Tag: mysterious deaths

What to Know About the Case of the Missing Missouri ER Doctor Found Dead in Arkansas

A doctor in the Missouri Ozarks went missing for over a week until his body was found in an Arkansas lake. But the case remains shrouded in mystery as investigators have released few details to his family or the public.

What’s Known So Far

Dr. John Forsyth, 49, was last seen alive on May 21, when security cameras in the parking lot of a public pool in Cassville show him getting into a vehicle, after leaving his own car unlocked with his wallet, two phones, a laptop, and other items inside. That’s according to his brother, Richard Forsyth, who said the doctor had texted his new fiancee that morning saying he would see her soon.

His car was found later that day. Investigators haven’t said who was driving the other vehicle.

A search began after the emergency room physician didn’t show up for his May 21 shift at Mercy Hospital in Cassville. There was no sign of Forsyth until a kayaker noticed his body in Arkansas on May 30, at a spot on Beaver Lake some 20 miles (32 kilometers) away from his last known location.

His body had an apparent gunshot wound, authorities in Arkansas say. Although Benton County Coroner Daniel Oxford said an autopsy was completed Thursday, the results won’t be released until the investigation is over.

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Former LAPD cop arrested for child sex crimes dies in custody

A former LAPD police officer who was arrested earlier this month on suspicion of committing lewd acts with a minor has died while in custody, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed.

Paul Razo died while in LASD custody on Saturday, May 20.

“The inmate was within our custody when they were transported to Los Angeles County Medical Center for a preexisting medical condition. While being medically treated the inmate passed. The cause of death will be determined by autopsy by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner,” the LASD said in a statement.

Razo had been charged with eight counts of committing lewd acts with a minor by the L.A. County District Attorney’s office.

He allegedly sexually assaulted at least four boys. Two of whom were his relatives.

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Covid conspiracy doctor claimed he was ‘poisoned after interview’ just days before death

A notorious conspiracy theorist doctor, known for his wild takes on the Coronavirus pandemic, claimed he had been poisoned just a few days before he died.

Dr Rashid Buttar, who was part of the group nicknamed the “Disinformation dozen”, died suddenly yesterday (Saturday, May 20) at the age of 57.

He was known for being a huge anti-vaxxer and became a cult figure during the pandemic.

He went on record to claim that the Covid pandemic was made “planned” and “politically motivated”.

The British-born doctor, who spent most of his adult life in the United States, also claimed that “everyone who has had the vaccine would be dead by 2025.”

His theories and misinformation were so well-known that the Centre for Countering Digital Hate named him one of the top 12 people responsible for producing around 65% of all anti-vaccine content between 2020 and 2023.

However, he has now died just days after claiming he had been given a “poison” containing “200 times of what was in the vaccine.”

His cause of death has not been made public, nor has the reason he recently spent time in intensive care.

However, speaking to Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson earlier this month, a very skinny-looking Dr Buttar said: “I went through a very difficult personal health challenge a few months ago.

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Autopsy Reveals New Details in Death of Detroit Neurosurgeon Who Was Found Dead in His Home

On April 23, Police found the body of Dr. Devon Hoover, 53, wrapped in a sheet in the attic of his home. Dr. Hoover, a notable neurosurgeon, lived alone in a large home in the historic Boston-Edison District of Detroit. 

A welfare check was requested when he did not respond to calls or meet with family members in Indiana as expected on April 22. Police report Dr. Hoover was shot inside his home and that they recovered his abandoned vehicle several miles away.

Police have not revealed a motive or information on possible suspects. 

On Wednesday, April 10, Police reported that Dr. Hoover had been shot twice in the head, then dragged naked into the attic. The Detroit Free Press reported that Dr. Hoover was “shot behind his right ear and then again in the back of the head.”

Dr. Hoover was on staff at Ascension Michigan Hospital—A spokesperson told Fox News Digital: “Devon Hoover, MD, was a dedicated and well-respected member of the Ascension Michigan family and will be greatly missed by our community.”

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How the Murder of a CIA Officer Was Used to Silence the Agency’s Greatest Critic

ON THE NIGHT of December 23, 1975, Ron Estes, the CIA’s deputy station chief in Athens, was lounging on the couch in his girlfriend’s apartment when the man who worked as a driver for his boss, Richard Welch, burst through the front door.

“A shooting, and Mr. Welch is down,” the driver yelled.

Estes grabbed his coat and ran outside, ignoring his girlfriend’s pleas to stay.

At Welch’s house in the Greek capital, Estes saw the station chief lying on his back on the sidewalk, his wife, Kika, kneeling beside him. Blood covered Welch’s face, and Estes could see immediately that he was dead. “I didn’t need to feel for a pulse,” he said in an interview. A police car arrived, and Estes asked the officer to call an ambulance. When no ambulance arrived, they hauled the body into Welch’s car and Estes and Welch’s driver followed the police officer, siren blaring and lights flashing, through the streets of Athens to the nearest hospital. A medical team was waiting; they quickly placed Welch on a gurney and took him to an examining room. There, a doctor placed a stethoscope on Welch’s chest and confirmed to Estes that he was dead.

Welch was 46 years old. A career CIA officer, he had been the CIA’s Athens station chief for six months.

At the hospital, Welch’s driver finally caught his breath and told Estes what had happened. He had driven Welch and his wife home from a Christmas party at the U.S. ambassador’s residence, then stopped in front of the walled compound that enclosed Welch’s house to open the front gates. As Welch and his wife got out, three armed men in a black car pulled up behind them, burst out of the car, and confronted Welch.

“Put your hands up!” one of the men told Welch in Greek.

“What?” Welch asked in English.

One of the gunmen leveled his .45 caliber handgun and fired three times. An autopsy later showed that the first shot hit Welch in the chest, rupturing his aorta and killing him instantly. The three men got back in their car and sped away. That’s when Welch’s driver rushed to get Estes.

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The Man Who Touched an Alien at Brazil’s Roswell – Newly Released Forensic Report Shows a Strange Bacteria Killed Him


On January 20, 1996, the incident that has since become known as ‘Brazil’s Roswell’ began when three young women in Varginha, a major metropolitan city in southeastern Brazil, reported seeing an alien being described as having red eyes, a large head with “spots like veins on the skin” and an unsteady bipedal gait that made them think it was injured or sick. This was followed by more reports of aliens, UFO sightings, military presence, witnesses who allegedly filmed aliens being removed from the area, and one young policeman who claimed to have touched one of the extraterrestrials and was infected with a mysterious disease which soon killed him. Details of his experience and death have remained sketchy at best, but documentary filmmaker James Fox managed to finally get detailed reports from witnesses for his 2022 documentary on the Varginha incident called “Moment of Contact.” Fox returned to Varginha this year and recently announced he has obtained more information from the forensic pathologist who examined the young policeman who allegedly touched an alien. What he found could shed new light on Brazil’s Roswell.

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Former police oversight commissioner’s death investigated as homicide after she’s found dead in her Michigan home

Foul play is suspected after a former police oversight commissioner was found dead in her Ann Arbor, Michigan, home by officers conducting a welfare check, the department said Thursday.

The death of Jude Walton, 51, is being investigated as a homicide. A police spokesman said there was evidence of forced entry to the home’s backdoor and “obvious signs of trauma on her body.”

No arrests have been made. An autopsy is scheduled for Friday to determine the cause of death, spokesman Chris Page said.

Police were called to the home on Chapin Street around 1:30 p.m. on Thursday after her employer said she had not shown up for work. She was last seen by a neighbor around 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Page said.

“Once officers arrived and entered the home, they discovered the body of a 51-year-old Ann Arbor woman,” a police news release states.

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A Series of Strange and Eerily Similar Unsolved Deaths in Minnesota

Jelani Dante Brinson had a lot going for him. The 24-year-old Jelani had a new, 9-month old baby daughter with his girlfriend Dena Anderson and they were trying to plan a life together, and he had just been promoted at his place of work at a cell phone shop. The devoted Christian was planning on becoming a minister and moving in with his girlfriend and child, but his life was about to lead down a dark path towards a tragic and perplexing unsolved mystery, that may or may not link to another mystery. 

On the evening of April 17, 2009, Jelani met up with some friends and went to a co-worker’s house in Anoka, Minnesota, in the United States. They then went to another friend’s house and Jelani was described as being in good spirits and his usual cheerful self. They then went to yet another acquaintance’s house, and after about 5 minutes there Jelani received a call on his cell phone. It isn’t known what he talked about on this call, but shortly after this he abruptly left the home and went off on his own without explanation and without saying goodbye. It was fairly strange and out of character for him, but they just assumed that he had been called away for something important and he would be back. He never did come back, but at the time they still did not realize that they would never see him alive again.

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US spy found dead in Pentagon parking lot

The US military has identified the serviceman found dead in a vehicle near the Pentagon earlier this month, revealing he was a senior intelligence specialist working in the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. 

The army officer was named as Master Sgt. Juan Paulo Ferrer Bordador, 42, who was discovered in his car in the Pentagon’s north parking lot following a welfare check on March 14, Army officials said on Wednesday. While an emergency crew responded soon after the officer was spotted, he was already dead by the time they arrived.

Since 2021, Bordador served as the noncommissioned officer leading the Joint Chiefs’ Technical Surveillance Countermeasure program – a team which works to identify and thwart attempted espionage by foreign states

The cause of Bordador’s death is not yet known and few other details have been released, but the Army said it would continue to investigate.

