From the unexplained to the mundane, come join us on a journey to the fringe.
Hello and welcome to Journey to the Fringe, blowing the whistle on the mistreatment of
whistle blowers.
Chelsea, that actually is the episode that we're doing.
I just thought it would make a good opener.
You really did.
Blew it out of the water.
The weird segue from coming out just after the episode on disclosure and that UFO coming
in 2027 where they're talking about whistle blowers being uneasy coming forward so they
had to submit it anonymously.
Well, I guess what we're going to be going over is stories why these people might feel
bad coming forward as whistle blowers, that something might happen to them.
We're going to talk about people who apparently committed suicide in the process of blowing
the whistle on a corporation that they worked for.
Okay, I'm ready for it.
I believe I have five examples of this happening.
What can you don't know?
It's either five or six.
I can't remember off the top of my head.
It's a script that doesn't have the numbers at the top.
You would think it would but hey.
I limited it to everything 2000 onwards.
Some less recent, some more recent.
Not all of them are going to necessarily have suicide not as the highest likelihood of what
happened but nonetheless it is always odd when people come forward and then mysteriously
they end up not being able to come forward anymore.
That's true.
Can I just ask a quick question?
Yeah, go ahead.
Do you be a whistleblower?
For doing this episode or do you just mean like in general would I be a whistleblower
if I got information?
Yeah, if you got information like what would it take for you to become a whistleblower?
I mean it really depends on the situation and is it harming somebody I think is always
the biggest thing.
Do you whistleblow if you knew UFOs existed?
That's not whistleblowing though.
You fabricated a document saying you selected all this whistleblower testimony.
The important thing with a whistleblower is normally should be handled through a proper
hierarchy but it's not being handled correctly so you have to go elsewhere to deal with it.
Whether that be the government, the police, a competitor, the media, you need to go outside
of your normal hierarchy to deal with it.
I think that's an easy enough explanation of what a whistleblower is.
Okay, when I hear that I don't think of UFO people as whistleblowers then because they're
not trying to go through proper channels to like fix something.
Like when you say that I think you're trying to fix something.
Well generally that is what you should be doing as a whistleblower.
They are trying to fix something.
I guess if you're doing it for the UFO purposes you're saying that how we're handling this
and the secrecy is the problem so they can't whistleblow through their hierarchy because
it is secrecy in itself that is their issue with it.
Does that make sense?
Yeah, this is all very good conversation that I need to deal my way through right now.
And that does bring up a question is if you're anonymously doing it are you really blowing
a whistle?
Because I find that is an odd way to do it.
If there's no evidence outside of an anonymous whistleblower to show that there's a wrong
doing that needs to be fixed.
That's true but it makes me take pause if it's something bad enough that might cause
a big company to lose money or something like that.
Something that somebody wants to keep secret that would give me pause to not do either whistleblow
or give my name.
I should also say that just because you're whistleblowing doesn't mean that any illegal
activities have actually taken place.
You may just disagree with the practice that is at hand.
You may incorrectly understand what you actually saw or are saying and it may actually not
be any issue or it just might not be something that you agree with.
It's not wrong.
It's not illegal but it's something that you don't ethically agree with.
Okay.
An example might be hiring practices and just saying that we only hire people from Yale
that's not something publicly disclosed.
You can say that.
There's actually nothing legally wrong with that.
Or would I whistleblow something like that?
You might say that to the media and say like look I feel like this is a discriminatory
practice.
This is something that people should know about and hey that's not actually something that
you can't be discriminated against weirdly enough not being educated in the right place.
Although that brings up a whole issue with the rich being able to get jobs.
Let's leave that out there.
Okay, I think this provided me a lot of clarity going into episode about whistleblowing.
And of course where can any whistleblower episodes start but the Enron crisis of the
early 2000s.
Chelsea, you've heard of Enron, right?
Yeah, they're the ones in the that oh no we haven't covered him in so long.
What's his name?
Lawyer.
You're thinking of Exxon?
Oh, okay.
No, Enron also is an energy company.
Enron famously crashed hard in the early 2000s when it turns out that they were cooking
their books to make it look like they were incredibly profitable by basically shifting
all of their losses off to a bunch of shell companies to make it look like they're unprofitable
and it turns out they were not.
Some people ended up going to jail for this huge deal.
And spoiler alert, there's going to be a lot of death in these stories and basically the
first person's name that I say in every story, they're going to die.
So just don't get too attached.
