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Sourced from: http://www.nwitimes.com/articles/2007/11/15/news/top_news/doc03135c1e27e2e7038625739400154bf6.txt
11/15/2007 Ryan Lee Bergner was a "gentle" and "kind" man, and his family "can't even believe" he would break into a woman's house and try to hurt her, his sister-in-law said Wednesday night. "It's just so shocking for such a gentle person to die in such a violent way," said Becky Bergner, who is married to Ryan Lee Bergner's brother. "He did not go there that evening to hurt her, as far as the Ryan that we know."
Bergner's family doubts the version of Bergner's final minutes told by the woman who shot him to death Monday night, Becky Bergner said. Family members hope the investigation continues, she said.
Police have said they forwarded their reports to Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter. Carter could pursue charges against the woman or decline to seek charges, essentially finding the shooting a justifiable homicide.
The 51-year-old woman told police she heard Bergner break a window at her house in the 6900 block of Tennessee Avenue in Hammond's Hessville neighborhood. She called 911 and an operator told her to lock herself in her bedroom. She ran upstairs, grabbed a 9 mm pistol given to her by a friend earlier that day and hid in the closet, she said. When he opened the closet door and moved toward her, she fired three times, she said. He choked her before he lost his strength, she said.
Officers found Bergner, 41, wearing black leather gloves, sprawled out in the bedroom. Bergner, of the 3000 block of Crane Place in Hammond, was pronounced dead at 10:30 p.m. Monday at a local hospital.
The woman previously reported Bergner to police for allegedly trying to kick in her door, bothering her at work and possibly slashing her vehicle's tires.
Bergner's family is "having a hard time processing that or believing it," Becky Bergner said. "Ryan was a very, very kind person, a very giving person," she said.
The woman who shot Bergner said Tuesday afternoon she went on one date with Bergner. She said she "didn't want anything to do with him" because of "his temper."
Bergner and the woman were more involved than the woman said, Becky Bergner said. Bergner's family members met the woman, Becky Bergner said. The woman came to Bergner's father's funeral as Bergner's "girlfriend" a few months ago, Becky Bergner said. The woman was "not a fake girlfriend," Becky Bergner said. "They were dating. There was a relationship there," she said. "He was very fond of her." He told family they recently broke up, but were planning to remain friends, Becky Bergner said.
The woman who shot Ryan Lee Bergner did not answer phone calls Wednesday night.
If Ryan Lee Bergner had any diagnosed mental illnesses or substance abuse problems, Becky Bergner did not know of them, she said. Ryan Lee Bergner graduated from George Rogers Clark High School in Hammond, Becky Bergner said. He worked at a local American Legion post. He was divorced from a first wife.
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Sourced from: http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/2007/11/14/news/top_news/doc2477a38bddd9419c8625739300045d17.txt
11/14/2007 In a bloody climax to months of terror, an accused stalker was shot to death Monday night by the unwilling object of his obsession after he broke into her Hessville home, police said. Ryan Lee Bergner, 41, of the 3000 block of Crane Place in Hammond, was pronounced dead from gunshot wounds to his abdomen shortly after 10:30 p.m. at a local hospital.
His death marked the end of an escalating sequence of violent acts against the 51-year-old woman. It began with a single date in June, she said. "I didn't want it to turn out like this," the woman said Tuesday afternoon while removing yellow police tape from the back of her house in the 6900 block of Tennessee Avenue.
Just hours before, the woman was watching television in her living room when she heard Bergner break a bathroom window near her back door. She called 911, police said. The emergency operator advised her to lock herself in her bedroom until police arrived, and she ran upstairs to do so, retrieving a pistol given to her for protection by a friend earlier in the day.
Bergner already had broken into her house through a back window over the weekend, destroying a clock radio and stealing several of her undergarments, she reported to police Saturday. Police records show Bergner also had tried to kick in the woman's front door a week earlier after accosting her at her job and being ejected from the business by her co-workers. He also was suspected of slashing her Jeep's tires on at least two occasions, police records show. "This isn't over yet," Bergner told her Nov. 3, according to police reports of the incident.
Hiding in her closet on Monday night, the woman said she heard Bergner enter the bedroom, then watched as he opened the closet door. She said she told him to stop, but he kept coming. She fired the 9 mm semiautomatic three times. "I was shaking so bad, I didn't think I'd hit him," the woman recalled Tuesday afternoon. "He just kept coming." Now in the closet with her, Bergner grabbed the woman's neck with both hands and began choking her, she said. "And then he just stopped," she said, finger-shaped bruises still visible on her throat 17 hours after the struggle.
Police found her in her front yard when they arrived moments later, and they found Bergner -- wearing black leather gloves and a brown leather jacket -- lying partially in the bedroom closet, On the bed nearby was a Walther PPK pistol.
