Mr. Hoffman's 28-year-old son, Andrew, an artist, and a daughter, Ilya, 26, a social worker, who both live in Boston, initially discounted the suicide possibility, but Andrew conceded last week that his father's "depression went from hour to hour."

Six weeks later, he also surrendered to the police, who initially discounted him as a suspect, considering the unlikeliness of a 61 year old retiree, who weighed 17 stone, executing the heist.

When the sport's original inventors demonstrated their new frame design, Schwinn marketing personnel initially discounted the growing popularity of the mountain bike, concluding that it would become a short-lived fad.

The persistence and severity of the attacks - which American and NATO officials initially discounted as isolated incidents, often involving drunken Serbs - have raised concerns about the security of the 30,000 NATO-led troops in Bosnia.

Secret Service officials initially discounted the shooting as an assassination attempt, but the United States Attorney here, Eric Holder Jr., has left open the possibility of charging Mr. Duran with additional crimes.

Some officials now concede, after initially discounting such a motive, that Mr. Girenko may have been killed for his work against these violent groups.

Muller found a strong temperature dependence in mutation rate, leading him to believe that spontaneous mutation was the dominant mode (and to initially discount the role of external factors such as ionizing radiation or chemical agents).

Officials of the space agency initially discounted speculation that debris damage could have been responsible for the shuttle's disintegration on Feb. 1.

The Allies initially discounted the fighting ability of the Ottoman soldiers, although later in the campaign this developed into respect.