Personality

All the information about Jeremy’s personality and appearance, as well as personal talents and behavior – as stated and confirmed by family members and very close friends – goes here.

Random Tidbits

He had a dog. There is no specifics given on what type of dog. He sent pics of himself posing with his puppy dog to a friend in West Texas along with a suicide note in early 1991.

Appearance:

Police note in December 1990 that Jeremy’s height was 5-foot-8 (1,73m), weight was 140 pounds (63kg).

He had a conservative appearance, short straight brown hair, a cross tattoo on his left arm, two gold earnings in his left ear and was wearing a jogging suit and tennis shoes.

According to police records, at the time of his death, Jeremy height and weight was 5-foot-8 (1,73m), 128 pounds (58kg).
According to friends, he had stunning green eyes, subtle freckles, straight brown hair and a kind smile. There were powder burns on his left hand.

Jeremy had three tattoos: a cross on his upper left chest, a “13” on the back of his left hand, and another cross on his left arm. On Jan 8, he was wearing a gray sweatshirt, gray T-shirt, jeans, leather belt, white thermal underwear, two pairs of white socks and brown leather work boots. He also wore jewelry; a gold left earring, gold necklace, silver watch on his left wrist; black comb in pocket and brown holster in waistband.

He could be seen entering the school wearing a large white winter coat but had taken it off and put it on a desk in the English class room.

Later toxicological tests were negative.

/Comments: blood loss, combined with depression eating disorder would accommodate for the weight difference in such a short time span. According to police, they conducted a toxicological test during the autopsy. But cannabinoids, acid and other (also prescription) drugs stay in your system for a long time and are traceable in blood samples, as well as hair follicles. It is not known what kind of analytical standards were accessible and prevalent for the pathologists back then and if a toxicology test meant it was also tested for those drugs. According to this source, it was not uncommon to skip Cannabinoid testing in post mortem analysis due to the uncertain nature of the results.

Drug abuse

According to the police report, several students at RHS knew about Jeremy’s drug problems.

His school mate Ryan stated that Jeremy wouldn’t stay clean and that he did marijuana and acid. Both Michelle and Nancy confirmed this later.

Jeremy K., another RHS school mate, told the police that Jeremy Delle was in a support class due to substance abuse and that he had the impression that Delle did not want to stay clean.

Jeremy’s Personality:

His father Joseph described Jeremy as being very bright, artistic and curious. He had many interests and hobbies, such as Scuba diving, flying, karate, playing drums and drawing.
Mr. Delle also reported that Jeremy had problems dealing with the divorce of his parents.

Jeremy suffered from depression and therefore the parents sought counseling for him.
Mr. Delle also noted that Jeremy had a tendency to lie often and that his only goal at age 16 was to get a car and a girl pregnant.

He denied Jeremy had a child and also confirmed there were no plans they would be moving to Japan.

/Comment: From what I have read and heard about Jeremy, this sounds about right on the first glance. Mr. Delle’s comments came off a bit harsh though. Undeniably, Jeremy had issues facing reality and day to day life. Whether his conduct was caused by his reported acid consumption, combined with whatever medication was prescribed back then against depression – or if his behavior was only symptom of a latent (undiagnosed) mental health condition other than depression, or maybe a mixture of all those things can not be answered without doubt.

Joseph was checking on other medical treatments for Jeremy. The parents were rarely seen at the new school, RHS, but there have been interviews with Joseph and the school officials concerning Jeremy’s truancy.

The impression left by the police reports was that Joseph cared about his son but was not able to express it properly.
It should be noted that police explicitly stated in the report that Mr. Delle did not seem to be affected by his son’s death at all and only showed anger at minor issues, like who tells Jeremy’s mother.

It is not far-fetched to assume Mr. Delle was in shock. As Wanda said, you go “into a fog”. People behave differently in state of shock. Maybe it sank in later?
Would a non-caring, indifferent parent go for custody?

So the question remains, was living with his dad what Jeremy wanted? No one can say for sure aside from himself.
His notes speak about his dissatisfaction with the family situation and his parents in particular. It would be interesting for the complete picture to hear what he had to say about his family life on those tapes.