On Tuesday afternoon, detectives still were searching the Crane Place home Bergner shared with his brother for evidence. They declined to comment.
The case is expected to be presented today to the Lake County prosecutor, who could choose to file charges against the woman or deem the shooting justifiable homicide.
Bergner had not been charged over any of the half-dozen previous complaints made against him because, as misdemeanors, the responsibility rests with the victim to seek charges with the prosecutor in Crown Point, and she apparently had not done so.
"We only went out on that one date," the woman said Tuesday. "I got a look at his temper, and realized I didn't want anything to do with him. But he wouldn't take no for an answer."
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Sourced from: http://www.legacy.com/nwitimes/Obituaries.asp?Page=Notice&PersonID=97932138
Obituaries 11/15/2007
RYAN LEE BERGNER HAMMOND, IN Ryan Lee Bergner, age 41, of Hammond, IN, passed away Monday, November 12, 2007. He is survived by three brothers: Lance (Susan) Bergner of Kankakee, IL, Douglas (Becky) Bergner of Crown Point, IN and Nicholas (Melissa) Bergner of Chesterton, IN; four nieces: Sarah Bergner of Kankakee, IL, Kayla Bergner of Chesterton, IN, Faith Bergner of Crown Point, IN and Aubree Bergner of Chesterton, IN; two nephews: Seth Whitmer of Kankakee, IL and Phoenix Bergner of Crown Point, IN; uncle, Richard (Shirley) Ramsey of Kernersville, NC; and close friends: Todd Ulrich of Chesterton, IN, Jason Miles of Hammond, IN and Bonnie Odeguard of Kingsman, IN; and the entire Janek family. Mr. Bergner was preceded in death by his parents: Jerome and Donna Bergner. A memorial service will be held Friday, November 16, 2007 at 8:00 p.m. at the Kuiper Funeral Home, 9039 Kleinman Road (two blocks south of Ridge Road), Highland, IN with Pastor David Kipp officiating. Cremation will precede the service. Friends are invited to meet with the family on Friday from 5:00-8:00 p.m. at the funeral home. Mr. Bergner was a member and S.A.L. Commander of the American Legion Post #232 of Hammond, IN who will hold services at 7:00 p.m. Friday evening. He enjoyed camping and fishing and was a loving brother, uncle and friend.
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Sourced from: http://nwi.com/articles/2008/01/10/news/lake_county/docc6e7d1ca7dcd2fee862573cc00081d1f.txt
No charges in shooting of accused stalker
01/10/2008 A Hessville woman will not be charged in the shooting death of a man accused of breaking into her home in November and stalking her. Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter said on Wednesday he was turning down any charges against the woman in the death of Ryan Lee Bergner, 41, considering her actions to be in self-defense and defense of property.
The Nov. 12 shooting of Bergner as he cornered the 51-year-old woman in an upstairs bedroom closet capped a month of escalating terror -- chronicled in a series of police reports filed by the woman -- which included break-ins, vandalism and assaults in her workplace. They had briefly dated over the summer, but Bergner couldn't accept that she didn't want to be his girlfriend, and wouldn't take "no" for an answer, the woman said.
That fatal Monday night, she was watching television at 10:30 p.m. when she heard a window breaking, and called 911. An
audio recording of her conversation with the emergency dispatcher, from the initial break-in to her escape from the dying Bergner six minutes later, was released by Hammond police on Wednesday. "I'm so scared," the woman said to the 911 operator, who told her to lock herself in a bedroom until police arrived.
Bergner had already broken into her house two days earlier, she reported to police, destroying a clock-radio and stealing several of her undergarments.
"I heard him turn a light on, a hallway light," she told the dispatcher as she hid in a closet, armed with a pistol a friend had given her for protection. "What are you doing?" she can be heard asking over the sound of her bedroom door being kicked in. "Stop it! Please stop it! Just stop it!"
Gunshots can clearly be heard on the recording. She later said Bergner was on top of her in the closet, his hands around her throat, choking her. "What are you trying to do, kill me?" the mortally wounded Bergner asked.
"Are you trying to kill me?"
Police found her in her front yard when they arrived moments later, and found Bergner, wearing black leather gloves and a brown leather jacket, lying partially in the bedroom closet with three bullet wounds to his abdomen, a 9 mm pistol on the bed nearby.
"That tape is absolutely chilling," said Hammond Police Chief Brian Miller, who worked for years as a detective with the department's sex crimes division.
Miller said he is regularly asked to speak at meetings of women's organizations and support groups for victims of domestic violence, and in the future will be taking the recording along with him as an example of what can happen.
"I didn't want it to turn out like this," the woman told The Times the day after the shooting, though she declined to comment for the record on Wednesday's decision by the prosecutor's office.
