(NOTE: The following blog entry has been assembled from entries first posted at CrimeBlog.US: "The Horrible Fall of JJ Paulsen," and a second entry with the same title plus "Part 2." Part of the reason I blog at all is to write, pure and simple. And experimentation is part and parcel to writing. For updates to the original entries -- the "active" blogging -- you will need to check CrimeBlog.US. The following will contain identical material to what you read there information-wise, but there may be structural changes, re-wording, etc.)
If John James "JJ" Paulsen still lived in Hollywood or New York City, the following would be major news.
The producer and comedy writer was arrested in Indiana, so there is a veil over the story, at the moment. Call it the "flyover state effect." Crime stories that don't occur on either coast see a delay in being reported nationwide, unless they are particularly dramatic.
Police came to the 4 bedroom, 41/2 bath red brick home at 13294 Stagg Hill Drive in Carmel, Indiana on April 18, 2007. They were there to check on the welfare of 39-year-old Leanne Paulsen. Her family had not heard from Leanne since December of 2006, and they were concerned. Each time someone called, her husband said Leanne was out.
Inside the red-brick Paulsen home the cops found a grotesque scene at odds with the well-appointed surroundings. An adult woman's decomposing body was found in a crawlspace, and elsewhere in the home, police found a small child. The baby boy was -- thankfully -- alive. Christopher Paulsen, all of one year and 4 months old, was found crying in his crib, clad only in a dirty diaper. JJ Paulsen, Leanne's husband, was no where in sight.
Speaking to reporters, Carmel police Lieutenant Jeff Horner later said the following about the remains found in the home: "It appears that the body has been there for quite some time..."
The conclusion from an autopsy conducted a day later was that the woman had been dead for more than a week. The autopsy also indicated that Leanne Paulsen was the victim of a homicide. "Blunt force trauma" was the clinical term.
The blunt truth was this: The homecoming queen from Carmel High, class of 1985, had been beaten to death.
John J. "JJ" Paulsen was arrested about 3 hours after police found his screaming son and dead wife. The 47-year-old Paulsen was picked up around 7:30 that night, about 2 miles from his home in the Delaware Trace subdivision. Apparently, JJ was just walking down the road.
Paulsen was taken in on a charge of child endangerment. As he was already on probation, Paulsen was ordered held for 15 days and bail was set at $500,000.
JJ Paulsen's probation was for a charge of domestic violence. Beating on his wife was not a new thing for John James Paulsen. That's why he is now the focus of the police investigation into his wife's death.
According to the Indianapolis Star, Leanne and JJ moved to Indiana in 2004, shortly after they married. Paulsen was a native of Queens, NY and had lived in New York City and Hollywood.
Leanne's friends and family all agreed -- she was a beautiful, vibrant, gifted woman. She'd been a lot more than a homecoming queen. Leanne Serrano Paulsen was a professional singer, actress and an accomplished dancer.
A thread about Leanne's murder was begun on a message board at IndianaAuditions.com. User "timspradlin" began the discussion, titled "Sad Goodbye to Leanne Serrano," with a cut and paste from a newspaper article and his own brief introduction: "Leanne and I did Jesus Christ Superstar together some years ago, I will miss you so much..."
Another poster adopted the nick, "fluffychester," but the reply the poster wrote was anything but light:
I had heard from a few people on the site that her name was familiar (when she did theatre in Indy, it was mostly under the name Leanne Blanton). This beautiful photo of her appeared in the Star. Might remind some of you of who she was.A different discussion was posted on a Topix.net message board. Topix threads often degenerate into rampant trolling and nastiness because there is next to no registration process. If they are popular, interesting information is sometimes posted as well.
I've been keeping an eye out for an obit, to see about services, donations, etc., but I haven't seen anything yet. Anyone else? I'm afraid I'll likely miss it, as Michael and I are leaving on a long-planned vacation tomorrow.
Anyway, rest in peace, Leanne. You were loved by many...