Okay, well thanks for spoiling the whole episode.
I won't get too attached to these first people.
John Clifford Baxter was an Enron executive when the company's massive criminal activities
were discovered.
By the way, you should know it's illegal to cook your books to make you look more profitable
than you are for a publicly traded company.
That should go without saying, but that's incredibly illegal.
I appreciate that.
But like, rich person illegal, not poor person illegal.
That's a different thing.
Okay, I could never commit it.
That's okay.
Earlier, he have reportedly challenged Enron's management team, including CEO Jeff Skilling
about the company's corrupt transactions and then resigned in protest.
Congress initiated hearings to investigate Enron.
Baxter was considered to be crucial to the case because his close relationship to Enron
CEO could have provided valuable insights into the company's criminal activities.
But two weeks before he was set to testify, Baxter was found in his car with a gunshot
wound to the head.
He said the death was a suicide, but many details of Baxter's death did raise doubts
about that conclusion.
And this is weird.
I'm going to go through this article that I found from that time, and then we're going
to go through the Wiki article right after that just to kind of give you a balance of
what they look like.
I'm interested.
I feel like the Wiki article is going to be very contradictory.
And weirdly enough, it's going to cite the article that we read for what they're saying.
So let's just follow along with that.
On the morning of January 25th, he was found in his car shot dead.
Police were criticized for calling it a suicide before investigating, so they kept the case
open.
The fact that it's still open more than two months later has made the cliff Baxter
case prime fodder for murder conspiracy theories.
Reported CBS News correspondent Cheryl Atkinson adding to the mystery as a letter, perhaps
a suicide note that Baxter's wife is fighting to keep private.
Groups like the Texas Freedom of Information Foundation want at least part of it made public.
Quote, I believe very strongly that Enron is mentioned in it, and quote, said Joel White,
the group's attorney.
More questions are raised in police autopsy and lab reports obtained by CBS News.
Police won't talk while the case is open, so CBS News asked two experts, Independent
Coroner, Ciro Watt and former homicide detective Bill Wagner to review the reports.
While suicide appears likely, both experts say the document's making it impossible to
discount foul play.
Asked why he couldn't rule out murder, Wagner said quote, because murder can be made to
look like a suicide.
Someone who is knowledgeable about forensics can very well have the ability to stage a
murder, commit a murder, and stage it to look as if it was a suicide, understanding what
the police are going to be looking for, end quote.
The experts found several things highly unusual.
First, the Peel Your Ammunition, not regular bullets, but something called rat shot.
Quote, this kind of ammunition cannot be easily or readily traced back to the gun from which
it was fired, end quote explained Wacht.
Quote, it's not as frequently used by people for any reason.
It's not the type of ammunition one finds in guns, it has a specific purpose, shooting
at snakes and rodents in order to get a distribution pattern of the small pellets contained within
the nose portion of the bullet.
It's not something that a person is likely to have and to use if they intend to kill
themselves, end quote said Wacht.
Other unanswered questions include mysterious wounds on one hand and unexplained shards of
glass in Baxter's shirt.
All reasons still look deeper to rule out murder, but Wagner says the laring police
errors may make it harder to close the books on the Baxter case.
First, nobody wrapped the hands to preserve evidence.
Quote, when the body finally did arrive for the autopsy, the hands hadn't even been
bagged, end quote said Wagner.
Quote, I'm just amazed frankly that the hands were not bagged.
From what I've seen looking at the vehicle, it doesn't appear that they have fingerprinted
it either, end quote continued Wagner.
Quote, the police narrative is vague for this type of investigation, supporting to get a
timeline of the events that took place through the course of the investigation that appears
to be lacking in the original report from the crime scene.
Quote, being able to piece together what was done when, it's very difficult to understand
the events that took place and how they unfolded from that report, end quote said Wagner.
The gun and other evidence were moved before photos were taken.
The body was moved as well.
There's a puzzling mention of blood outside the car from someone laying Baxter on the
ground.
Wagner says that only should have happened if rescuers put him out to revive him, but
even that scenario doesn't add up.
The body is back in the car when the funeral home arrives, quote, and that's something
that is not explained in the police report.
I think there were some very important things omitted from the original investigation report
that should have been included in it.
I would like to have known what were the first couple things the fire department did to treat
the victim allegedly as he was sitting in the car and from that point, how did they change
the initial crime scene?
What was moved?
Did they remove the body from the vehicle?
