California IN BRIEF : FOSTER CITY : Murders, Suicide Laid to Illness

A family devastated by terminal illness apparently arranged a double homicide and suicide pact to end the suffering, a coroner’s investigator said. George Berger, 73, was suffering from terminal cancer when he apparently shot his ailing wife, Marion Berger, 70, and their terminally ill 42-year-old son, Alan, said San Mateo County deputy coroner Hugh Swaney. “George shot his wife and son and then shot himself,” said Swaney, adding that there was no sign of struggle. “The whole family was very ill. Three terminal illnesses. It’s the damnedest case I’ve ever seen.” Alan Berger was in the final stages of AIDS-related illness, Swaney said, and Marion Berger was suffering from several ailments.