One message was left by "1985 Classmate in Cincy," who said:
I'm so shocked that this happened to such a wonderful person. Leanne looked great at our 20th year reunion a couple of years ago and was so excited about having her baby in a few months. She was a truly wonderful person and I am going to miss her. I'm angry that this scum bag took away her life instead of moving on himself. She deserved so much better.Please keep the Serrano Family in your prayers...In the past year or so, Leanne withdrew from friends and family, became reclusive. She may have been following a classic abuse victim's pattern -- believing that one day her abuser might stop. He might unclench his fists and return to being the man she thought he was when she fell in love with him. Even after charges had twice been filed against JJ Paulsen in the Fall of 2006, he returned home. Leanne would not testify against him, and didn't want him to do the sentence he'd received for one of the charges, 361 days in jail.
Who was JJ Paulsen, the man found walking in some kind of fog that night?
JJ Paulsen was the subject of an article published in the New York Times in August, 1999. The piece was about living in Manhattan, but Paulsen was the focus. Perhaps inadvertently, some odd traits of Paulsen's were revealed. Quoting from Journalist Trish Hall:
Mr. Paulsen moved to New York with just a carry-on bag, two days after being offered a job as co-executive producer of ''Cosby'' on CBS. Later, his former girlfriend sent some things, most importantly the 60 pairs of shoes he considers necessary to daily life...I added a hyperlink not found in the original.
(...)
Most days, Mr. Paulsen works at the ''Cosby'' studio in Astoria, Queens, using his office at home to work on poetry and screenplays. While a lot of writers complain about how hard their work is, he is grateful for it. He grew up in Queens on welfare, the first child of an unmarried 15-year-old girl, and he always needed to earn his own money, so he knows how to recognize a bad job.
Like being a Jacuzzi lifeguard and watching helplessly when someone keels over from too much heat. Like being paid to box with someone who is a little too happy to get hit.
Mr. Paulsen fell into television while studying poetry at Columbia. He would meet a girlfriend at the Comedy Channel, where she was working, and joke around with the writers there. When one left, he said, ''they gave me the job.'' He couldn't believe it.
''I said, 'You're paying me to joke around?' I thought it was hilarious.''
Unless JJ Paulsen was into establishing his own mythos, his was a bit of a rags-to-riches story.
Also in 1999, Paulsen was featured in a piece published at StaffWriters.com, a site geared towards the interests of free-lance writers in particular. The article, written by Michael Casano, was about Paulsen's experience writing for situation comedies. JJ Paulsen again recounted how he got into the business:
[You] could say Paulsen's career choice was purely accidental."I was a poet and a student at Columbia University," said Paulsen. "My girlfriend, who was also a student, got her own show on what was then The Comedy Channel. So, I would sit there with her show's writers as they pitched jokes and story ideas. [While I was there] I would say, 'what about this and what about that?', and they used a lot of stuff that I said. After one of the writers took a job with David Letterman, they asked me if I would want to work full time. Shocked, I said, 'you'll pay me to do this?' And, I've been working ever since."According to the Internet Movie Database, JJ Paulsen was writing for a comedy as recently as 2003. And to say that he was a well-known writer and producer didn't appear to be a stretch -- as far back as 1991, Paulsen was nominated along with a number of other writers for an Emmy.
Ten years later, J.J. Paulsen is one of television's highly regarded sitcom writers. A writer/producer for the CBS's successful series, Cosby, Paulsen's credits include writing for In Living Color, Hope and Gloria, Grace Under Fire and The Carol Burnett Show...
What brought the couple to Carmel? The town is about 20 miles north of Indianapolis. What was there for them other than Leanne's ties to the area? As it was, her family saw very little of their daughter and sister.
The couple's problems while living in Indiana were not confined to abuse. An article published in the Indianapolis Star on April 20 revealed that the couple was over $700,000 in debt. The lovely home on Stagg Hill Drive was in foreclosure. Respect as a sitcom writer and producer had apparently not gone all that far for JJ Paulsen.
That, or he'd used it all up.
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One writer got to know JJ Paulsen shortly after Paulsen began his career writing for television.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, this person said that JJ Paulsen was "one of the most unpleasant people" the source had ever worked with.
