The 51-year-old Granger mother had been married to the same man for 23 years, and they were blessed with a good-looking family.
Their son is a college student who landed a nice internship this summer, Michelle posted in a Facebook update this spring.
Their daughter, a star Penn High School athlete, is heading to college this month.
Michelle was administrative assistant to campus operations for Granger Community Church, and she had this to say in a short Q&A on the church website:
“What was your childhood ambition?
“To fall in love, get married and have children. FAMILY!”
From the outside looking in, it seemed Michelle Ellenberger had achieved her greatest ambition, even though she was staring an empty nest in the face.
But the woman who seemed to have so much blew up her Granger home on June 19, prosecutors allege. Her actions that day, which authorities believe constituted a botched suicide attempt, have left her facing four felonies — and no contact with the family that was so important to her.
The probable cause affidavit is difficult to read, laying out what appears to have been Michelle Ellenberger’s progressively desperate attempt to kill herself.
The Ellenbergers’ daughter and her boyfriend had stopped by the house on Jodie Lynn Drive to change clothes in early afternoon that day, after attending a funeral. They opened the garage door, where they felt heat and smelled the strong odor of car exhaust. Both cars in the garage were running.
The young woman ran into the house and smelled natural gas, the document says. All of the knobs of the stove were turned on, and they found Michelle “passed out” on a couch.
Officials say Michelle would later test positive for a benzodiazepine overdose and a nearly 8 percent level of carbon monoxide in her blood. Someone had tampered with a gas supply pipe in the basement.
Her daughter moved back to the kitchen to turn off the gas coming from the stove.
She “turned the first knob and suddenly saw a huge flash of fire and heard a loud explosion which blew out the entire kitchen wall and caused the kitchen ceiling to come crashing down” on her, according to the affidavit. First responders were greeted by heavy smoke and fire, and two windows were blown out onto the front yard and driveway.
All three were eventually able to escape through the front door. Michelle’s daughter was hit on the head by the falling ceiling, and she experienced headaches and some smoke inhalation. Her boyfriend was also treated for headaches and ringing in his ears. A responding St. Joseph County police officer was hospitalized for smoke inhalation.
Michelle admitted to emergency responders what she had done, according to the document, “and was concerned about having harmed” her daughter and her boyfriend.
After being hospitalized for the carbon monoxide poisoning and drug overdose, Michelle checked herself out of the hospital at 4 a.m. two days later, against medical advice, to avoid being taken involuntarily to Epworth Hospital for psychiatric evaluation. The charging documents say that Michelle walked the more than seven miles to the home that is now considered a complete loss. Police retrieved her and took her to Epworth.
Last week, she was charged with three Level 3 felony counts of arson resulting in bodily injury and a Level 6 felony count of criminal mischief. Prosecutors also requested higher-than-standard bond, no contact with any of her family members (who worry about their safety, according to the documents), and a monitoring device after she bonded out of jail.
Eric Ellenberger filed for divorce three weeks ago. He did not respond to a call to his attorney in that case or contact through Granger Community Church, which issued a short statement that indicated their members would provide the family “care and appropriate assistance through this time.”
The decision on charges
When we published the charging decisions last week, online readers responded mostly with compassion for Michelle but wondered why prosecutors would seek to imprison a woman who seemingly needs help.
“I’m worried for our world when someone clearly with issues gets felony charges instead of mental health treatment,” one commenter said, a common refrain on our Facebook page.
St. Joseph County Prosecutor Ken Cotter read some of those sentiments, too.
Cotter can’t talk about specific cases, especially while they’re pending. But the charging document points out he did not move ahead with charges against Michelle Ellenberger until after speaking with her family.
“I would never ask for a no-contact order if a victim does not want it,” he said generally.
“Charges are not always for the purpose of incarcerating a person,” Cotter said. “Sometimes it is also for forcing a person to get help before they believe they need to get help.”
If convicted of all four felonies, Michelle Ellenberger could be sentenced from about 10 to 50 years in prison. The threat of prison time could inspire a plea agreement that would incorporate some form of completed mental health treatment.
“Is it my intent to incarcerate a person who’s severely depressed?” Cotter asked rhetorically. “That’s the last thing I want to do.”
Facebook has a way of making many of us feel inadequate as we compare the details of our existence with the nuggets of the happily coupled, wildly successful and incredibly fulfilled lives that scroll before us. We need reminders that we all struggle through this life, even if our struggles are largely private.
Only Michelle’s closest family and friends know whether she has long wrestled with mental health issues, or whether she has embraced or fought offers of help in the past.
But if you look a little deeper even at her online persona, you might sense a couple of cracks there.
There’s this, from her short church profile, for instance:
“What’s something God’s been teaching you lately you didn’t know before?
“Be patient! Be still! Be quiet! Boy, this is hard when you have ADD.”
Short posts on her Facebook page this year refer to small strokes in 2011 that still affect her memory, her inability to figure out her smartphone, her pending empty nest.
But perhaps most telling is the stock image with a smiley face image and these sad, haunting words:
“Sometimes it’s better to just remain silent and smile.”
Virginia Black: 574-235-6321
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