TonyO - Strange Death of Flo Barnett

[smartone]

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

Paul

But this happened in America.

 

[Free to shine]

Excellent comment by Mary

JustCallMeMary 12 hours ago
Flo Barnett, by all accounts, was suffering emotionally for several reasons, one of which was because she was never able to recover or repair the loss of the big 'win' she stated she had in 1972, a win she claimed was the end phenomena of Solo NOTS OT Rundown auditing. Finding that Flag would not address the matter, she then left the church ( for that and other important reasons) to go to and try to correct this at David Mayo's field group, an enemy target of the church. Despite that attempt to get back to this state she was seeking, and the good effect her counseling had on her there, it never addressed the thing Flo was wanting to get back - what she believed was the completion of Solo NOTS.

Anyone who is personally familiar with how auditing and the cult Bridge works will tell you that she was dealing with what is called an 'over run' and a 'wrong indication and these are big Auditing 'no no's in Scientology and every real scientologist knows this. Scientologists suffering from such can feel very upset. Its a very personal upset that gets worse the more the person is aware that it remains unresolved or ignored by who ever the scientologist believes has the power to correct it.

On top of that, you have a woman who underwent carotid artery surgery to remove an aneurysm, who was suffering some mild to moderate but definately unwanted and slow to recover cognitive and memory side effects ( most likely from some loss of oxygen during surgery because the surgery was external to the brain.) Anyone having had a more than mild loss of cognitive or memory ability will tell you how depressingly frustrating day to day life and a slow recovery can be.

Then, on top of that, you have a hostile situation with the church, her daughter and son in law; and possible some marital problems.

The world looks very bleak to a scientologist in a situation like she was in, who thinks there is no hope anymore and that scientology can't or won't fix the problem. Especially when they have been indoctrinated day in and day out that only scientology holds the only hope of mankind. I can't even imagine the stress she was under, believing there was no hope.

David Miscavige may have had her killed but we don't know that. What we do know is that he surely helped drive her to her death. Did she use the shotgun? Well, it does look impossible but it's not improbable given all the facts. The evidence of a previous attempt to slit her wrists is a big clue and an issue she did not reveal to anyone close to her. Scientologists believe that death is no big deal and that coming back after death is a reality. Many scientologists have committed suicide under this belief or having been hurt by the church enough to believe that suicide is a viable solution to their problem of no hope for this lifetime.

I'm glad you investigated this further and I think that if you felt there were shenanagans involved, you would continue to investigate any major discrepancies if such existed. Thanks for digging this up.

and in reply:

Karen#1 5 hours ago in reply to JustCallMeMary
I was the Missionaire sent to "Handle" Flo Barnett~~ i.e. to get her away from David Mayo's group and back to the "Mother Church."
I was OSA INT staff at the time.
Ken Hoden was my junior and partner in the "mission"
It was not a trailer park, it was a gated community and she had a condo.
She lived with a boyfriend, a black man, some 6' 4" tall, about 10 years younger than her.
(He was questioned in detail after the death.)
Ken and I spent almost a full day with her.

We discussed her visits to David Mayo's Ability Center and many other issues.
Flo had already made some "Final decisions" about her direction.
I am a repeated whistleblower on David Miscagive abuses and spare no words calling it like I see it.

But I was with Flo only a couple of days before this incident.
I will emphatically state that David Miscavige has absolutely nothing to do with her death.
In her frame of mind, she killed herself.


Karen de la Carriere

Rumpelstiltskin 5 hours ago in reply to Karen#1
Sorry Karen, but the ONLY persons that knew what actually happened are those that were there at the time. You weren't there, I was not there and not even the Pohpoh were present until after the fact. It was scientology technology that ran Flo into the mental state she was in, period. She never had her physical issues dealt with because......?
I know you are one of the last to defend david miscavige, but you are also one of the first to champion the very thing that lead to the demise of not only Flo, but so many many many more over the proceeding decades. Lay the blame at the feet of management all you choose, it just cannot change the many facts of the matter that scientology hurts people.