It's actually unclear how they treated the actual scene, end quote said Wagner.
Incredibly even though an autopsy is required by law, none was ordered by the time that
the decision was reversed, Baxter's body was being processed at a funeral home.
Coroner says police still won't tell her exactly who handled and who saw the body before it
finally reached her and won't even give her routine information.
The official finding on Baxter's death may well end up being suicide, but for now this
death certificate remains unsigned and at least one provocative question is left permanently
unanswered.
What exactly Cliff Baxter would have told investigators about the biggest corporate
scandal in history?
So he didn't actually whistle blow anything, he was just going to, he was set to testify.
This was in another article as well when talking with a former business associate two days
before his death, Baxter said that he might need a body art after agreeing to assist in
the Enron investigation.
But this is now from the Wikipedia article which gives different information.
Which is so weird because you can't at all edit Wikipedia.
First off, very important, Baxter would suit personally when the Enron stuff was going
on for $30 million after the bankruptcy of Enron due to his sale of $30 million worth
of Enron stocks in the months prior to Enron's bankruptcy in December of 2001.
Fortune magazine writer Bethany McLean described Baxter in Enron the smartest guys in the room
as being a good deal maker but also being a manic depressive.
Skilling stated before Congress in February of 2002 that Baxter had visited Skilling shortly
after Enron had declared bankruptcy and was heartbroken by what had happened to Enron.
In his testimony, Skilling quoted Baxter saying quote, they're calling us child molesters
that will never wash off end quote.
Whoa, they're linking back to that article with the stuff?
No, that was before Congress.
Okay.
And sorry, this is in the Wikipedia.
This part is where it links back to the article.
I will tell you when it links back to the article.
On January 25th, 2002, after agreeing to testify before congressional committees in February
of 2002, after being subpoenaed regarding his knowledge and evidence of the scandal
of Enron, Baxter was found dead in his black Mercedes in Sugarland, Texas with a self-inflicted
gunshot wound.
The ammunition used was a Glazer safety slug, which at the time was misreported as a snake
shot.
That's the added context.
That cites back to the story we read, which doesn't bring that up at all.
No, it didn't.
Although they could be saying that that was misreported that it was a snake shot in that
article.
I can't quite understand what they meant by that.
Well, usually when you're citing something, you're citing it on Wikipedia to the source
that you found.
Yeah, which now that I'm reading it might be saying that this article misreported as
a snake shot.
Okay.
So that makes a little more sense.
But in any event, there are some weird peculiarities with that story.
Definitely.
Next up, do you remember the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and server of discontent with what
Iraq was doing in those times?
Oh.
How Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And that lead us to invade them.
Okay, that's.
This story has to do with that.
In 2003, David Kelly, a weapons inspector for the British government was thrust into
the public spotlight when BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan published their off the record conversation,
revealing that British government's investigators had not found any weapons of mass destruction
in Iraq, despite the Bush administration's claims otherwise.
Uh-oh.
Which, by the way, we never found any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which justified
the war that was done there.
Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people died thanks to our invasion of that
country, which Saddam Hussein was probably horrible.
I don't think we needed to murder all those people.
We Canada did not invade them.
I don't think we.
You know, I can't remember.
I know we did Afghanistan.
I would have to actually look, but yeah, in any event, it was a horrible war.
I have to have my opinion on that, which was not just by in any way.
Horrible.
Unknown to Kelly, the journalist then published the information he had received from Kelly
and cited him as the source.
So this is an unbeknownst whistleblower, unbeknownst to him.
The British and American public, if not the world altogether, was outraged by the revelation,
which suggested that Bush administration and the British government were lying about their
reasons for inviting Iraq.
Kelly was summoned to appear at a committee hearing in British Parliament on July 15,
2003.
He was rigorously questioned about his conversation with the BBC journalist and why it was revealed
to the public.
Around the same time, Kelly met with British Ambassador David Broucher.
Kelly told Broucher that he had promised Iraqi officials that there would be no war if they
cooperated, but that he would probably be found dead if Iraq were invaded.
Two days after Kelly's testimony to the British Parliament, he was found dead outside his
home.
He had answered some emails that morning and then left for his morning walk.
Kelly's body was found in the woodlands area about 1.5 kilometers from his home.
He had ingested 29 pain pills and his left wrist was slashed with a knife he had owned
since childhood.
A lot of painkillers and cut his wrist.
An investigation was launched into the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.
