Jumper ‘Distraught’ in Call: The Father of the Doctor Who Threw His Sons Off a Balcony and Plunged to His Own Death Says His Son Sounded Distraught and Paranoid Just Days Earlier

By Stephanie Garry, The Miami Herald

May 29–Two days before Edward Van Dyk threw his two young sons off a 15th-floor balcony of a South Beach luxury hotel and then plunged to his own death, the vacationing Illinois doctor appeared to be experiencing a mental breakdown, his father told The Miami Herald on Sunday.

In a disturbing telephone call to his parents on Thursday — the day before he flew to Miami to join his wife and two sons already staying at the Loews Hotel — Van Dyk sounded paranoid and appeared to be hallucinating, said Oebele Van Dyk, 86, from his New York home.

“He was very distraught. I think he was seeing things that didn’t seem to be real,” Oebele Van Dyk said in a telephone interview.

It would be his final conversation with his successful oncologist son.

He believes there is only one possible explanation for why his son, who had taken up medicine to “help people,” would turn violent Saturday morning.

“I think this was a bout of insanity,” said the father, who believes his 43-year-old son just snapped. “Only an insane mind can bring this about.”

Van Dyk was a “peaceful guy,” who “never, never fought,” his father said.

“He wanted to do something for people, so this act is totally alien to his basic nature,” Oebele Van Dyk said.

On Tuesday, Edward Van Dyk’s wife, Qinuo, and their children, Spencer, 4, and Carl, 8, checked into the Loews, 1601 Collins Ave.

Miami Beach police found no suicide note in the Van Dyks’ hotel room and asked the sheriff’s office in Madison County, Ill., to search the family’s home in Godfrey to see if Edward Van Dyk had written down his thoughts or left other signs of what was to come. Police found his personal computer in Illinois but had not yet searched it, police spokesman Robert Hernandez said.

“This may be a case where we never know what the motive was,” Hernandez said. “We can speculate, but we won’t know 100 percent, probably ever, if we don’t get a suicide note.”

Oebele Van Dyk said he and his wife, Mary, 84, did not learn of the family tragedy until Sunday, when his daughter-in-law, Qinuo, 40, called him.

“She was very upset, understandably so. She has lost her life, her husband and her kids. The kids were something marvelous. So this is very tough for her,” he said.

Qinuo Van Dyk, originally from China, ran out of the hotel bathroom when she heard the boys screaming, and saw her husband jump. She looked over the balcony to see the bodies of her sons, clad in pajamas, and husband on the roof of the hotel’s mezzanine.

NO KNOWN PROBLEMS

Oebele Van Dyk said his son had no history of mental problems and did not take any psychiatric medications, as far as he knew. He was also unaware of any problems between his son and his wife, although Qinuo Van Dyk told police that the couple had been struggling with marital difficulties for about six months.

Oebele Van Dyk did say his son made accusations during their conversation. He would not go into details, except to say his son sounded disturbingly unhinged.

“I thought his outlook was too dark, too pessimistic,” he said. “A lot of the things he was saying seemed to be imagined.

“I think he just lost his mind, and I don’t know what happened because — to this point — everything was fine with him. He was more or less on top of the world,” the father said.

The Van Dyks had moved to a luxurious, three-story house in an elite, gated community outside Alton, Ill., about a year and a half ago. He had been promoted and was doing well in his new job, his father said.

Edward Van Dyk was very involved with his children, his father said, and he and his wife, also a doctor who specialized in fertility treatments, were married 10 years ago. She had stopped practicing medicine to be a stay-at-home mom.

Oebele Van Dyk said Carl and Spencer were “excellent kids, top-notch kids, very intelligent, it’s unbelievable what happened here.”

The grandparents had visited the family for a week in March and everything seemed fine, said Oebele Van Dyk.

He described Carl, the oldest child, as being a budding violinist, and 4-year-old Spencer as “bubbly” and “funny.” According to The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Spencer attended Montessori Children’s House on the Lewis and Clark Community College campus while Carl was primarily home-schooled.

The Van Dyk family moved to Illinois after Edward was recruited to serve as the director of Alton Memorial Hospital’s Cancer Center, spokesman Rob Shelton said.

“He was eminently qualified,” Shelton said. “There were no problems with his performance in the workplace.”

Van Dyk had a great bedside manner, and was a compassionate, quiet man, Shelton added. There was no indication of mental instability, and his colleagues weren’t aware of problems with his wife or children.

“We don’t know what was happening in his personal life,” Shelton said.

PREVIOUS POSITION

James R. Rigas, the director of the thoracic oncology program at Dartmouth College, worked with Van Dyk briefly about five years ago at the Norris Cotton Cancer Center. It was Van Dyk’s first position as a radiation oncologist, and he had been a “respectful colleague,” although others felt differently.

“Some of the staff had voiced that they had difficulty working with him,” Rigas said.

Miami Beach police said Sunday the Chinese Consulate in Miami was trying to arrange for an emergency visa for Qinuo Van Dyk’s father, who lives in China. She has no relatives in the States, Hernandez said. An administrator from Alton Memorial Hospital was heading to Miami.

Qinuo Van Dyk was staying at a different hotel room as police completed the investigation. Police have assigned a detective and two counselors to stay with her. Hernandez said she had been progressing through the stages of grief, going through denial on Saturday and anger on Sunday.

Miami Herald staff writers Luisa Yanez and Susan Anasagasti contributed to this report.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Miami Herald

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