My Neighbor's Keeper is based on a True Story

2011-08-10T06:58:00.001-07:00

Plot: A woman ends up caring for a friend's small children after their mother is killed.

Reality: This movie is not advertised as being based on a true story or even inspired by a true story. However, upon viewing the movie, I remembered a case that was almost identical to the story. The mask and the murder on Halloween is what gave it away. I knew that the writer had to have heard of this story to create a movie around this plot. Of course she changed the focus of the movie to a woman obsessed with having a child. Here are some clues: woman killed on Halloween, the mask, the mask found at murder scene, and the discovery of the killer wearing the mask at a party from a photo. Read the real story below!

My Neighbor's Keeper Movie based on the case of Doreen Erbert, Charles Erbert

2011-08-10T06:58:00.000-07:00

Timeline of the Case of Doreen Erbert
by Traciy Curry-Reyes

Background on William Michael Dennis (from investigator's and psychologist's notes)
William Michael Dennis had a troubled childhood. He suffered from hearing loss and talked with a stutter. His parents divorced when he was very young. Throughout his childhood and adulthood he had a problem with being overweight. He had a hard time getting girlfriends. He suffered with depression and attempted suicide. Eventually he met and married Doreen and they had a child, Paul. Paul was his pride and joy. According to William Michael Dennis, Doreen had several affairs while they were married. They divorced shortly after.

1979

Doreen marries Charles Glenn Erbert and moves into his home with her child, Paul, who was just 3 years old. She gives birth to her daughter Deanna on November 26, 1979. William Michael Dennis lives only minutes away. He would come over frequently to pick up his son for visitation. On one occasion, Doreen's dog drowns in the family pool. William Michael Dennis is concerned that the same thing could happen to Paul. He asks them to fix it...even offering to pay part of the costs. The fence was eventually fixed, but was somewhat unstable. (not sure how this came about)

1980

Doreen and William’s 4 year old son, Paul, dies from drowning at a pool in Doreen’s new home.

1982

William Michael Dennis sues Doreen and Charles for wrongful death. His argument was that Doreen often used marijuana while caring for Paul, and that she probably was not watching him. He felt that both Charles and Doreen mistreated his son because Paul never wanted to go back to Doreen's after a visit with him. On the day Paul drowned, he had begged his father not to take him back. He is not successful. The court does not rule in his favor. Enraged and depressed, he starts to have homicidal thoughts of killing Doreen and Charles. His intention, according to him, was to drown them both in the ocean. Friends and family begin to notice that William Michael Dennis feels tremendous guilt and goes into a depression.

October 1984

William Michael Dennis is layed off from his job and demoted to a lower paying position.

October 31, 1984 (Halloween Night between 8:30 and 9pm)

According to Testimony by Charles and Deanna on the night of the murder and at trial.

At about 6pm, William Dennis had dinner with his mother who lived in a separate apartment attached to the home. At 6:30 he handed some mail that had been improperly delivered to his neighbor. He told her that he was on his way to a Halloween party. At around 8:15pm his mother leaves and goes back to her apt to get some sleep. William Michael Dennis disguises himself in a wolf face mask and makes his way over to the Erbert home using an overpass. One man sees him dressed in mechanic type overalls wearing a wolf mask walking towards the Erbert's house between 8:30 and 8:55.

