Free Republic

A high-level executive in Russia’s energy sector has died after apparently falling off a boat over the weekend, becoming the latest Russian powerbroker to perish under mysterious circumstances. Ivan Pechorin, 39, managing director of the Far East and Arctic Development Corporation (ERDC), was sailing off the coast of Russky Island in the Sea of Japan on Saturday when he fell overboard from the speeding vessel. His body was recovered from the water on Monday following an extended search. Only days earlier, Pechorin had attended the Eastern Economic Forum, which was hosted by President Vladimir Putin in Valdivostok. “Ivan’s death is...

The sudden death of Judge Sheila Abdus-Salaam — and the hours that led up to it — remains shrouded in mystery. Shortly after the body of Abdus-Salaam, the first African American woman to serve on New York’s top court, was found floating fully clothed in the Hudson River with no apparent signs of trauma or criminality, local police said they were treating the death as an apparent suicide. But about a week later, following an inconclusive autopsy, ...

THE mystery surrounding the shooting death of an Australian Commando in Afghanistan deepened when it emerged no weapon had been found in the room at Kabul airport where the elite soldier was fatally injured by a single gunshot. Earlier reports from NATO Military Police investigators said that three weapons were being examined in what was regarded as a suspected suicide. However a follow-up report stated that no weapon had been recovered from the scene. The second report also stated that there was no sign of any projectile entering the building and no indication of the angle of the weapon or...

United States Marine Colonel James E. Sabow was murdered sometime between 0835 and 0900 on January 22, 1991. The murder occurred in the backyard of his home on the El Toro MCAS during the height of Desert Storm. Security on the base was much tighter than usual, yet, somehow the assailant or assailants managed to carry out the homicide. The Department of Defense (DoD), despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, has maintained that Colonel Sabow committed suicide. Colonel Sabow flew more than 200 missions in Vietnam. He had a reputation of being a no-nonsense, by the book officer. One would...

Fall from plane a mystery Man feared losing job, faced legal problems before possible suicide 11/27/2002 Associated Press HOUSTON - As a boy, Russell Filler's love of space prompted him to build a mock-up of a space station in the basement of his Fort Wayne, Ind., home. While a diseased kidney prevented him from becoming an astronaut, Mr. Filler, 47, had a long and prosperous career in the aerospace industry. He worked the last six years for the United Space Alliance's integrated test and verification group, which does ground testing for the international space station. He is at the...