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THE DEATH OF PETER THIEL’S “KEPT” ROMANTIC PARTNER IS BEING INVESTIGATED AS A SUICIDE

JEFF THOMAS, a model and social media influencer who was recently in a long-term relationship with billionaire Peter Thiel, said he spent much of his time with the tech mogul working to persuade him away from his increasingly aggressive pursuit of a culture war — a war that Thomas warned was blowing back on their community.

“I don’t side with him on a lot of political things, but I understand him,” Thomas told me in an interview last November. “I’m trying to influence him in ways to show him my heart, and show him how it affects myself, certain individuals, himself.”

Thomas said that he felt like he had made strides with Thiel, though his effort was cut short earlier this month, on March 8, when he died tragically. His death is being investigated as a possible suicide, according to a Miami Police Department report and sources who have been contacted by the police for information. Miami police have been in contact with Thiel, and will interview him as part of the probe, two sources with knowledge of the investigation said.

Thiel did not respond to texts or phone calls requesting comment. Most of the people The Intercept spoke to during this reporting have requested anonymity, citing Thiel’s relentless and successful effort to obliterate Gawker in retribution for outing him in the 2000s.

Thomas had met Thiel back in 2015 or 2016 at Coachella, he told me, where Thiel threw one of his legendary parties. “I was wondering why he was being affiliated with someone like Trump, and investing in him, if he’s gay,” Thomas said. But his own father was a Republican, Thomas said, and he grew up in Texas, so felt that he knew how to reach people who thought differently.

In 2017, Thiel married investment banker Matt Danzeisen. Thomas and Thiel eventually struck up a relationship in the early stages of the pandemic. But it wasn’t a typical relationship. Thomas described himself as being in a “kept” situation that made him uncomfortable. “It was stressful, he wanted me to get the nicest car, the nicest house. He wanted to kind of show his power, to kind of show that he had me in his dollhouse,” he said. “It’s not like I was his boyfriend, really, I was just kind of his friend that was there for him when he needed, you know, whatever he needed.”

But Thomas justified it to himself as a fair trade. “If I’m gonna give up the relationships I have and give up my dreams right now, during Covid, or dating other guys or pursuing people, then I’m going to get a $300,000 car and I’m going to get a $13 million home [on Franklin Avenue in Hollywood Hills]. So those are the things that I see fit for me to give up my freedom,” he said.

I spoke with Thomas while doing reporting for a profile of Thiel, which is ongoing. (If you knew Thomas or have any other information to share, send me a message on Signal or WhatsApp at 202-368-0859, or by email to ryan.grim@theintercept.com.) Thomas also spoke with several Democratic and progressive activists who are working to expose what they see as Thiel’s hypocrisy. The activists provided recordings of interviews with Thomas to The Intercept. Some of the quotes in this story come from that audio.

Thomas figured that the relationship, and the house he was living in — a mansion at 8517 Franklin Avenue in Hollywood Hills listed at $13 million — could be a step toward a career in real estate. “It was something to do during the pandemic. I was kind of over my one bedroom apartment,” he said. “I did real estate in New York, and I was considering getting my license and doing investment — flipping homes and doing investment properties in LA and I figured that this could be maybe one of my first in my portfolio. … I knew I wasn’t going to be in it for the long run.”

Several of Thomas’s friends in Los Angeles said they often saw Thiel at Thomas’s home, and also saw Thomas at Thiel’s nearby home on Metz Place. (Unrelatedly, before Thomas moved in, the home was owned by leading figures in the bizarre NXIVM sex cult that was rolled up in 2021, according to property records.)

The parties Thiel and Thomas threw could get raucous, and Thiel himself would sometimes do the recruiting. Thiel, or someone using his Facebook account, reached out to one University of California, Los Angeles grad student, despite having no friends in common, and invited him to a party at Thiel’s house, describing the poolside scene. “Hot guys at a pool sounds like pretty idyllic gay activity to me,” the student responded, according to screenshots of the conversation obtained by The Intercept. They moved to a WhatsApp conversation using Thiel’s phone number.

“Well, it doesn’t stay idyllic too long,” Thiel’s account said, “but always lots of fun,” adding later, “Yeah, we know how to have some no holds barred gay fun.”

To paraphrase Jerry Seinfeld, there’s nothing wrong with no-holds-barred gay fun, and, indeed, the ability of consenting adults to engage in whatever private, victimless behavior they choose is one measure of a just society. It’s also what Thiel has been spending heavily to oppose.

Thiel, one of the biggest funders of Republican candidates in 2022, bankrolled a massive super PAC that backed Ohio Senate candidate and Thiel protégé J.D. Vance, called “Protect Ohio Values PAC.” He also put millions into Saving Arizona PAC, to support Blake Masters. Both candidates ran heavily on culture war issues, portraying themselves as fighting for an America with traditional conservative values against the libertine coastal elites.

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