Paulsen would cloak cruelty in humor, belittling others on the staff, dividing people into cliques. JJ Paulsen was also blatantly manipulative. He would openly flatter higher-ups, going so far as to ask one person if they'd been "working out."
Paulsen's former co-writer said in an e-mail that of all the people they'd ever worked with, it was least surprising that JJ Paulsen was being accused of such a terrible crime. Paulsen was, at least in this person's opinion, a "divisive, two-faced person."
The entertainment business, like every other business, is full of jackasses. There are a ton of people who want to settle scores when they think the time is right. But Paulsen's former colleague gave a character sketch of the man that was not at odds with the typically antisocial personality found in abusers. The human predator often masks inner violence and amorality with great charm and affability.
Yet there were others who had a view of this accused killer that seemed completely at odds with the sketch drawn by one co-worker who knew Paulsen from JJ's early days in TV.
To a peer who got to know JJ over the last 5 or 6 years, when Paulsen lived in Sherman Oaks, California, the possibility that JJ Paulsen was a psycho abuser was a hard one to grasp. This source, also speaking anonymously, knew a relaxed, funny, and easygoing man who was a universe away from the Paulsen found shambling down a street in Carmel, Indiana.
This past colleague of JJ's was haunted, in the truest sense of the word, by questions arising from the allegations against the man.
JJ was an "easy-going, hilarious guy." He was "cool, in no way aggressive, not even a hint of temper..."
JJ also seemed to be completely in love with Leanne. He seemed to feel that this beautiful singer and actress was quite a "catch."
Many acquainted with the couple from their time in California knew a sociable, outgoing pair who were happy to split a few bottles of fine wine, attend parties at others' homes, and throw a few at their own place.
JJ Paulsen grew up in rough circumstances in Queens (NY) and this was no secret to the people he worked with in LA. JJ mined his "nightmarish" youth for "hilarious stories." The perception of JJ's and Leanne's move to the Indianapolis area was that it was a bit of an early retirement. JJ "didn't seem to care that much if he worked or not." The Paulsens wanted to slow down, perhaps, settle a bit, and raise some kids.
After moving to Indiana, JJ Paulsen told at least one former colleague that he'd received money and was looking into making an independent film. Paulsen had a ready idea that he wanted to use and went as far as promising he'd send out a sample script. That script never came. When asked why, JJ stated that he had personal issues going on in Carmel that he needed to address, and he'd send out the script, soon.
The person who told me of Paulsen's plans for a film did not hear from JJ again. This may have been around the time the Paulsens' son Christopher was born.
I was told, "Follow the money--that's the main place to start."
JJ and Leanne sold their home in California for a good deal of coin. They then moved to a part of the country that had a substantially lower cost of living. Still, there have been some reports in the mainstream media that the couple argued about money, and in the original blog entry above I referenced other reports about the couples' looming debts and the foreclosure on their home. As JJ's friend said in an e-mail, "Where the f**k did all that money go?"
My source was clear about one thing in particular -- the JJ Paulsen who produced and wrote sitcoms and variety shows in LA and New York didn't come across as "a psychopath" like other, more famous names in Hollywood who have been accused of murder. The Paulsen this source knew was anything but Middle America's vision of an obnoxious Hollywood player. The impression Paulsen gave was of someone who was "sensitive and talented," a man who "fell into the well paid world of sit-com writing" by accident.
That both Leanne's and JJ's fate was deeply troubling and haunting was encapsulated by the way one e-mail from the source ended: "[How JJ] wound up walking down the street in a fog while his wife's body lay moldering in the house, beaten to death a week earlier, the baby screaming in his crib, is a story worthy of Stephen King." Or, as the same writer said elsewhere, a story similar in some respects to Sunset Boulevard.
A friend of Leanne Serrano Paulsen's, someone who had known Leanne for two decades also wrote to me, and the heartbreak was palpable, even in a brief e-mail message. Leanne's friend wrote: "I have so much to say but I cant seem to get past the sadness enough to sputter the words and so I ask for some time to deal with this."