The official conclusion was that Kelly committed suicide after the announcement his medical
reports were sealed from public view for 70 years.
However, a series of doctors published a rebuttal of the cause of death in The Guardian,
arguing that the cuts on Kelly's wrist would not have resulted in a fatal amount of blood
loss.
They also claimed that the amount of painkillers that Kelly had ingested were not enough to
kill him.
As a result, Dr. Andrew Watt told British authorities that he believed Kelly had been
murdered.
Another leader of the Conservative Party, Michael Howard and the former Liberal Democrat,
MP Norman Baker, both thought Kelly was murdered.
In 2007, Baker published the strange death of David Kelly in which he argued that Kelly
did not die by suicide.
Kelly's family expressed their displeasure at the publication.
His sister-in-law said, quote, It's just raking over old bones.
I can't speak for the whole family, but I've read it all.
That is theories about Baker's death.
Every word and I don't believe it.
End quote.
In December 2009, six doctors applied to the Oxford Coroner's office to reopen the
inquest, claiming that there was insufficient evidence for Hutton's conclusion of suicide.
Their request was turned down on legal advice, and they were informed that the evidence relating
to Kelly's death was to be kept secret for 70 years.
Hutton stated that he did this, quote, solely in order to protect Dr. Kelly's widow and
daughter for the remainder of their lives, the daughters being in their 20s at the time.
From the distress, which they would suffer from further discussion of the details of
Dr. Kelly's death in the media, end quote.
That doesn't happen, though.
That it is weird.
Both very weirdly handled.
Next up, Chelsea, we're going to move to the wonderful world of AI.
Okay.
With a guy by the name of Sushir Balaji.
Sushir Balaji spent four years as an artificial intelligence researcher at OpenAI.
Among other projects, he was involved in gathering and organizing the internet data used to train
GPT-4.
I should say OpenAI is the company who makes chat GPT, a language model used by the company's
online chatbot, chatGBT.
He also worked on a precursor model called WebGPT.
He left the company in August, 2024, after becoming disillusioned with its business practices.
After leaving OpenAI, Balaji said he had been working on personal projects.
He planned to create a nonprofit centered on machine learning and neurosciences, according
to his mother.
On October 23, 2024, New York Times profile, Balaji alleged that the products like chatGBT
violated United States copyright law because they're trained on products of business competitors
and because the chatbot's output can then imitate and substitute other products.
He said that chatGBT and similar chatbots are ruining the commercial viability of the
individuals and organizations who produce the data that the AI systems are trained on.
He was quoted as saying, quote, if you believe what I believe you have to just leave the company,
end quote.
New York Times piece contains a summary of Balaji's essay called When Does Generative
AI Qualify for Fair Use?
Published on his website earlier that week.
In the essay, he mathematically analyzed outputs of large language models such as chatGBT
and argues that they fail the four factor test for determining fair use under US copyright
law.
He further suggests that the arguments could be applied to other generative artificial
intelligences products as well.
At the time, open AI was being sued for copyright infringement by prominent authors and publishers,
including the New York Times.
In a November 18, 2024 court filing, Balaji was identified by the New York Times attorneys
as one of a number of people who might have relevant documents in the copyright case against
open AI.
Balaji had said that he would testify against the AI company.
Open AI argued that its software was, quote, grounded in fair use and related international
copyright principles that are fair for creators and support innovation and was trained on
publicly available data, end quote.
But on November 26, 2024, police said they found Balaji dead in his apartment in San
Francisco when they arrived there after being requested to conduct a well-being check.
He was 26 years old at that time.
Police claim that there was no evidence of foul play during the initial investigation
and the San Francisco chief medical examiner determined the death was a suicide, as has
the San Francisco police department.
San Francisco police have said the investigation is open and active as of January 20, 2025.
No official documents of the medical examiner's autopsy have been released.
The office said that they would be released once toxicology tests are completed.
Balaji's death has prompted public and media interest, particularly given his whistleblowing
claims and status as a custodian witness in a lawsuit against open AI.
A spokesperson for his former employer, Open AI, said he was devastated by the news of
Balaji's death.
Balaji's parents and friends believe the circumstances of his death are unclear.
His family and close friends report that he had had no history of mental health issues
or distress and was in generally good spirits after his birthday that week.
The parents say they hired an independent investigator to determine the cause of death.
They have a private autopsy conducted by Dr. Joseph Cohen, which Balaji's mother said,
quote, doesn't confirm the cause of death stated by the police, end quote.
