Houstonians Debate: Was Baxter 'Vince Fostered'?

NewsMax ^ | January 26, 2002 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[MeekOneGOP]

NewsMax.com

 

Saturday Jan. 26, 2002; 10:30 a.m. EST

Houstonians Debate: Was Baxter 'Vince Fostered'?

News that ex-Enron executive Cliff Baxter had been found shot to death ignited a firestorm of speculation on Friday, and nowhere was the debate more intense than on talk radio in Baxter's hometown of Houston, Texas.

"I would say it's about 60/40 that people down here think he may have been Vince Fostered," said KPRC radio host Chris Baker Saturday morning.

Suspicions intensified when police rushed Baxter's body from his late model Mercedes where it was found in a Houston suburb to a local funeral home without further examination, the Texas radio talker noted.

But then "the Justice of the Peace in the area decided he was going to be much more thorough," Baker told WABC radio's John Gambling in New York. "So now the body's going to go for autopsy and that cooled down a lot of that, maybe-this-guy-was-murdered thing."

Still, questions continue to swirl, he said.

"You know, there's a saying that you can always blame a dead man so - (while) I truly believe it's a suicide, the rumors are going to start," Baker predicted.

The KPRC host said that any attempt to make Baxter Enrongate's fall guy would be complicated by his image as a straight shooter. "It would be strange to see (Baxter's colleagues) point the finger because this guy did have a reputation for boldly speaking with former Enron CEO Jeff Skilling and protesting against a lot of (the company's) business practices."

Houston police have so far declined to release the contents of a suicide note found in Baxter's car. But ABC News reported Friday night that several coworkers said the ex-Enron executive had expressed distress over the prospect of having to testify against his former colleagues in upcoming Congressional hearings.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:

Enron

[Flashlight]

...Is that typical, that when you commit suicide that the gun will remain in your hand?...

Finding the gun in his hand would indicate murder, not suicide. Foster's gun was found in his hand (suppposedly). It was explained that Foster's thumb was caught between the trigger and trigger guard of the gun.

[Geezerette]

Bump for later reading! Thanks!

g

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

My daughter lives in Sugar Land. She say's the people she talks to, are of the opinion he did NOT commit suicide. These are her co-workers that live in Houston.

Please ask your daughter why a killer would take him to the middle of the main road through one of the most affluent areas in Ft Bend County to shoot him. The area is patrolled by both Sugar Land police and off duty constable deputies.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

"I would say it's about 60/40 that people down here think he may have been Vince Fostered," said KPRC radio host Chris Baker Saturday morning.

Turn off 950, back away from the radio, have some coffee and tune in 700!! ;-)

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

I just heard on the news that he was found with a .38 in his hand. Is that typical, that when you commit suicide that the gun will remain in your hand?

My neighbors sister and a neighbor of my parents each shot themselves. I saw both and they still had the gun in their hand.

[The Duke]

I'm just glad to hear that "Vince Foster" is becoming a part of the common vernacular in verb form, just as "Lewinsky" has itself taken on a whole new meaning.

Maybe Baxter got a "Lewinsky" before he was "Fosterized"?

[mercy]

Speaking of talk radio. Y'all are sure deprived down there. What a talk wasteland. I spend a couple days now and then down there with the wife and can never find anything on the radio. At least you DO get Rush but that seems to be all. I was really surprised that such a huge population center was so berift.

[Woodkirk]

Who would have been more depressed -- the witness who was clean or the coworkers who feared what the witness would say.

His former colleagues had more of a reason to want to commit suicide or see to it that he was suicided.

[GregoryFul]

The first witness on the scene said that there was no gun in Foster's hand.

The Confidential Witness went over and peered into the half-closed eyes of the corpse. "He looked as if he'd been dead for a long time, I mean hours," he said. There was no blood on the pristine white shirt; nothing to explain why this elegant figure should be lying dead in the shrub wearing a "$400 or $500 suit" and sparkling "dress shoes," with a bittle of wine cooler at his elbow. The bed of dried leaves below the body had been "very heavily trampled," so something was obviously wrong.

His hands were stretched out, with the palms up. No weapon was visible anywhere. No gun.

"I noticed that there was a tiny bit of dried blood around the mouth and nose, so I thought maybe he'd been hit on the back of the head."

from "The Secret Life of Bill Clinton" by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard; chapter entitled "The Peripatetic Gun."

[Grim]

I won't believe it was suicide until an thorough handwriting analysis is done on the "suicide note" that verifies it was in Baxter's handwriting.

The stakes here are exceedingly high. We're talking billions and there's plenty of people, including the Clintons, who have lots to hide.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

Speaking of talk radio. Y'all are sure deprived down there. What a talk wasteland. I spend a couple days now and then down there with the wife and can never find anything on the radio. At least you DO get Rush but that seems to be all. I was really surprised that such a huge population center was so berift.

How hard did you look? AM700 has three of the most knowledgeable right wing hosts I've ever heard from 6am - 6pm followed by 4 hours of national right wing talk. One of the 3 is a former state senator, and bank CEO.

Congressman DeLay and Patterson are on there all the time and my state rep, who has the most conservative voting record in the house, is on several times a year. The Harris County Tax Assessor Collector is a regular guest host.

AM950 has Rush live.

[JoeFromCA]

Yep, if someone threatened me or my family members I sure would leave my 10 year old daughter, 16 year old son and wife to live with loss and grief for the rest of their lives, rather than meet that threat with force. This is especally true if I had $35 million and therefore could afford all the force or protection that I might need. I'd just say "Gee, they might hurt my kids if I don't kill myself" and drive right off and do it. It's scary, now that my enemies know how to get rid of me.

[mercy]

Thanks.

[marty60]

If it walks like a Clinton, if it talks like a Clinton, and it smells like a Clinton, Then guess what Enron was a Clinton thing from beginning to end. Alamo-Girl should start adding the Enron Suicides to the Clinton list. Demoncrats ONLY care about money. Ethics and morals be damned.

[Dazedcat]

Your theory will take hold if another Enron executive or insider shows up dead. Personally, I just blame Clinton like everybody else.

[Drammach]

Yeah.
Another thread refers to this as somehow Clinton deaths related.
As I said there, I doubt it's an Arkancide.
But it's definitely an Enroncide.

Most suspicious.

[Mommyof3]

Neither you nor I know what has happened, but in trying to think how you could get someone out of the way without ever getting caught that is a dandy way to do it. Money doesn't guarentee safety. There are some very powerful higher ups involved in this fiasco.

[ASTM366]

Baxter was not "Vince Fostered".

He just couldn't stand the scrutiny, shame and embarrassment.

A former Vice Chairman that had fallen a long, long ways. He was obviously weak psychologically.

[Digger]

IMO this guy was either to take his life or the family was in danger. So yes a suicide but an unwanted one.