-aged man who answered the door but would not identify himself.
Fieger said Livengood is survived by her husband and 14 siblings.
LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB