Tag: mysterious deaths

‘Mississippi Lynching’: What Happened to Rasheem Carter?

Last October, Rasheem Carter told Taylorsville, Mississippi police that he had been chased by truckloads of white men yelling racial slurs at him. 

Days later, Carter was officially reported missing. 

His remains were found a month later, just 1 mile south of the town. In a statement posted to Facebook at the time, the Smith County Sheriff’s Office, where Taylorsville is located, said that there was “no reason to believe” that foul play was involved. 

Months after Carter’s disappearance, the state Bureau of Investigation and local police still maintain that an investigation is ongoing, but have provided his family with scant information. His family thinks that Carter, a 25-year-old Black man, was murdered in cold blood and found decapitated—and that police inaction put Carter in danger and is now stalling his family’s quest for justice. 

On Monday, civil rights attorney Ben Crump stood with Carter’s mother Tiffany outside of a federal court in Jackson and displayed photos from an independent autopsy, which he said showed that Carter’s head had been severed from his body and his spinal cord had been found unattached to the rest of his body. 

“This was a nefarious act. This was an evil act,” Crump said. “Someone murdered Rasheem Carter. And we cannot let them get away with this.”

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FBI probing death on private plane of 9/11 commission lawyer

Former Clinton and Obama administration lawyer Dana Hyde was injured aboard a private plane and died in a Hartford, Connecticut hospital following an emergency landing on Friday, state police told the media on Monday. Hyde’s identity had not previously been made public.

Hyde died of blunt force injuries, according to the state chief medical examiner. Her family has not issued a statement, though her husband, Jonathan Chambers, the couple’s two children, and the aircraft’s two crew members were reportedly not injured during the flight.

The FBI and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating Hyde’s death, according to the Daily Mail. Specialists have reportedly taken possession of the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the Bombardier Challenger 300, which belongs to Chambers’ employer, high-speed internet provider Conexon. 

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COVID Vaccine Creator Found Strangled to Death in His Apartment

ARussian virologist who helped develop the country’s COVID vaccine has been found dead after an altercation with an intruder in his Moscow apartment, according to reports in local media.

Andrey Botikov, one of 18 scientists who developed the Sputnik V vaccine at the Gamaleya National Research Center, was identified as the man who had been discovered strangled in his Rogova Street home on March 2, Regnum reported, citing official sources. It previously reported that he had survived the attack.

The Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR) has now opened a murder investigation, believing that a 29-year-old man strangled the scientist with a belt during a disagreement before fleeing the scene.

While official accounts point towards a burglary gone wrong, the 47-year-old’s death comes amid a string of members of the Russian elite being found dead in mysterious circumstances over the past year, including scientists and businessmen.

In a statement, the ICR’s Moscow division didn’t name Botikov, but said investigators had identified and located the assailant “in the shortest possible time.”

“During the interrogation, he admitted his guilt, he was charged,” it added. “Previously, the defendant was prosecuted for committing a serious crime.” The ICR said the criminal investigation was ongoing.

Newsweek has reached out to the ICR to confirm the victim’s identity.

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Police change story on former Clinton aide ‘suicide’ – media

A shotgun was found near the body of former Bill Clinton aide Mark Middleton, who was discovered hanging from a tree at the Heifer Ranch last May with his chest blasted out, a report seen by the Daily Mail on Thursday claims. This contradicts an earlier report seen by the paper which said no firearm was found at the scene.

According to the Mail, Perry County Sergeant Keenan Carter, said a Stoeger 12-gauge coach shotgun, was discovered 30 feet from Middleton’s body. They also say that the former Clinton aide had texted his wife Rhea shortly before pulling the trigger to say he had found “the perfect place for a nap in the sun” and reassure her she was “a great Mom and wife.”

According to Sergeant Carter’s report, Middleton “pulled the trigger on the firearm causing [sic] it to discharge and strike him in the chest and then he fell from the bench causing the extension cord to become tight cutting off his breathing.” 

The gun was found so far from the body “due to recoil from the discharge and the height and angle of the ground,” Carter explained, insisting there was no “evidence to indicate that there was anyone present with Mr. Middleton at this scene or any evidence that there was any type of struggle and/or foul play.”

In the original report, Sheriff’s Deputy Jeremy Lawson writes that he and an employee of the property owner discovered Middleton’s dead body hanging from a tree by an electrical cord. Searching Middleton’s vehicle turned up boxes of ammo and a gun case, but no gun. The initial report did not mention any gun found at the scene.

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Arkansas cops rule suicide in death of Clinton aide linked to Jeffrey Epstein – who was found shot and tied to a tree with an electrical cord around his neck – despite no sign of weapon

The grisly scene where a top Bill Clinton adviser was found hanged from a tree with a gunshot wound to his chest has finally been revealed nine months after he died. 

But the sheriff’s report into Mark Middleton’s mysterious death raises more questions than answers as it rules he died by suicide – despite no sign of the weapon that killed him.

Middleton, 59, was found dead last May at the Heifer Ranch in Perryville, Arkansas, an hour west of Little Rock.  

Release of the report was held up after members of his family petitioned a judge. They were worried that pictures from the gory scene would be made public.

The judge eventually ruled that details could be released but photographs could not. 

The report, written by Perry County Sheriff’s Deputy Jeremy Lawson, says he was called to the ranch by worker Samantha McElroy who had found Middleton’s abandoned black BMW SUV.

McElroy, 46, then walked around a cottage on the ranch.

‘Almost immediately after stepping around the corner of the cottage she started yelling,’ wrote Lawson.

‘Upon reaching the back of the cottage she pointed towards the rear of the property and asked if that was a person.

‘I could see what at first appeared to be a man sitting near a tree, as my eyes focused better, I could see a rope of some type going from the tree limb to the male.”

Lawson said it was clear that Middleton was dead.

‘I could see that he had a gunshot wound to the chest and that he had a knot tied in an extension cord that was around his neck and it was attached to the limb directly above him.

The deputy said a search of Middleton’s vehicle turned up three boxes of buckshot and a gun case – but no weapon. 

The details give fresh insight into the death of Middleton, a married father of two daughters aged 18 and 20 who was found dead on May 7 last year.

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Top Putin defence official, 58, plunges 160ft to her death from 16th-floor tower block window – the latest high-ranking figure to die in a mysterious fall

A top Russian defence official has been found dead after plunging 160ft from a tower block window, in the latest mysterious death of a high-ranking Kremlin figure. 

Marina Yankina, 58, was discovered by a passerby at the entrance of a house on Zamshina Street in St Petersburg. 

She is believed to have fallen from the 16th floor to her death.

Ms Yankina was a key figure in the funding of Vladimir Putin‘s illegal war in Ukraine as head of the financial support department of the Ministry of Defence for the Western Military District, which is closely involved in the dictator’s invasion.

The Russian Investigative Committee and the press service of the Western Military District ‘Fontanka’ both confirmed her death, and have launched an investigation into it. 

She is the latest in a string of Russian officials to have died in mysterious circumstances since the start of Putin’s invasion. 

Just last week, Major General Vladimir Makarov – a Russian general recently fired by Putin – was found dead in a possible suicide.

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Boy who survived 18 days in flooded Thai cave five years ago and died in Britain aged 17 after winning football academy scholarship had been found unconscious on the floor of his UK dormitory

The mystery of Thai cave rescue survivor Duangphet Promthep’s death deepened last night after it emerged he was found unconscious on the floor of his dormitory in the UK.

The 17-year-old nicknamed ‘Dom’, former captain of the Wild Boars football team, rescued in 2018 from the flooded Tham Luang cave system in northern Thailand by British divers, was reported to have suffered a ‘head injury’.

At the time of his death, Dom was studying at Brooke House College in Market Harborough, Leicestershire. 

