Car drives into Lake Michigan; three killed — (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

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Lubbock Avalanche-Journal

Published: Wednesday, October 06, 1999

Note: A member of the Prozac Survivors Support Group has confirmed that this woman was taking antidepressants as the time of the murder-suicide.

CHICAGO {AP} Police were investigating whether a woman deliberately drove her car into Lake Michigan in a wreck that killed her and two of her children.

The car veered off Lake Shore Drive, went slowly down some steps and paused for a moment before it suddenly accelerated and went into a downtown harbor Monday night, police and witnesses said. It sank in about 17 feet of water.

Two police officers went into the murky, 59-degree water to try to rescue the victims. The officers were treated for exposure. Police divers had to break a window to pull out the victims: Shirley Combest, 33, a long-distance operator for Sprint; her daughter, Shaniqua, 8; and her son John, 6. Ms. Combest had a teen-age son who was not in the car. Ms. Combest had a history of depression and had been under a doctor’s care a few months ago, said her mother, Ruthie Mae Combest. She said her daughter also was grieving over the death of an older sister in a car accident last month. “She was taking it awful hard,” the mother said.