TonyO - Strange Death of Flo Barnett

[Div6]

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/01/the_strange_dea.php

We were stunned when Debrah Kitchings said it: in the 26 years since she investigated the odd death of Mary Florence "Flo" Barnett for the Los Angeles County Coroner, she has not once been asked by a reporter about what she remembers of the case.

Only once in that time, she says, was she ever asked about it at all.

"I think her daughter or a relative sent a letter, an inquiry, I think," Kitchings says.

Today, Kitchings is retired and lives in Riverside County, California, but in 1985, she was an investigator with the LA Department of Coroner when, on the night of September 8, she was called to Dominguez Valley Hospital in Compton to conduct a gunshot residue test on the hands of the dead woman.

Despite the passage of time, Kitchings remembers the case well. And she suspects that there's a reason I'm interested in this one death out of the many she handled over her career.

"It has something to do with Scientology, right?"

Indeed, it does. Over the years, interest in the death of Flo Barnett has endured because of her connection to the Church of Scientology -- Barnett's daughter, Michelle "Shelly" Barnett, in 1981 married David Miscavige, who today is the supreme leader of the worldwide religion. Flo was Miscavige's mother-in-law, and Shelly herself has not been seen in public with her husband since 2006. But that's a story we'll be going into on another day.

More at source....

 

[freethinker]

In my view, a person trying to commit suicide, and if so, obviously determined, would come to the conclusion rather quickly after the first shot to the chest that a shot to the head would get it over quicker with less pain. And even if not after the first shot, the second failure and subsequent pain, I would think, would inspire one to get it done as quick as possible.

More than suspicious. How is that Sheriff living in his retirement?

 

[Dulloldfart]

This is only interesting to the extent that the CofS got at (or didn't) the detective before he signed off on the investigation. Maybe Tony O could drop the question on him and try and gauge the reaction.

Paul

 

[freethinker]

Perhaps the body should be exhumed and re-examined, just to make sure.

 

[anonomog]

It is as odd as hell and the suicide makes absolutely no sense to me as a layman, but it may just be the truth. The fact that strange and unbelievable things tend to happen around Scientology with some regularity, shouldn't automatically cast suspicion their way....I concede that strange things can and do happen.


What worries me more - where is her daughter?
Where is Shelly Miscavige?
It would be really good to see her at the next event.
Holding up today's newspaper, or the blog at the Village Voice...whatever.



I don't want to hear about another confirmed-by-experts suicide where the person has stabbed herself 20 times in the back then dropped herself into a well to die.

 

[Dulloldfart]

Perhaps the body should be exhumed and re-examined, just to make sure.

Make sure it's dead?

Paul

 

[freethinker]

No, to make sure it was a suicide. I'm quite sure it's dead and if it wasn't when she was buried then it's not a suicide.

Make sure it's dead?

Paul

 

[Dulloldfart]

No, to make sure it was a suicide. I'm quite sure it's dead and if it wasn't when she was buried then it's not a suicide.

Per Tony O's article the physical evidence has never been in question, so I don't see what good an exhumation would do.

Paul

 

[koki]

CSI - detectives would solve this puzzle....

 

[WildKat]

This thread should be titled "The suspicious suicide of David Miscavige's Mother in Law" . I remember first reading about this years ago and thinking something very fishy happened there and we'll probably never know the truth. Just look at the gun and try to imagine a suicide, 3 times in the chest and one in the head!

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/01/the_strange_dea.php

 

[Dulloldfart]

Just look at the gun and try to imagine a suicide, 3 times in the chest and one in the head!

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/01/the_strange_dea.php

Easy. You LIE DOWN so you don't have to support the weight of the rifle. Then you pull the trigger with your thumb. I used to have a Ruger 10/22 and tried it out (no bullets). It's quite easy with everything horizontal.

As to pain and so forth, well, when people are really determined to do something some pain can be ignored. And these are .22 calibre bullets, not .44 magnum ones. You can read stories of people getting shot with .22 calibre bullets and not even realising it until later when the adrenalin rush wore off.

Paul

 

[Smurf]

This is only interesting to the extent that the CofS got at (or didn't) the detective before he signed off on the investigation. Maybe Tony O could drop the question on him and try and gauge the reaction.

That's a legitimate suggestion. There is a pending murder case in Illinois.. a longtime police officer, Drew Peterson, loses his 3rd wife to accidental drowning (her body was found in an empty bathtub) and his 4th wife remains missing.

The coroner ruled his 3rd wife's death to be accidental after viewing the body & talking with a close friend-police detective of Drew Peterson. After alot of facts came out about the police officer, who's obviously psychotic, and has a long past of threatening & abusing women, a different coroner exhumed the body & came to the conclusion she had been murdered and it was staged to look like a suicide.

Drew Peterson lost his job as a 20+ year cop, and now sits in jail awaiting trial on murder charges, while police still search for his 4th wife who remains missing.

 

[freethinker]

Bodies have been exhumed before where evidence that was overlooked or missed before is picked up. It's not often but it happens.

The examination could have been rushed plus new forensic methods may find what was not before.

Per Tony O's article the physical evidence has never been in question, so I don't see what good an exhumation would do.

Paul

 

[Dulloldfart]

Maybe David Miscavige would be forced to say no because it would be disrespectful to his dear mother-in-law's sacred religious beliefs. And quickly form a CofS political lobbying group, the Citizens Commission on Cadaverous Rights, to back him up.

Paul

 

[pomfritz]

As much as I'd like to think the cult directly had something to do with her death. it seems the other evidence of a suicide note(s), pain and health issues, previous evidence of attempt seem to support the findings. Indirectly did the cult play a role, absolutely! Had she a loving daughter and son in law instead of two sworn enemies maybe things would've turned out different for her.

 

[Panda Termint]

^^^True!^^^

 

[jenni with an eye]

Either way you look at it, it is a horrible way to die.

 

[secretiveoldfag]

There have been altogether TOO MANY strange and violent deaths in and around Scientology.

Who benefits?

Tony should look again at the deaths of Susan Meister, Quentin Hubbard and a few others. All of these strange accidents have been convenient for Scientology.

 

[smartone]

If she did commit suicide, wouldn't it have been easier to use a gun instead of a rifle? Unless she had long enough arms to point it at herself and then grasp the trigger.

But what do I know. My husband was teaching me how to use a gun a long time ago and my legs went to jelly when he put it in my hand. I still won't touch the blinking thing.

 

[Dulloldfart]

If she did commit suicide, wouldn't it have been easier to use a gun instead of a rifle? Unless she had long enough arms to point it at herself and then grasp the trigger.

It's a question of what is available at the time. Getting a handgun is not like ordering in a pizza.

Paul