Balaji's parents believe their son was murdered by a firearm and have called for an FBI investigation.
They cite evidence from the independent investigation such as a downward bullet travel path that
would be impossible by a self-administered gunshot and unexplained evidence like a tuft of hair
found at the scene that did not belong to Sushir.
Balaji's mother declined to share the second autopsy with the Mercury News and Washington
Examiner to San Francisco newspapers.
And then a few assholes that I don't actually like but their names come up.
Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson, California Congress and Rolcona and San Francisco Supervisor Jackie
Fielder have publicly echoed Balaji's parents' skepticism and calls for an investigation.
Balaji's mother discussed her son's death on Carlson's podcast, the Tucker Carlson
show on January 15th, 2025.
I hate that I had to bring that up, but whatever we're here.
Doubts about the cause of death spread on social media even before Balaji's parents had
made their public statements.
California State University East Bay lecturer Nolan Higdon described the public discourse
as quote baseless conspiracy theory and quote, and mentioned social media monetization schemes
and advertising revenue as a financial incentive for social media influencers and podcasters
of propagated and a quote end of this story.
Because this one's still unfolding.
Next up Chelsea, of course, none of these could be complete without us focusing in on the
Boeing scandal.
And I know you're aware of this one.
I was waiting for this one to come up.
Chelsea, did you know there are cases involved with the Boeing scandal?
I mean cases.
As in more than one whistleblower we're going to be talking about.
The other ones definitely have been in the news, but this one is quite prominent, not
at the moment, but in recent moments.
I think Boeing is still trying to figure out how the hell they're going to be a company
from here.
Well, let's face it, they're just going to get bailed out by the government, but they're
not really recovering well from this.
They're saying a lot of pretty bad stuff.
And people keep mysteriously dying.
Case in point, we're going to talk about John Barnett.
John Barnett was born February of 1962 in Mount Shasta, California.
In 1988 he moved to Camano Island where he lived for 25 years.
Joined Boeing in 1988 where he became a quality inspector.
Barnett worked his way into a leading position while at the Boeing Everett factory, which
produces the 747, 767, and 777 planes, where he said he was impressed with Boeing's attention
to quality and safety.
While there he developed an 11 course curriculum for training other auditors.
From 2010 to 17 he worked as a quality control manager for Boeing's South Carolina plant,
which produces the 787.
Barnett blamed a culture shift between the Everett and South Carolina plants on the
latter's management being from the military, where he said he was pressured not to document
defects and follow non- Boeing procedures.
He characterized the defense-based management's motto as, what we're in Charleston and we
can do anything we want.
And there wishes to, quote, push planes out the door, make the cash register.
Ring, end quote.
He later said the factory and its management, quote, the whole place smelled of French fries,
end quote, referring to the practice power mechanics whose previous experience was in
fast food.
Barnett said he was demoted and removed from management in 2013, for which he filed an
ethics complaint.
He was reassigned by the same manager that demoted him to another department in 2015.
In 17, Barnett filed an FAA Air 21 whistleblower complaint against Boeing with OSHA, which is
occupational health and safety.
In 2013, a senior manager downgraded Barnett's employment level for, quote, using email to
express process violations, end quote, in place of face-to-face communications, which
Barnett took to mean he shouldn't put problems in writing.
The manager also pushed Barnett to get better at working in the gray areas and help find
a way while maintaining compliance.
Barnett said that management was pressuring and encouraging workers not to document defects,
resulting in inaccurate build records, a violation of FAA regulations.
He also said that Boeing was implementing a program that allowed mechanics to inspect
and verify their own work, eliminating quality inspection employees altogether.
During the investigation of a Spear AeroSystem section, with four quality inspectors, Barnett
documented 300 defects, for which he was told they found too many defects.
On a follow-up trip, Barnett was excluded and only two inspectors were given a truncated
timeline that only allowed them to document 50 defects, a reduction for which they were
given accolades.
Barnett attributed the pressure for management to overcome production delays with the 787,
stating that documenting defects slows down the assembly line.
In April 2024, another quality manager in Everett, Washington, Rome Myers, who had been
at Boeing for 30 years, told the New York Times that the airline's manufacturer re-prioritized
schedule over quality.
Also in April of 2024, quality engineer Sam Sellepour, Sellepour, whatever, reported similar
issues after a 2021 delay of the 787 due to an unacceptable fuselage gap.
