Left “numb” and reeling from the murder-suicide …
Left “numb” and reeling from the murder-suicide of a married couple found dead inside their Gilroy home, reflections from friends, family and neighbors depict Lynn Shimek as a “social butterfly;” mother of two; devoted friend, and her husband Chris Shimek – a San Jose police sergeant of 16 years – as a “genuine, standup guy” and “respected” figure in the community whose possessive behavior stifled his wife in their “roller coaster” relationship.
In five years of dating and 15 years of marriage, Chris was “always very controlling, very possessive and very protective,” said Tammy Drews, 44, a friend of five years who referred to Lynn as “my rock.”
Both Drews and Julie Nagel, 36, also a close friend and confidante, revealed Lynn contemplated divorce for the last year or so.
When asked if Lynn was seeing someone else, Drews replied, “I won’t say yes or no. That detail doesn’t mean he had any right to kill her.”
Friends say Chris kept tabs on his wife by monitoring her friend’s Facebook pages, hiding a GPS device in the glove box of Lynn’s car and constantly texting and calling her cell phone when she left home.
“She always felt like she was being watched,” Drews said. “He was suffocating her. After being with somebody like that for 20 years, you can’t take it.”
The bodies of Lynn, 43, and Chris, 51, were found by Gilroy police officers around 9:39 p.m. Sunday inside the couples’ two-story home on the 9400 block of Rodeo Drive in Gilroy.
Circulating reports from various media outlets cite “anonymous” sources who allege Lynn may have been strangled; that the couple was found lying side-by-side in the master bedroom with her hand in his; and that there were signs of a struggle.
When asked if he could confirm any of these claims, Capt. Jim Gillio with the Gilroy Police Department reiterated the GPD “absolutely has not” released any official information related to the cause of Lynn’s death, or details of the crime scene.
According to the GPD, Chris died “from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.” Gillio said he did not know if the gun was Chris’s personal property, nor if he used a police-issued gun to kill himself.
The Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office does not have a projected timeline for releasing the Shimek’s autopsy reports. It could take up to 12 weeks before Lynn’s cause of death is released, the spokesman said.
Recounting through tears the sequence of events that unfolded Sunday night, Drews said she is thankful the Shimek’s two teenage sons, ages 13 and 19, didn’t arrive on scene first.
Drews was within close earshot that night in front of the Shimek’s home as a police officer pulled the children aside, saying, “there’s no easy way for me to tell you this, boys. Your parents are both deceased.”
The Shimek children are currently staying with Chris’s sister in San Jose.
On Sunday evening around 7 p.m., Drews and Lynn got together at the Gilroy home of a mutual friend – Rhonda Harkins – and had a few beers. Drews drove Lynn back to her home on Rodeo Drive at 8:15 p.m.
An hour later, Drews said she received a text message that alerted her to the fact Lynn’s life was in danger. The sender, whom she declined to name, urged Drews to get Lynn out of the house.
Drews said Chris also sent a text message that read, “I’ve gone too far.”
Driving over in her pajamas, Drews arrived at the Shimek’s home in a manicured neighborhood off Santa Teresa Boulevard. When no one responded to her knocking or ringing the doorbell, Drews tried to enter the house. A latch on the front door prevented her from opening it more than a crack.
“I called out, ‘Lynnie, are you there? I need you to answer me, can you tell me that you’re OK?’” said Drews, choking up. “And she didn’t answer.”
The Shimek’s two dogs – a German Shepherd named Scarlet and a Shiba Inu named Shiba – were sitting at the foot of the stairs.
Drews attempted to contact the couples’ oldest son, 19, with no success. Harkins arrived 30 minutes later and phoned the police, who were able to track down the Shimek children. Police entered the Shimek home after the sons unlocked the door.
According to Drews, Chris told his sons around 8:30 p.m. that “he needed to speak with Lynn.”
He gave them money and told them to grab dinner at In-N-Out, Drews said.
The fact Chris sent his sons away from the house prompted Lynn’s friends – Drews, Nagel, and Sandra McCarthy, 50, a Gilroy resident since 1976 and friend of Lynn’s for five years, to consider the possibility that Chris’s actions were premeditated.
“Part of me thinks it was planned because he did send the boys away, but another part of me just thinks that maybe he wanted some time with her to talk, and that she wasn’t budging,” speculated Drews.
“The kids were not there,” underscored McCarthy, who arrived Monday morning with potted poinsettias, which she laid at a small shrine amassing on the sidewalk in front of the Shimek home.
From neighbors, to co-workers, to locals who crossed paths with Chris around town, a common sentiment of utter disbelief rings over and over.
Milias Restaurant co-owner Adam Sanchez, who employed the Shimek’s oldest son as a dishwasher until a month ago, described Chris as “a nice guy” who dined at Milias almost weekly with his wife.
Gilroy Farmers’ Market Manager Catalina Hess, who invited Lynn – a gifted artist with a burgeoning face-painting business – to paint faces at the Farmers’ Market, called Chris “likeable” and “easy-going.”
