How Convenient!
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.
~~~~snip~~~~~
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 ...
Weird...
His family doesn't think so, said he'd been depressed for weeks and had recently gone to a doctor for help.
Friend of the Clintons?
At his age, with all his success...
What could possibly be depressing enough to bring him to suicide?
The answer would provide an interesting insight into the workings of a fascinating mind.
Remember that when you have blue crab for dinner.
".....Sounds like Chesapeake Bay may have as many bodies as Marine Park in Brooklyn....."
I've often fished for stripers off a place called "Bloody Point". It takes its name from the number of murders that have taken place there.
Local lore has it that unscrupulous oystermen in the 1800's would find unemployed black men looking for work around the docks, take them on as hands, work them hard, and after the boat was loaded with oysters, instead of paying them, the captains would knock them in the head, and push them overboard into the freezing water off bloody point.
Lobsters eat whale crap. They still taste good!
Interesting that one could get to 72 years of age and finally decide "I can't take it anymore." One would think that proclivity would have been acted out many years ago.
Perhaps we can conclude he was very indecisive..??..
Did he have anything to do with Hillary Clinton?
I think in hindsight, they realized its much better to put the body in a boat than in Ft. Marcy Park.
Blue claws.....MMMmmmmmm!
Take boat out, tie anchor to leg, shoot self with shotgun.
How Convenient!
Must have been a really small anchor...
What could possibly be depressing enough to bring him to suicide?
I know someone who is an acquiantance of one of his family...it was said he had a recent heart problem and was taking medications. They observed his spirits were low, but didnt think it was this bad.
According to today's Baltimore Sun, he underwent serious heart surgery in the past year and was on several medications. Discouragement over the physical limitations that can come with heart disease (though he went single sailing) or side effects of the meds may have had something to do with it.
Pirates of the Chesapeake?
He was fixin' to talk..................or publeesh
If he had an anchor tied around his ankle(s), how did he float?
If he tied the anchor around his ankle(s) first, he sunk and how did he shoot himself?
If he shot himself first, how did he tie an anchor around his ankle(s)?
Make up my mind.
I'd guess somebody is scared poopless about whoever did this and is playing it real safe.
Or a very long anchor rope.
I would think that the Washington Compost would know enough to leave that one alone.
Don't some of these antidepressant drugs have the documented side effect of causing suicidal thoughts?
From the article:
"They said he had undergone heart surgery a year ago and was on several medications as a result."
When I hear things like this I wonder what effect his cocktail of drugs had on his mental state. No matter how much testing drugs undergo, we don't know specifically how a drug will affect an individual, nor is there testing done on the synergestic effect of each drug combined with every other drug a doctor may prescribe to one individual. A drug by itself may be ok, but combined with another drug or multiple other drugs, or with the specific chemistry of an individual, may have distrastrous results.
Drugs, whether on the street or in the doctor's office, are potentially dangerous.
>>>>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,
Well no wonder he had a heart attack. Walking around dragging anchors has to be a strain.
Would that be on his bay window?
(.....a bay window is a pot tummy, for those of you in Rio Linda)
Leni
Arkancide?
Reminds me of another 'suicide' from the LBJ years. (Bobby Baker case?)
The victim "shot himself" several times with a lever action rifle. I remember an interview where a local LEO demonstrated how this was accomplished and, when asked if he had any doubts as to whether this was a suicide, replied, "No dopubts whatever."
It's that time of the year here in Maryland (or 'Merlin', as the locals say it). According to these excerpts, the crabs should be heavy this year with all the extra food.
Ok, yall have convinced me this morning that it was a very good idea for me to become vegetarian (permanently) almost 10 years ago. Yeecchh!
As a former CCU RN, I remember very well the depression resulting in patients that had to spend much time on the heart-lung machine. It may have been as high as 30-40%.
Anyone?
How could he be sure he would fall into the water after he shot himself? What was the purpose of going into the water in the first place? Was he afraid the shotgun wouldn't finish him off? 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? Family seems awfully eager to accept a suicide. Spooky?
LOL!
Yeah, yeah, but what was his backup plan?
Chesapeake Bay tends to be very shallow.
from "Analyze That"
Dr. Ben Sobel: I thought you were in prison?
Jelly: It would appear not.
Dr. Ben Sobel: How'd you get out?
Jelly: I had a new trial. Turns out that the evidence in the first trial was tainted.
Dr. Ben Sobel: O, I see
Jelly: Anyway, two of the witnesses decided not to testify and the third guy, well, he commited suicide.
Dr. Ben Sobel: How?
Jelly: He stabbed himself in the back four times and threw himself off a bridge.
ICU psychosis?
Supposedly it is an aftereffect of the blood cells being manipulated through the tubing of the actual machine. (Please all, feel free to correct me for I am working from memory only here)
Then again, I was the NURSE, and I got a heavy dose of ICU psychosis (sp), lol
I agree, it sounds a bit weird. I suppose you could shoot yourself and then throw yourself overboard, but with an anchor tied to you? Hmmmm...
susie
Being a vegetarian would depress me.....
susie
>>>>Don't some of these antidepressant drugs have the documented side effect of causing suicidal thoughts?
Absolutely.
However, I can't find anything in the package inserts of the antidepressents describing heaviness by anchor.
I agree. Suicide does not smell right.
A shotgun blast to the head should be sufficient.
why tie an anchor to your legs.
the x-files were more probable than this.
If you stand on the edge of the boat and shoot yourself, it would be pretty easy unless the anchor was really heavy. It would be even easier if the boat was small, like an FJ or something.
My kittie had a terrible accident, and after that, anytime I THOUGHT about eating meat I threw up.
THat is pretty depressing too, lol
A man received a message from Md. State police about his missing wife. It had good news and bad news. Bad news they found his wife, she was drowned and when they found her she had a half bushel of crabs attached to her.
Good news, they were putting her back over next day.
Inquiring minds. The anchor part makes no sense.
wait, did he shoot himself in the head with a shotgun before or after the threw himself overboard with the anchor wrapped around his body?
What kind of arm length would this man have to be able to shoot himself in the head with a shotgun?
This is not a suicide. Can't be.
I remember hearing that the engine was running when the empty boat was found. It is hard for me to understand how even a suicidally depressed person would leave his beloved yacht to be an unattended obstacle to everyone else on the Bay that day. Unless he left the boat aimed at a beach, knowing that it would be out of harm's way. But he was found farther away than the search area so it does not seem like he fell overboard (with an anchor around his ankle) near a beachy shore.
Maybe the blast of the shotgun blew him backward, and his feet entangled the anchor line accidentally.
I hope that your Mom is better! :-)
I am aware of the ICU impairment thing, I wonder if it has to do sometimes with sleep impairment being a contributing factor. (?????)
The post op depression can be a different or complicating issue.
Geez, do I need to just go write a medical book? Sorry for being so boring....
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