HOUSTON -- Friends of a doctor police said was killed by his 10-year-old son two weeks ago told Local 2 his death was the result of a difficult divorce.

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Colleagues To Raise Awareness About Alienation Syndrome

People close to Rick Lohstroh and his children say his ex-wife, Deborah Geisler, used a form of brainwashing during the couple's contentious breakup that few people know about and believe it possibly led to his death.

Lohstroh's 10-year-old son remains in juvenile detention after police say he fatally shot his father in the back outside his mother's home in Katy on Aug. 27.

Investigators say it is still a mystery as to why a 10-year-old boy would kill his father.

At an emotional memorial service Thursday, friends remembered Lohstroh and believed it was a bitter divorce that pitted the children against their father.

"Those children loved Rick and a lot of times they would put on a (show?) when he picked them up, saying 'I don't want to go. I don't want to go.' But, I feel that was because they were afraid of their mother too," friend Barbara Sweet told Local 2.

Colleagues handed out bumper stickers reading "Stop Parental Alienation Syndrome," a disorder that primarily arises during child custody disputes and typically favors the parent the children live with.

"It makes them not want to be with the other parent even when they may have had a great relationship with that other parent. So, out of loyalty to the parent they live with, they stop wanting to be with the other parent," Baylor College of Medicine Psychologist Dr. James Bray said.

Lohstroh's divorce attorney Kathleen Collins said her client's shooting death is the worst case in its most severe form of the syndrome she has ever seen.

During the couple's divorce trial, Geisler accused Lohstroh of sexually abusing their two sons. Two separate police agencies investigated the claims but neither filed charges.

"Often times, it is a conscious effort to alienate the child from one of the parents, and it is really because of their anger toward that parent," Bray said.

Officials found Geisler and her 8-year-old son Friday after they were unable to locate them Wednesday when a judge granted Lohstroh's parents custody of the children. The boy is now in his grandparent's custody.

A lawyer for the boy suspected of fatally shooting his father said Thursday that the grandparents, Dick and Joanne Greene, manipulated the child to get him to talk about what happened.

Attorney Chris Tritico said the grandparents got the boy to talk about the deadly afternoon -- to use the information to gain temporary custody of him and his brother.

No formal charges have been filed in the shooting death.

A hearing into whether the older boy will remain in juvenile custody is set for Monday.

A custody hearing is later next week in Galveston.

Previous Stories:

September 9, 2004: Grandparents Get Custody Of Boys After Father Shot
September 2, 2004: Mother Disputes Report She Made Death Threat
September 1, 2004: Slain Doctor Told Police Wife Threatened To Kill Him
August 31, 2004: Girlfriend, Colleagues Defend Slain Doctor
August 30, 2004: Boy Suspected Of Fatally Shooting Father To Remain Detained
August 27, 2004: Constables: Boy, 10, Shoots Father To Death