ONE OF THE WORST CASES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE....

CREVE COEUR — A bloody 25-minute window Thursday night in which a woman and her ex-husband died on opposite sides of the Illinois River represents the tragic culmination of years of domestic abuse.

The violence that left 47-year-old Suzann K. Alexander dead at the hands of Bernell B. Alexander, 48, who afterward took his own life, ultimately may have been precipitated by a child support issue that was resolved earlier in the day when an order to garnish wages was sent to the ex-husband's employer.

Both died in plain view of a horrified public. Bernell Alexander came to the Dairy Queen in Creve Coeur's business district on Illinois Route 29 about 9 p.m. and began harassing his ex-wife as she worked the drive-through window. After that confrontation, he entered the business through the back door.

Bernell Alexander grabbed his wife and began beating her, throwing her to the ground as at least one employee attempted to tear him off his victim. He ended the struggle by pulling a gun and firing several times at close range into Suzann Alexander's face and chest. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

"It's obvious there was a lot of rage involved with this incident," said Creve Coeur Police Chief Mike Button.

Bernell Alexander fled in his truck to South Peoria. He was followed by a Dairy Queen customer, who assisted Peoria police in blocking Bernell Alexander's escape as a squad car attempted to pull him over near South Western Avenue and West Ann Street.

Bernell Alexander shot himself there, and his vehicle veered out of control and hit a tree at 9:25 p.m., ending a brief spasm of domestic violence that has roots reaching back to at least 1997.

Bernell and Suzann Alexander had been together since at least 1990, when their first daughter was born. A second daughter was born two years later, though the couple did not wed until Oct. 19, 1996.

Almost exactly a year later, on Oct. 13, 1997, Bernell Alexander shoved and struck his wife in the face, also leaving red marks on her neck and breaking her necklace, according to Tazewell County court records.

He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of domestic battery with bodily harm and received a year of probation. But his probation was revoked in September 1998 after he again shoved Suzann Alexander, this time in front of their daughters.

She filed for her first order of protection against him at that time, and his probation was extended until January 1999. He successfully completed the sentence and his probation was terminated.

No further criminal charges resulted from fights between the couple, but Suzann Alexander filed for four more orders of protection over the next decade, before they were divorced.

Suzann Alexander's descriptions of harassment, threats and vandalism to her vehicles and home in those documents paint a disturbing picture of a man who on Thursday followed through with remarks he had made several times in the past.

In an order of protection filed in October 2006, Suzann Alexander claimed her then-husband keyed her car twice, put sugar in the gas tank and threatened to beat her and suffocate her with a pillow while she slept. On Oct. 30, 2006, she claimed he broke off the front door knobs of their home, then broke into the home through a back window and threatened to beat her and kill another man.

She filed for the order the next day. In that instance, Suzann Alexander followed through with maintenance of the order after the initial emergency period expired, and Bernell Alexander was ordered to stay away from her until Jan. 31, 2007.

Additional orders of protection would follow in 2007, 2008 and 2009 in what one law enforcement official involved in the investigation of the murder-suicide called "a classic case of domestic violence gone bad."

In the final order of protection filed Jan. 6, 2009 - just days before the couple's divorce was finalized - Suzann Alexander described additional vehicle vandalism, with anti-freeze in her gas tank in November 2008. On Dec. 23, 2008, she said she awoke to him standing over her. He said he had guns with no serial numbers.

Suzann Alexander twice filed for divorce from Bernell Alexander, in 2007 and 2008. She sought dismissal of the first case, claiming they had reconciled. But the 2008 divorce case was completed in January 2009, with Suzann Alexander receiving sole custody of the couple's daughter, who was still a minor, and the family home at 406 Joliet Road in Marquette Heights.

Friends and family of the victim gathered Friday at the tidy tan ranch with a rustic wooden fence and a neat row of hostas around the base. They declined to comment.

As part of the divorce settlement, Bernell Alexander received a collection of Chicago Bears items, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and his truck, among some other miscellaneous domestic items. He was ordered to pay $231.18 a week in child support.

Sources said Friday that Suzann Alexander had recently attempted to have Bernell Alexander's wages garnished, and that a letter was sent to or had arrived at the man's employer Thursday, though it was not immediately clear where he worked. Court records indicated he worked with water heaters and other appliances as part of his career.

If a letter to garnish wages had arrived, however, Bernell Alexander didn't betray any emotion over it a few hours before the slaying. He was a longtime friend and work-out companion of a third-shift Creve Coeur police sergeant and the two had met to lift weights together about 4:30 p.m. Bernell Alexander could reportedly bench press 350 pounds.

"He was joking around, was his usual self," Button said the sergeant told him about their interaction that afternoon.

Bernell Alexander previously had confided in the sergeant when domestic problems arose between him and Suzann Alexander, but no such discussion came up Thursday during the work out.

Five hours later, both had died as part of the most violent episode in Creve Coeur in recent memory and the most tragic ending to any domestic violence case. (PJ Star)