The friend closed out the message with these sad words: "In a week or so when these tears dry up long enough I will gladly speak with you."
Other sentiment came from Leanne's former high school classmate Chris, who left a comment on the first CrimeBlog.US entry. Chris also addressed the issue of media coverage:
Hopefully this won’t hit the national media and become a circus, as Leanne deserves better. She was not the stereotypically snobbish homecoming queen - she was very friendly, smart, and always willing to help people. She was also one of the last people you would expect to put up with abuse. To say the least, the many people in Carmel that knew her are stunned by what has happened...How did Leanne, a well-loved, highly capable and talented woman, end up with Paulsen at all? How did JJ Paulsen descend from the heights of the "well-paid world" of sitcom writing and producing to an Indiana jail and accusations of murder? Money problems just don't adequately explain this tragedy at all.
JJ is locked up, and it seems as though he is the only focus of the investigation. This seems to eliminate the element of mystery that sometimes draws national media eyes towards a case of domestic violence. If you think of any high-profile case of murder involving a husband and wife, they all seem to share the element of mystery, in the beginning. Frequently, the husband or wife vanish. Often, the surviving spouse even seems innocent at first, a tragic, melancholic figure. Then the reality of what happened is unveiled, a body is found, and the public is riveted by both the violence and the deception.
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A seat in a jail cell wearing some hideously-colored jumpsuit represents the nadir of just about anyone's existence. So it may be interesting to mark where John James "JJ" Paulsen was at various points in his career and note who was there with him. The scope of the tragedy of his marriage to Leanne Serrano Paulsen is clarified.
One of the contacts who e-mailed me informed me that singer-actress Rachel Sweet was one of JJ Paulsen's exes.
Rachel Sweet began her singing career while still a teen, in the mid-'70s. While her image was essentially wholesome, photos from album covers do hint at a sexy, Lolita-like undertone -- the kind of vibe that became much more open when Britney Spears rose to pop stardom in the '90s.
By 1989, Sweet was moving in a different direction. She starred in The Sweet Life on The Comedy Channel. (That network would later become Comedy Central.)
The show was, by all accounts, quite good, and it received glowing reviews.
Sweet would go on to other things, including appearances on Hope & Gloria. According to IMDB, Paulsen was a producer for that show.
Paulsen was a writer for The Sweet Life. One of JJ Paulsen's co-writers on The Sweet Life was no less than Jon Stewart. We watch Stewart's The Daily Show every night in my home. He is, by any standard, a major star and one of the most talented and popular figures in comedy today.
But even before that, Paulsen was writing for In Living Color, the sketch comedy show that marked the first major assault by Jim Carrey on the national consciousness. That show was also America's introduction to the talented Wayans brothers.
JJ Paulsen moved through all these jobs, worked alongside these notable talents and more, and he was still going pretty strong -- or so it seemed -- as late as 2003.
Paulsen's name falling from its place beside Jon Stewart and Jim Carrey in IMDB entries to this article published by WTHR TV in Indianapolis is a story unto itself.
It may be confounding, but it is more purely tragic to compare Paulsen's "fall" to the events recounted in the article posted by WTHR. JJ might have had his wax wings melted, but Leanne Paulsen, beloved by many, pretty, gifted, not yet 40, was the one who died.
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Media sources --The Indianapolis Star:NOTE: If you wish to e-mail me directly about this case, you can contact me via this form. If you use the form at the other end of that link, I will be the only one reading your message. If you leave a comment using the form below, everyone will be able to read it.TheIndyChannel.com:
- "Body in Carmel home for 'quite some time,'" published April 19, 2007;
- "Inside this stately Carmel home, a tragedy -- 1985 homecoming queen lay dead for a week, police say; probe focuses on husband," published April 21, 2007;
- "Slain woman's husband had abuse history -- Man had been charged with battering wife twice in past year," published April 24, 2007.
Death Investigation -- Carmel Police news release, April 19, 2007.
- "Carmel Police: Woman Dead For Week At Least -- Police Say Husband Is Focus Of Investigation," published April 20, 2007.