“If I was still a cop, Chris would have been in the top 10 of officers I would want to work with,” said Ralph Fitzsimons, a former SJPD officer who said he admired Chris’s family values.
“To me he was the ‘all-American’ kid; a stand up guy, a true American and someone I could always trust and count on when my life was on the line,” wrote Fitzsimons in an email. “The most amazing thing was how genuine he was.”
Chris grew up in San Jose and attended Prospect High School said Fitzsimons.
Several neighbors living on Rodeo Drive described the Shimeks as “the perfect couple.”
Behind closed doors, however, friends say their marriage was unraveling.
While Lynn had sought legal advice without Chris’s knowledge, Drews said the couple seriously discussed divorce three weeks ago and were seeing an attorney together.
Nagel described Chris as an “introvert” who was good at putting up a facade. During the last three weeks, especially, his mood fluctuated like “Jekyll and Hyde,” said Nagel. “You didn’t know what you were going to go home to.”
While Chris was prone to making “impulsive decisions based on emotional flare-ups,” Drews depicted Chris as a “great guy,” a “really good husband and provider,” but theorized “something in him just snapped.”
Several neighbors said Monday they were unaware of any domestic disputes occurring at the Shimek’s household prior to Sunday’s incident. No one who spoke with the Dispatch recalled hearing gunshots Sunday evening.
Four years ago, GPD responded to a call alleging Christopher hit his then 15-year-old step-son “in a rage,” according to Gilroy police.
According to the report, Lynn “requested that an officer speak with her and a child,” but did not want any further police action.
No other calls were made to the GPD regarding domestic violence at the Shimek’s home, Gillio said.
“He has never laid a hand on her, ever,” said Drews. “That’s why I’m kind of in shock …”
The Shimek’s oldest son is Lynn’s biological child, whom Chris raised as his own. Chris met Lynn sometime in 1992 when was she was pregnant from a previous relationship.
On Tuesday afternoon, Lynn’s biological father, Ted Polinsky, 72, and Lynn’s step-mom, Mary Polinsky, 64, were reached by phone at their home in Minersville, Pa.
“Lynn was his pride and joy and his baby girl,” said Mary. “It’s a sad situation for the Shimek family and the Polinsky family.”
Ted and Mary last spoke with the Shimeks the day before Thanksgiving.
When asked if they would be flying to California to attend services, Mary replied, “probably not.”
She and Ted would rather remember their daughter and son-in-law alive, Mary said.
Nagel said Lynn was close to her biological mother, who lives in Oregon.
Chris’s father, Devon Shimek, was also reached Wednesday at his home in Newport, Ore. He spoke fondly of Lynn and his son – a native Californian – but asked not to be quoted.
In addition to face and body painting, Lynn enjoyed brewing her own beer with Chris and going dancing with her friends at local hangouts, including the Longhouse Restaurant Bar and Grill and Station 55. When she wasn’t lacing up and skating with the South County Derby Girls, she loved to rock high heels.
“That girl wore high heels everywhere,” laughed Drews, “no matter how uncomfortable they were.”
The adjectives friends use to encapsulate Shimek’s bubbly persona are lighthearted and colorful. McCarthy summed up the wife and mother as “an amazing soul, very warm and extremely creative.”
Drews said she has a 13-year-old daughter who attended elementary school with the Shimek’s youngest child.
“She keeps telling me, ‘Mommy, you’ll see her again. Hopefully not soon, but you’ll see her again,’” said Drews.
– A celebration of life for Lynn Shimek will be held from 3 to 6p.m. Saturday at Fortino Winery, located at 4525 Hecker PassHighway in Gilroy. The gathering will take place at 3 p.m. Theservice will commence at 3:30 p.m. and is open to the public.Donation boxes will be set up onsite for attendees wishing todonate to a fund established in support of the Shimek’s two teenagechildren. Fortino Winery said it is expecting up to 200 guests.
– Anyone who would like to bring a food item to Saturday’sgathering is encouraged to sign up on a Google spreadsheet. Thelink is posted on the Facebook page, “Lynn Shimek you will bemissed.”
– On Dec. 11, the South County Derby Girls, a team Lynn belongedto, is hosting a “Stand Against Domestic Violence” fundraiser atDutchman’s Pizza on 6940 Chestnut St. The owner will donate 25percent of all food sales to a fund set up for her sons. The Derbygirls are also donating 100 percent of what they earn from araffle, which features an ever-growing list of donated goodies fromlocal businesses and community members. Some items include aperfume package, a ticket package to 9Lives Night Club, pottery,Christmas and movie night themed gift baskets, gift baskets fromGarlic World and Starbucks, a specialty cake, a gift certificate toCruz Skate shop and more.
– To donate to the trust fund set up for the Shimek children,make checks payable to: Valerie Roberts, 1821 South Bascom Ave, Box#217 Campbell, CA, 95008.