During this time period, Charles takes his daughter Deanna trick or treating and returns home. Doreen then took Deanna trick or treating to a couple of houses, then they returned home. (It is at this same time that people observe William Michael Dennis wearing a mask and staring directly at the Erbert home.) Charles Erbert leaves the home for about 15 minutes to buy alcohol. He told Doreen to lock the doors since it was getting late. He knocks at the door, Doreen and Deanna go to answer the door. The man standing there says "you killed my boy." She then turns her back to him. He then states "I'm going to kill you." He enters the home. Doreen tells him "Get out of my house!" He then starts to attack Doreen with a machete like weapon with an 18 inch blade. Doreen screams for her daughter to hide behind the couch, which she did. She hid behind the couch listening to their voices. She could not remember what they were saying. She came out twice: once to see what was happening and the other time to get her blanket. She received deep cuts to various parts of her body including the placenta and the umbilical cord. Doreen's daughter Deanna is kneeling behind the couch, she heard her mother call the name "Michael." William Michael Dennis swings the blade that severs the fetus from the womb. The fetus drops to the floor, and it is at this point that he realizes that she is pregnant. (according to him) Doreen starts to vomit. He then asks her how it feels to drown. As he was leaving he tells Deanna's 3 year old daughter not to tell anyone or he would kill her. She continues hiding in the living room until he leaves. A few minutes later, Charles gets back and notices that the door is unlocked, and Doreen is lying on the floor in the living room. Then he looks over and notices the fetus is on the floor. He thinks that Doreen might have gone into labor until he sees her hand on the floor too. Doreen's hand and the baby's leg had been severed. He then notices deep cuts to her body. She is barely breathing. Running towards the phone to call 911, he slips and falls. Covered in blood, he runs to get help from a neighbor when he notices that his daughter Deanna is hiding. He comforts her and tries to cover her face so that she does not see more of the bloody scene. The paramedics and the police arrive and Deanna goes with the neighbor while Charles tries to see about Doreen. He tries to go with Doreen in the ambulance, but the police arrest him because they smell that he has been drinking alcohol. He becomes enraged and has a bit of a fit while waiting in the patrol car. Police search the house and find blood everywhere. Blood on the ceiling on the walls...everywhere. They found slash marks throughout the area from the weapon that was used. There was a wolf mask on the porch.

Around 12:30 am

The police go to William Michael Dennis's home. He would not answer the door. They finally got the police to call his home to tell him that he needed to answer the door because the officers wanted to speak with him. He lets them in. He is acting as though he was asleep, but the officers take note that the bed does not look as if someone had been sleeping there. They tell him about what happened to his ex wife Doreen...he responds "You're kidding." The police notice that he has severe cuts on his fingers that were bleeding through the gauze. They get his consent to check the home where the find bloody jeans, blood drops on the floor in the kitchen, and on the washing machine etc. They found his mom asleep in a separate living area of the house. In the garage there were 2 empty coffins (these were the coffins that he planned on using to drown Doreen and Charles in the ocean) They checked his car and found blood there too. William Michael Dennis is arrested and taken into custody. At the station, he denied killing Doreen. He said that he had not left his home since arriving home from work. When asked about a Halloween costume, he said that he had worn various kinds over the years. He never mentioned the wolf mask. The cut on his hand, he explained, happened when he was playing a game of toss and catch with a blade.

August 1985

Charles Glenn Erbert sued the city of San Jose for being arrested falsely at his home in front of the neighbors.

July 1988: Trial Begins

Many of his friends and family members testified on William Michael Dennis' behalf. They described the problems that Dennis had when he was a child and what a good father he was to his son Paul. When he lost his son Paul...he lost everything. According to a report that had been entered during the trial, Dennis stated that Doreen died very quickly. That she was conscious and able to speak to him for about 60 seconds before she lost all consciousness. Dennis also said that he did not harm the baby at all...but that it dropped to the floor. The mask was found to be a mask that he had worn at a Halloween party. There was actually a photo with him wearing the mask along with some rubber hands. The wolf mask was a cartoon like wolf with the tongue hanging out.

August 16, 1988

William Michael Dennis, 38, was found guilty of murder both his ex wife and the unborn child. He sat calmly and motionless during the reading of the verdict. When he was led out of the courtroom he said “Good Night” to Doreen’s family. He then stated that the verdict was all wrong before his lawyer shut him up. Karen Hitchens cried as she hugged her mom and other family members when the verdict was read.

September 6, 1988

William Michael Dennis is sentenced to death. He addressed the family for about 30 minutes. He apologized to them, but stated that he was not fully responsible....that it was a crime of passion because he was so distraught that Doreen and her husband Charles had not fixed the unstable fence which led to the accidental drowning involving his 3 year old son Paul.

February 1998

The death sentence of William Michael Dennis is upheld

2010

William Michael Dennis still sits on California's death row. He is now 61. He has been busy trying to reform some prison laws pertaining to death row inmates. Here is a statement he made concerning death row inmates being chained at the waist during their last visit:

"It is a trying time as it is for family members to have to meet an inmate at this late date, but to compound the mental anguish seeing a love one tied up in waist chains isn't needed," he wrote in a typed letter from San Quentin, home for all male death row inmates."

