Wife of U. prof commits suicide awaiting trial

A new report chronicles how Mine Ener, a former Villanova University professor, committed suicide in her holding cell while awaiting trial for second-degree murder, at the Adult Detention Center in St. Paul, Minn., on Aug. 30.

Ener's suicide hits closer to home than most in the Penn community may realize -- she was married to Ron Donagi, the undergraduate chairman of the University's Mathematics Department.

According to Julius Shaneson, the chair of Penn's Mathematics Department, Donagi is "back in the department fulfilling his duties [and] was not scheduled to teach this semester, anyway."

Ener's story does not begin, though, with her recent death. Rather, it starts at the beginning of this year, with the birth of her daughter, Raya Donagi.

Born with Down Syndrome, Ener and Donagi's child had to eat through a feeding tube. The stress of taking care of the child is what Ener said led her back to her childhood home in St. Paul.

On Aug. 4., Ener's mother made a 911 call, said a St. Paul homicide investigator working on the case, and when police arrived, Ener told them she killed her child, saying that she didn't want her to "to go through life suffering," according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

At the time of her arrest, Ener claimed to be suffering from postpartum depression, and had been contemplating suicide.

She was brought to the Adult Detention Center in Minnesota's Ramsey County on the charge of second-degree murder, and "was in custody awaiting trial" at the time of her death, said the investigator.

A Ramsey County Sheriff's Department report, which was released last week, chronicles the events that led up to Ener's suicide.

The officer on duty at the center the morning of her death said that Ener was acting normally and actually in a rather upbeat mood, according to the report.

She had even asked for more milk than usual and when Cheryl Caumiant, a correctional officer, got it for her, Ener "said I was very nice and thoughtful and that she appreciated the kindness, which she had said to me before," Caumiant said.

Because Ener had attempted suicide once before on Aug. 16 and had been stopped, the correctional officers had been told to check on her frequently -- this was done throughout the day of her death.

According to various testimonies issued by the corrections officers working that day, Ener appeared to be fine, at one point even sleeping with her feet noticeably moving.

When an inmate count was conducted after the 3:00 shift change, Ener appeared to be sleeping under her blanket. When she did not move after being verbally addressed twice, the sheet was removed.

Ener was found with a white garbage bag tied around her head, according to the report.

At nearly 2:00, an inmate claims to have seen Ener retying a plastic garbage bag in the hallway, despite the fact that she did not have any janitorial duties.

Upon investigation, it was found that the jail-cleaning contractor, Marsden Building Maintenance, habitually left empty bags in the bottom of the garbage cans. They claim that this practice was stopped immediately after Ener's death.

Ener's lawyer, Joseph Friedberg, who could not be reached for comment, blamed the Ramsey County Law Enforcement for her death because they did not transfer Ener to a psychiatric ward after her first suicide attempt.

"Mentally ill people need to be transferred to places where mentally ill people belong," Friedberg told The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Ramsey County attorney Susan Gaertner refused to provide any comment, saying that she had already issued her statement on the issue.

Gaertner had previously defended the decision to keep Ener in jail, however.

According to the Ramsey County report, when the investigator searched Ener's cell, no suicide note was found, but a piece of paper, yet to be determined as Ener's handwriting, did say, "I hate my life." Four torn-up letters and cards were also found in the trash can.

"It was a terribly tragic occurrence, and we have a great deal of sympathy for her family," Villanova spokeswoman Barbara Clement said.

She added that "she was well respected and loved by the Villanova academic community."

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