Laurie Dann: A Brief Biography

Laurie Dann was an Illinois woman, who had come from a wealthy North Shore family. She had been suffering from severe mental health issues for years, and was often going off her medication. She had been married at one point, though they later got divorced due to issues in their relationship. Laurie had made death threats, and harassing phone calls to her ex-husband, and his family members for years, and at one point was even accused of trying to murder him in his sleep with an ice pick.

On May 2oth, 1988, Laurie went on a crime spree in Winnetka, Illinois. Laurie had also delivered arsenic-laced food products (rice crispies treats, and juice boxes) to her ex-husband, ex-boyfriend, and many other people in her life. That same day, she tried to detonate a firebomb in the hallway of an elementary school. When that plan was foiled, Laurie tried to set a daycare on fire, but was stopped at the door. She was trying to harm her ex-sister-in-law’s children, who attended the school, and daycare.

While at the house of the client she babysat for, Laurie set their house on fire — with the mother, and children locked in the basement. And then Laurie Dann had gone to another elementary school, armed with her three handguns. She shot multiple second graders, killing eight-year-old Nick Corwin, and injuring a great deal of other victims. It was considered one of the first U.S school shootings, and her crimes had horrified the nation. After ending up at a nearby neighbour’s house, she convinced them that she was the victim of a rape, and that she’d…