A Los Angeles Police Department detective took his own life after he was confronted by allegations he molested two relatives, it was reported today.
The Los Angeles Times reported Dennis Derr, 52, was found in his car in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart in Palmdale on Thanksgiving morning, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The paper said Derr was a 17-year LAPD veteran, and a detective since 2006. Derr was assigned to the Van Nuys division of the LAPD, the paper said, and had worked on a team that handled sexual assault cases.
He had also served as a pastor or bible studies teacher at two churches, his son Philip told the paper.
A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department sergeant confirmed two adults had made sexual abuse allegations against Derr.
The abuse had allegedly occurred when they were teenagers, the Times reported.
The relatives informed Derr’s wife of the abuse, Philip Derr said. She wrote her husband a note saying she was aware of the allegations, and left the family home while he slept, Philip Derr said.
Dennis Derr wrote an email to family members the following morning, Nov. 27, making what the paper described as “a vague denial” of the allegations, and suggesting he had decided to kill himself.
His body was discovered later that day.
