Posted on 06/21/2006 5:06:02 AM PDT by Renfield
Philip Merrill, the prominent publisher and former diplomat whose body was found floating in the Chesapeake Bay on Monday, suffered from a heart condition and apparently took his own life, his family said last night.
Merrill, 72, was found with a shotgun wound to the head and a small anchor tied around one or both ankles, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
~~~~snip~~~~
In 1996, former CIA director William E. Colby died from drowning and exposure after falling from a canoe off Charles County.
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In 1978, another former high-level CIA employee, John A. Paisley, disappeared while sailing across the Chesapeake Bay. His body was found a week later near Solomons Island with a fatal gunshot wound in an apparent suicide.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
...yeah... I'd be depressed too, if I knew somebody was going to kill me...
you probably mean "Plavix"... cause Paxil might help his depression
how were his arms long enough to put the shotgun in his mouth and pull the trigger? And, was he leaning over the boat with the anchored leg already over the side? This does not make sense.
The thing is, I don't think it has to be that way. Western medicine has become so dependent on drugs ... it's like they have no other tools to use except for drugs and surgery. The ineffectiveness of it all has caused me to look at alternative/natural health remedies and I've seen much better results for myself as well as my elderly parents.
"All anti-depressants should have that warning, about suicide. Drug companies have gotten away with hiding how depressing anti-depressants are for some people."
Which begs the question of what IS the purpose of anti-depressants ... I thought their purpose was to PREVENT depression and suicidal tendencies. If their side effects are just the opposite, then why do drug companies continue to peddle them for depression? Do I see dollar signs mixed into the equation here? Methinks I do.
Yes, I corrected myself.
Speculation: he tied an anchor to his leg, sat on the edge of the boat with the anchor in his lap and leaned backwards to fall over. As he went over he pulled the trigger.
As someone else said, he should have used a bigger anchor.
/speculation
Depressed people suffer from a paralysis of the will. They often can't get organized enough to take a shower, much less carry out a suicide plan. Sometimes an anti-depressant will give a patient just enough control to allow him to carry out the self-destructive actions he may have been contemplating.
We have to remember that these pills are not magic bullets. They can't cause people to think or act in specific ways. All they do is alter the brain chemistry, hopefully in a postive way. Right now, they are they best treatment available and often do good. But people using them need to be watched closely.
At any rate, I'm not sure Merrill was taking anti-depressants. Just heart medicine. However, some of the same effects may apply.
It does to me, throw the light anchor over board as to weight yourself down so nobody will find you. If nobody finds you, your family collects insurance. If you wanted to be seen and make a bid hoodoo about the whole thing, you would not be doing it out on the water away from everyone.
You shoot yourself in a way that throws you overboard or in the water treading water next to the boat. The anchor is not enough weight so you can not do this for a minute or so. Some anchors are quite light and in the boyancy of water, easy enough to keep afloat for the length of time needed.
Just my two cents... on a very morbid subject
Apparently, he was a coward.
IMO, he staged his suicide to look like a boating accident. Think of all the time and money spent on trying to find this louse.
He sits on the side of the boat with an anchor loosely attached to the boat via rope. He shoots himself in the head and falls backward in the water pulling the rope free.
Bodies decompose and release the rope and anchor (see Lacy Peterson).
This is no mystery. It's just a bad attempt at covering up a cowardly suicide.
I have to disgree that they "are the best treatment available" as I believe that there are herbal/nutritional treatments with little/no side effects that are very effective. I would never suggest, however, that a depressed person try to treat him/herself on their own, but rather find a good health practitioner (alternative if need be) to regulate treatment.
Philip Merrill Levine..he said that his father once told him to drop the last name so he could get further in the world...and he did.
Strange death, but certainly not self inflicted.
He sits on the side of the boat with an anchor loosely attached to the boat via rope. He shoots himself in the head and falls backward in the water pulling the rope free.
Again, why the overkill? (no pun intended) Why the need to go into the water?
Bodies decompose and release the rope and anchor (see Lacy Peterson).
That's my point, the body would surface, but be beyond recognition.
Chesapeake Bay sounds like another place I don't care to visit unless I am heavily armed.
I've been thinking about this all day, and it sounds impossible.
1. If he had an anchor around one or both ankles, that would imply that he was in the water when he shot himself. Otherwise, when shot himself and the body would have remained in the boat.
2. So, if he was in the water, he would have to have been in water that was very shallow, otherwise the anchor would have been pulling him down.
3. Additionally, even if he was somehow able to tread water with the anchor around his ankle, he would never have been able to hold a shotgun steady (a pistol yes, but not a shotgun). One reason that so few suicides are done with shotguns is the difficulty of positioning the barrel while still being able to reach the trigger. 4. If he was in shallow water AND had an anchor tied to him, how was it so difficult to find the body? He should have been within a few feet of shore.
ping
thanks for the ping-
this really doesn't make a lot of sense
Sit on the gunwale with the anchor tied to your leg and dangling over the side. Grip the shotgun tightly and angle it so that the blast will push you toward the water. Fire the shotgun and let the force of the blast carry you and the shotgun over the side. Any blood splatter should be out toward the water and not onto the boat.
What was the purpose of going into the water in the first place? Was he afraid the shotgun wouldn't finish him off?
If you wanted to spare your family and your legacy the ignominy of a suicide, why not arrange the suicide in a way that would have you and your weapon simply disappear.
And why would he use an anchor that apparently was not big enough to keep him from floating? Keep the body in the water long enough so it wouldn't be recognizable?
Even smart people underestimate the bouyancy of a bloated body. If he had used his main anchor, it would probably have been heavy enough, but then somebody would notice that the main anchor, which a sailboat carries prominently on the bow, was missing. People only somewhat familiar or unfamiliar with the boat would likely never miss the light anchor commonly referred to as a "lunch hook" that all cruising boats carry.
Family seems awfully eager to accept a suicide. Spooky?
The evidence seems to point to a suicide. Why wouldn't they accept it?
Shotgun suicide....hmmph
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