Anyway, Mr. Delle showed concern that his son received proper medical treatment and that he arrived at school on time by means of having Jeremy text on a pager, or beeper; a device that most of the late 80’s students used.
Those measures don’t seem very strict or harsh from the outside. However, there may have been other problems and issues not mentioned but only experienced in day-to-day family life. This is purely speculative. It’s easy to pass judgement after everything was done. It can be assumed that Jeremy perceived those measures as strict, judging from his various statements.

Wanda statements:

To this day, Wanda is still very proud of Jeremy as her house is full of Jeremy’s paintings and ribbons of accomplishments. She said he was very talented.

She indicated that Jeremy was more than a side-note in a newspaper or a theme of a song by noting that Jeremy was a loved son, grandson, brother, nephew and friend.

She did not mentioning his mental problems or this part was not aired during the interview with WFAA.

Nancy’s assessment of Jeremy

According to the police records, Nancy advised following statements about Jeremy’s personality:

-He sent her detailed and artistic letters in which he would often talk about suicide

-He was ‘nice looking with a good personality‘ but he had anger problems with his parents, school problems, drug problems and depression problems

-They dated from March 8 until middle of April 1990

-She broke up with him because of his possessive attitude and his problems with drugs and depression

-Two days later he attempted suicide with pills. He was rushed to the hospital and survived. (suicide attempt #1)

–Consequently, he was put in an in-patient program at Timberlawn.

-Next she saw him was in July of 1990 when they both attended another church retreat. On this occasion he climbed upon a cliff and threatened suicide (suicide attempt #2)

He did not jump and he was counseled by church persons on the incident.

-some days after this incident, he received his pass to come home from Timberlawn and on another July night, he drove to Nancy’s residence and stated that he had a gun, threatening suicide.
(suicide attempt #3) Nancy did not see the weapon and Jeremy left the area soon afterwards. No consequences or reports on this day.

-He stole money from a basketball game at Richardson HS and got in trouble with the Police for it

-Jeremy removed the vehicles of his parents without consent on several occasions to visit friends around the Dallas area – but also as far as Austin

Chris, Jeremy’s friend in Austin, TX, shared following comment about the car-episode on this website:
“Jeremy was my best friend at the time of his death. We met at Timberlawn where we were both in patient adolescents. I discharged in late september of 1990 and came back home to Austin. Here’s a hilarious Jeremy story for you…. In December of 1990 Jeremy stole his mom’s car and drove to Austin for a “surprise visit.” I quickly realized he had taken her car without her knowledge. I’ll never forget him calling me from a gas station in Austin, freaking the fuck out because there were cops everywhere. I told him to tell me the cross streets where he was and I’d come get him (I was 16 and had a drivers license) and lead him back to my parents house. Turns out that fucking guy was directly across from APD headquarters, hence cops everywhere and he in a stolen car.LOL. In his mind he was going to stay in Austin and had told kids from his school about the pregnancy (that wasn’t real) and that he was leaving to be with his kid. I can’t remember the name of the girl who was the alleged mother. It might’ve been Michelle. He wound up staying for a few days after my parents talk to his mom and agreed that maybe some cooling off would help him. That was the last time I physically ever saw him. “

Nancy stated that

-Jeremy blamed his problems on his parents and his older sister

-He was a heavy marijuana, acid, ecstasy and alcohol user

-He had a lot of school problems

-He thought that his dad was very strict

-He had trouble dealing with life in general

-He was a one time member of the Confederate Hammerskins organization

/Comment: This statement was proven false by Jeremy’s close friend Chris from Austin, back from their time at Timberlawn. He said that Jeremy had no affiliation with the Hammerskins. Jeremy probably exaggerated his involvement in a pursuit to impress people.

-He was an atheist

-He was listening to music groups that sang about death and suicide

–He told her that he was molested by his grandfather when he was a child

–He told her that he sometimes smoked pot together with his dad

–He told her that at Timberlawn he met Michelle and she had his child, but miscarried

/comment:
Regarding the last 3 statements, there is considerable reason to doubt that those are statements made by Jeremy were the whole truth. He had a history of lying.
The last statement was proven to be untrue by Michelle herself.