 

[ClearEyed]

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

A very similar suicide that received lots of publicity:

"On March 23, 1984, Grant committed suicide in Palm Springs by shooting herself with a .22 Long Rifle. Shortly after 7 p.m. she lay down, placed the gun horizontally against her head, and pulled the trigger. The shot passed through her right temple, out the left and into the bedroom wall, according to police reports. The gun was discharged from such close range that the bullet left virtually star-shaped holes. Brain dead, Shauna was rushed to Desert Hospital, where life support systems were disconnected after two days."

Above quote is from the wikipedia entry on Shauna Grant. There were at least 2 TV movies about her life and death. In one that they re-enacted her suicide they showed her lying on the bed with the rifle, not unlike the way it was described in Flo's situation.

So while I think it is entirely possible that Flo was so distraught and desperate that she could have managed to end her life this way, I also have to wonder if a final "mercy shot" was administered. The only one who was there was her husband, and there doesn't seem to be much attention placed on him.

I agree with someone else who opined that while Miscavige was not directly involved,
the circumstances that led her to such a state of mind and act of desperation lead back to him, the Church of Scientology, and it's founder and their acts and policies that drive people into such dark and hopeless actions.

 

[Caliwog]

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. ... . 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.

Four words I rarely write: I agree with Paul.

I've never been shot; I've read that it's painful, but I've also heard of (and experienced) superficial wounds that did not hurt right away.

And suicide makes sense in Scientology, what with their value on human life. What do you do when your body is failing? Why, you simply drop it and pick up another one.

And unlike other religions that preach some form of reincarnation, in Scientology there is no penalty for offing yourself.

 

[Caliwog]

Much as I'd love to see DM go down for murder (how funny would that be?), I would be really surprised if the Church had anything to do with Flo Barnett's death.

First of all, if Dave is going to have anyone killed, there are people much more harmful to his cause than his squirrel mother-in-law.

Second, these clowns can't even hire a simple cameraman or reporter to get info on Marty Rathbun without it getting splashed all over the papers. As far as I know, LRH wrote no "murder tech," so they are left to their own under-educated devices. I honestly believe that a Co$-sponsored murder would be a comedy of errors.

 

[WildKat]

.......while Miscavige was not directly involved, the circumstances that led her to such a state of mind and act of desperation lead back to him, the Church of Scientology, and it's founder and their acts and policies that drive people into such dark and hopeless actions.

Very good points.

Also, I can see now that it is possible she fired the rifle 4 times herself (a friend demonstrated how it could work) but I still find it a bit of a stretch given the sequence of the 4 shots.

I also still wonder if she had some help or just encouragement to do it. The official church likes nothing more than to show to the world that those who leave come to a bad end. On the other hand, it appears she didn't really "leave" the church. She was still a Koolaid drinker trying to rehab a win, no matter whether she was involved with the official church or the splinter group (Mayo's).

I'd love to see the suicide notes. Anyone know if those are available??

I believe the report said something about 5 shell casings found, but only 4 wounds. That's a bid odd.

 

[Dulloldfart]

I believe the report said something about 5 shell casings found, but only 4 wounds. That's a bid odd.

One missed. Wasn't one found in the wall or something? I can't be bothered to dig up the reports again. It's not like we have a JFK Magic Bullet scenario to explain.

Paul

 

[randomx]

I just can`t figure out why someone who had access to all of Hubbard`s tech, both the official version, and the squirrel version, would want to end their life so violently.

I also can`t figure out how all the suspects, who had access to all of Hubbard`s tech
both squirrel, and the official version, would think the best way to "handle" another human being was with a loaded gun.

Just doesn`t make sense.

Then I remembered, I myself studied Hubbard`s tech and wound up realizing nothing made sense anymore.

Thus this post.