On May 20, 1988, 30-year-old Laurie Dann left poisoned snacks and juice boxes at several houses, started a fire that nearly killed a mother and her two children, and sprayed bullets inside of an elementary school classroom. After years of living with a serious mental illness, she had made a plan to hurt everyone she believed had slighted her as well as others who were completely innocent. There had been signs that Laurie a danger to herself and society. In fact, in hindsight, her rampage was entirely predictable.

Join us at the quiet end for A Ticking Time Bomb. Laurie grew up as an awkward child whose parents made perfunctory and misguided efforts at helping her. As an adult, her so-called “quirks” progressed into full-blown psychotic episodes.  But for a variety of reasons, Laurie never received the intensive psychiatric treatment she needed, leaving the lives of everyone in her path at risk.

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Sources

Day of Fury: The Story of the Tragic Shootings That Forever Changed the Village of Winnetka by Joyce Egginton, 1991

The Many Faces of Laurie Dann, Chicago Tribune, George Papajohn, 6/5/1988, ret. 7/28/2022

Murder of Innocence: The Tragic Life and Final Rampage of Laurie Dann by Kaplan, Papajohn, & Zorn, 1991

School Killer Left a Trail of Poison, The Chicago Tribune, Ray Gibson and Linnet , 5/22/1988, ret. 7/14/2022

Winnetka Killer Treated with Psychiatric Drug, Chicago Tribune, 2/13/2007, ret. 7/27/2022