Extra Tidbits

The crime occurred in Berryessa, California.

William Michael Dennis worked as a machine operator at a company in Sunnyvale, Lockheed Missiles and Space.

William Michael Dennis said that he did not know that she was pregnant. Doreen's sister had seen her earlier in the week and noticed that Doreen looked really pregnant.

His case came to the public's attention again during the Laci Peterson murder trial. He felt that he had nothing in common with the case because he did not know that she was pregnant, and that this was a revenge killing. Doreen's father who was in his eighties at the time said that his daughter's murder ruined his entire life.

The weapon used was a Stanley 18-inch machete (similar to the one below)

Berryessa, San Jose, California Murder

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Here are some of the medical examiner's findings during an autopsy of Doreen Erbert:

"Doreen suffered many cuts on the left and right sides and back of her head. Some cuts penetrated the skull. She had numerous deep wounds on the right side of her head, some of which fractured the skull; one penetrated two inches into the brain.

Doreen's left hand was completely severed just above the wrist. She had wounds on the upper back portion of her left shoulder, including a gaping cut down to the bone. She also received severe cuts to the right shoulder, some of which cut into the scapula and one of which severed the head of the humerus. Her right breast received three cuts, including one that was consistent with a stabbing injury.

On Doreen's thighs and legs there were long, deep, gaping wounds consistent with chopping. A heavy blow caused a large, gaping cut to her right thigh and penetrated to the bone, fracturing the femur.

Doreen had a nine-inch gaping wound in her abdomen and another five-and-one-half-inch chopping wound parallel to that. She had suffered multiple cuts through the abdomen while the fetus was still inside her. Her [17 Cal. 4th 496] stomach and large bowel were cut open. There were three cuts to her uterine wall, including an eight-inch cut that extended through it. Her placenta was cut, and there were four cuts to the umbilical cord, including one that severed it near the place where it had been attached to the fetus.

The fetus was separated from Doreen after her abdominal wounds allowed his expulsion. The fetus was one month short of full term and could have survived if born prematurely. A cut to his head penetrated into the bone. His left shoulder blade was cut through, although his arm was not, indicating that it was up and out of the way. The fetus's scrotum, penis, perineum, and back of the right thigh were cut. His left leg was severed below the knee. A large, five-inch wound cut through half of his body. This wound extended from his upper right abdomen through his left chest to his left armpit, cutting through the shoulder blade, the second thoracic vertebra, the liver, and one lung, and transecting the heart. This wound stopped his heart and circulation. Examination of his lungs demonstrated they had never been expanded, and there was no air in them. The fetus never breathed or lived independently of Doreen. The injuries to Doreen and her fetus prevented the fetus from ever breathing."

Ancestry Research Erbert

2011-08-10T05:09:00.000-07:00

Key Players in the case

Frank Hitchens: Doreen’s father. He stated that Dennis better not ever get out or he would kill him without even thinking about it. He passed away August 11, 2007.

Catherine Hitchens: Doreen’s mother stated that if he ever got out she would hire someone to kill him.

Doreen Erbert: the victim

Tito Gonzales: his public defender in the case

Jennie Chapman: is the neighbor that was depicted in the movie. Deanna, Doreen's daughter told her what happened in the house.

Ancestry Research

Catherine Irene Noceti aka (Renna) Catherine Hitchens: Doreen’s mother.

Franklin Gale Hitchens aka Frank Hitchens: Doreen’s father.

Doreen Rae Erbert: The victim. Born Nov 29 1952. She first married William Michael Dennis aka Paul Michael Dennis in 1976. Her second marriage was to Charles Glenn Erbert.

Paul Dennis: died at the age of 3 in a drowning accident. His father is William Michael Dennis now on death row for the murder of his mother Doreen.

Deanna Erbert Peterson aka Deanna Peterson is Doreen and Charles’ daughter who was just 4 years old at the time of her murder. She is now about 31 with a family of her own.

Dennis Gale Hitchens: Doreen's brother

Karen Lynn Hitchens: Doreen's sister