All considered, his dad was very strict but still allowed him to smoke pot at a young age? This is not convincing.

It could be that Jeremy was molested as a child by his grandfather and it would certainly explain some of his mental health issues.
On of his grandfathers was a decorated army sergeant with 7 children and at least 16 grandchildren. If this story was true, there should have been other allegations regarding the grandfather because this kind of abuse is rarely a singular occurrence, considering the fact of a very big family. There never was any allegation.
Additionally, there was no police investigation into this matter and it was not mentioned further in the police reports which would indicate Jeremy’s statement to Nancy was most likely untrue.

It can be debated whether Jeremy was an atheist. Why would he get himself not only one, but two cross shaped tattoo’s? It can be assumed that police records would mention if the symbol was an inverted cross or any other kind of cross. From what one is able to gather from the records, Jeremy was at least halfheartedly influenced by Christian teachings, attending a Baptist church in Mesquite. He was also reading up on Satanism and Cults as many adolescents did in the past, and still do nowadays.

Michelle’s assessment of Jeremy

She felt as if Jeremy’s death was her fault because he wanted a commitment from her and possible get married later.
She said that she could not give to him this commitment. She considered him as her friend – nothing more or less.

She stated she did not want to have romantic relationship with Jeremy because she could not handle it.
They met in July 1990 at Timberlawn inpatient program and date for approximately 3 months or more.
Michelle stated that Jeremy was upset they never made love and the fact they did not have a real relationship.

He would make side remarks about suicide in conversations and phone calls, which Michelle would find strange; e.g. he reportedly stated that he “would die for her” a week before his suicide.
Michelle reported Jeremy’s strange behavior to Wanda and according to Michelle, Wanda reacted indifferently.

Jeremy would send handwritten letters with drawings to Michelle when she was released from Timberlawn and they could not see each other that often. According to the police report, Jeremy’s penmanship was neat and the letters were artistic, as he expressed love and longing for a family of his own with Michelle.

She told him on Sunday, January 6th 1991, the she might be pregnant but it was not his child.

Michelle was not pregnant at the time. Even during the police interview when she left for a minute, the doctor confirmed this to the police officers.

After becoming emotional due to the TV news coverage that day, Michelle said that

-Jeremy always seemed depressed
-she knew he was doing acid

-Jeremy liked the Red Hot Chili Peppers and music “like the skinheads listened to”

-he called her often

-he gave her the number of Wanda and tried to set up the place as meeting place because it was only 5 minutes away from Timberlawn – he was taking initiative

-he also visited her at Timberlawn, last time was in the week before Christmas 1990

-he did tell her that he had gotten a gun for Christmas

Jeremy wrote to Nancy that it was Michelle’s fault and 137.5 other problems (probably referring to his weight).

Jeremy also wrote a letter to Michelle (not sent but found by Joseph in Jeremy’s room later and turned in to police on Jan. 14), stating that she was not to blame but the “actions between the two lately were considered in his decision”.

Fascination with guns, hunting and suicide & Jeremy’s “creative approach to truth”

According to the police report, upon entering RHS in October 1990, Jeremy would occasionally inquire from school mates if they own guns.

When his classmate Ryan A. confirmed his dad possessed a gun, Jeremy would offer him $200 if he would let him use the gun to commit suicide. Ryan thought Jeremy was joking and told him he was stupid. But then Jeremy offered $1000 if he would kill him. Jeremy did indicate to Ryan that someone was trying to track him down and kill him. Ryan was not sure what to think about this but did not report the incident.
On another occasion, when Jeremy was confined to a substance abuse special support class where he would tell classmate Jeremy K. that he had a girlfriend who had Delle’s child and that she ran off with the kid which in turn made him depressed and suicidal. He would go as far as showing K. pictures of “his” child. Jeremy would also reveal he had gotten a pistol for hunting purposes and that he was not sure if he’d be able to kill anything with it.
Jeremy told Nancy that Michelle miscarried but she was not even pregnant.
Jeremy would tell the same story to his friend Chris in Austin when he went for a visit with his parent’s car.

If you got anything to contribute or correct, please don’t hesitate to drop me a line, Email or write a comment below!