Kiatisuk Senamuang, former Thai national football team coach and chairman of the Zico Foundation which sponsored the gifted young footballer, described himself as ‘shocked and stunned’ at the news of the young man’s sudden death.

He said Promthep was found laid down unconscious on the ground in his room in the academy’s dormitory and was immediately taken to hospital.

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Two Defense Company Employees Mysteriously Found Dead at Facility

This week, two individuals were discovered dead at a Northrup Grumman facility in Utah, with minimal information being released about the incident. Utah TV station KUTV-TV reports the victims were “killed,” but gave no evidence to back up the claim.

Roxanne Vainuku, a representative from the West Valley City Police Department, mentioned that shortly after 6pm on Monday, police were dispatched to the company’s building located at 6478 W. 5400 South, in Magna, approximately twelve miles west of Salt Lake City. Vainuku also stated two employees were found unconscious but did not elaborate on any other specifics, according to KSL-TV, other than that the “victims” received medical attention by fire department crews before being taken to a hospital, where they were pronounced dead.

“Fire Department crews attempted life saving measures and transported the two employees to the hospital where they were ultimately pronounced deceased,” Vainuku said.

“The Occupational Health and Safety Administration will conduct an investigation into this incident. West Valley City Police will coordinate with OSHA on the investigation,” she added.

Police couldn’t confirm if the two died in a hazmat situation, saying that information will come from the Utah Medical Examiner’s Office after autopsies are performed. The victims have not been identified.

A Newsweek article stated that a Northrop Grumman representative was not forthcoming with information.

“We can confirm that two employees passed away at the Bacchus facility on January 30. We are deeply saddened by this news,” the representative said.

“The Northrop Grumman team all shares in this grief. Out of respect for the privacy of the employees and the families, we are not releasing any further details,” the representative said

The company’s statement provided little information regarding the events that occurred.

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Fitness YouTuber ‘Leo and Longevity’ Found Dead, Bloodied in Thailand at 34

Laith Abdallah Algaz, more commonly known as Leo Rex of the YouTube channel Leo and Longevity, was found dead in his apartment in Pattaya, Thailand.

The Colorado native and social media influencer promoted his unique blend of diet, exercise, mental conditioning, bodybuilding and nicotine to help people extend and live their best life.

His YouTube channel passed the 100,000 subscriber milestone last February and now boasts more than 123,000 subscribers. HITC news described the content on his channel as “typically…non-conventional” and focused on how people could “improve their mental and physical well-being.”

According to the Daily Mail, Charles Anthony alerted authorities on Jan 30 of a possible problem after multiple unsuccessful attempts to contact his friend Leo Rex.

As of Feb 1, authorities had not disclosed a cause of death, but officials have noted that Rex’s apartment was “unusually messy” and that the YouTuber appeared to have “multiple facial injuries.”

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Ghislaine Maxwell says Jeffrey Epstein was murdered in US jail

Convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has claimed the disgraced late US financier Jeffrey Epstein was murdered in prison, in an interview with a British broadcaster that aired on Monday.

The Oxford-educated daughter of the late British press baron Robert Maxwell is imprisoned in a Florida penitentiary after her conviction and 20-year sentence for helping Epstein sexually abuse girls.

Epstein, who was facing charges of trafficking underage girls for sex, escaped trial by killing himself in a New York jail in August 2019.

The autopsy concluded suicide by hanging, although the 66-year-old’s sudden death fuelled widespread controversy and conspiracy theories.

“I believe that he was murdered,” former socialite Maxwell said in the series of jailhouse interviews aired on Britain’s TalkTV. “I was shocked. Then I wondered how it had happened.”

A forensic pathologist hired by Epstein’s brother said in 2019 that evidence suggested he had been murdered, arguing multiple fractures found in his neck were “very unusual for suicide”.

The US Department of Justice has conducted a years-long investigation into how Epstein was able to hang himself inside New York’s Metropolitan Correctional Center, but has not released any evidence of foul play.

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