>From the Rumor Mill News Forum http://www.rumormillnews.com JOANN McGUCKIN LIVED IN FEAR OF HUSBAND'S PARANOIA Posted By: RMNEWS Date: Wednesday, 13 June 2001, 1:06 a.m. IDAHO http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news-story.asp?date=060901&ID=s975348 McGuckin lived in fear, ex-wife says She tells of husband's paranoia beginning as early as 1978 Thomas Clouse and Benjamin Shors - Staff writers SANDPOINT -- Michael McGuckin believed as early as 1978 that someone was tapping his phones and following him home, his ex-wife said Friday. Randy Sue Latimer, 58, told The Spokesman-Review that McGuckin became paranoid before he met his second wife, JoAnn Dunn, who authorities have characterized as mentally ill. Latimer, who divorced McGuckin in 1981 after 16 years of marriage, "absolutely" believes that any mental illness JoAnn may be suffering came as a result of merging with McGuckin's fears. "I know JoAnn has been made out to be the villain," she said from her home in St. Paul, Minn. "I don't know about (JoAnn's) paranoia, but the last year I was there, he was becoming increasingly paranoid." McGuckin, who was trained as an Army intelligence officer, never expressed any fear of the government before moving to Idaho in 1976, Latimer said. McGuckin, Latimer and their son, William, lived from 1976 to 1980 in the same one-story farmhouse that was the focus of international attention last week. Purchasing the farm fulfilled a lifetime dream for the couple. But McGuckin struggled to adjust to the rural lifestyle after a successful career as a contractor in California, Latimer said. "I think somebody may be listening in," he told her during a telephone conversation in 1978. "He'd say, `I thought a car followed me home today. Keep an eye out for a Chevrolet.' "It did make me nervous because it was so unlike him." McGuckin, 61, died May 12 after a lengthy battle with multiple sclerosis. Three weeks later, authorities arrested JoAnn McGuckin for felony injury to a child. A deputy returned to the farmhouse to collect the children but they then loosed the family dogs on a deputy and retreated into the home. They refused to come out, sparking a five-day standoff that ended peacefully last Saturday. As McGuckin's health worsened during the last five years, the family had become increasingly withdrawn, disconnecting their phone, taking down their mailbox and avoiding neighbors. Bonner County Prosecutor Phil Robinson said Friday that investigators are compiling an inventory from a search of the McGuckin home. JoAnn McGuckin, 45, will appear Wednesday for her preliminary hearing. Authorities say she and her six children were living in a house filled with dog feces, rotting food, dead mice and garbage. McGuckin's court-appointed attorney, Bryce Powell, has said those conditions resulted, in part, from the five-day standoff. Latimer remembers a modular home with two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen and dining room. "It was a roomy little house," Latimer said. "What I cannot imagine is nine people living in that house." She moved to St. Paul in February 1980, and they were divorced in 1981. She hadn't seen him or been to the farmhouse for more 20 years, and lost contact with McGuckin. She received his obituary in the mail, but chose not to attend the May 25 funeral. "I grieved for the man I loved a long time ago," Latimer said as she wept. "It took me 10 or 12 years to give up that sadness." The paranoia ended a relationship with a man Latimer described as an "extremely bright, very talented, handsome and lovely man." McGuckin attended a prestigious prep school in Groton, Mass., and the University of North Carolina. He met Latimer in 1962 when both lived in San Francisco. The couple married in 1965 and had one son. McGuckin left a successful business as a contractor in Marin County, Calif., to pursue a rural lifestyle near Sagle. But Latimer -- a playwright who founded the Unicorn Theatre in Sandpoint -- said her ex-husband lost his focus. "He just never found his way," she said. "I think he was doubting his capacity to live a productive life." The couple talked about converting the 350 acres they purchased along Garfield Bay Cut Off Road into a tree farm, meadows or perhaps a gentleman's farm. "He spent his life doing jobs where the rules were clear," Latimer said. "He was just lost." Latimer met JoAnn in Sandpoint where both served on the local arts council. Michael and JoAnn married in the fall of 1981. Latimer believes JoAnn eventually began to share her husband's fears as his health deteriorated. "When I knew JoAnn, she seemed like a pleasant young woman -- outgoing, interested in people," Latimer said. "As far as I'm concerned, it began with Michael." Staff writer Susan Drumheller contributed to this report. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It costs money to keep Rumor Mill News going. 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