Sellepour claimed that to address the flaws of the company took shortcuts that forced
the gaps closed instead of engineering new parts.
Sellepour has also filed a whistleblower complaint with the FAA against Boeing.
Barnett claimed that in 2016, a senior manager installed a scrapped, dented hydraulic tube
in a plane.
He filed a complaint with Human Resources, Boeing stated that they had investigated and
did not substantiate those claims.
He raised issues of more missing defective parts to management, fearing that they had
been installed.
He claimed his bosses directed him to finish paperwork on missing parts without determining
where they ended up.
No action was taken by managers.
Barnett claimed workers did not follow procedures to track components, allowing the loss of
parts and later installations of defective parts.
He stated that these installations were to prevent delays on the production line, as
was the lack of following procedure.
In 2017, Barnett's team found that 25% of the oxygen systems on the 787 would fail to
send oxygen through the cylinders to passengers in the case of an emergency.
Barnett said that his report to management was stonewalled, so he alerted the FAA.
Boeing's internal investigation found malfunctioning oxygen masks.
A 2017 FAA report determined that at least 53 quote non-conforming end quote parts were
missing in order Boeing to take remedial action, which is a big deal in the airline industry.
There's a lot more that he complains about.
We're just going to skip down a little bit.
In 2019, Barnett came forward to discuss numerous malpractices of Boeing with British broadcaster
BBC, including overworking employees and not providing proper maintenance to aircrafts.
In 2019, Barnett appeared in New York Times article raising additional quality issues
with his former facility.
Speaking about the metal shavings, which I skipped over, unfortunately, Boeing subsequently
denied his allegations.
However, a 2017 review by the FAA had upheld several of Barnett's concerns.
It was discovered that over 50 quote non-conforming end quote plant components in the facility
were considered missing as their location could not be found.
In 2021, after a four year long investigation, Osser closed the whistleblower complaint in
favor of Boeing.
Barnett and his lawyer appealed the decision and amended the lawsuit, claiming the firm
had quote undermined his career because he had raised safety concerns at the Charleston
plant end quote.
His attorney Robert Turkowitz criticized the effectiveness of whistleblower court systems
because they do not have the power to subpoena documents from the defendant.
In December 2021, the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
released a whistleblower report determining that the FAA failed to administer adequate
oversight to address concerns from Boeing and FAA whistleblowers.
Boeing had settled a criminal charge with the United States Department of Justice in September
of that year for conspiracy to defraud the government regarding fatal design flaws in
the maneuvering characteristics augmentation system of the 737 MAX.
I did not know about that.
In early 2024, Barnett issued further warnings regarding Boeing's work culture and vehicle
safety following Alaska Airlines flight 1282 in which a door was blown off.
Barnett was in Charleston, South Carolina the week of March 12, 2024 for his deposition
stemming from his 2017 whistleblower complaint against Boeing.
Before his death, he had given a deposition and had been undergoing direct examination
by his own legal team and cross-examination by Boeing's.
According to a March 2024 interview with his lawyer, Brian Knowles, Barnett was supported
to report for the third day of his deposition for further questioning but did not show up
or respond to calls the next day.
At 9.42 a.m. on March 9, a hotel staff member heard a gunshot.
At 10 a.m. Barnett's attorney called the hotel asking for a wellness check.
He was found dead shortly afterwards in the hotel parking lot in his truck with a single
gunshot wound to the head.
He had his legally owned pistol in his hand with his finger still on the trigger and left
a suicide note in the passenger seat on which he wrote, quote, I can't do this any longer.
I pray Boeing pays, end quote.
Video surveillance showed Barnett left the hotel on the evening of March 8 but returned
a few minutes later and reparked remaining inside his vehicle.
No activity was observed of Barnett or his vehicle until the following morning on March
9 when at 7.20 a.m. the vehicle lights blinked on and off.
This vehicle was found to be locked and the key fob was in Barnett's pocket.
On March 11, the Charleston County Coroner's office characterized his death as self-inflicted.
After requests from his family and Barnett's attorney, the Charleston Police Department
investigated the circumstances that led to his death.
They found Barnett to be going through a period of serious personal distress and on May 17
they concluded that Barnett's death was a suicide related to chronic stress, anxiety,
and post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the whistleblower case.
There's video on the trap that you never looked.
That's a long time though.
He's in there for over 12 hours.
I find that strange.
During the investigation, the police obtained his cell phone and medical records which showed
participation in the ongoing legal battle with Boeing exacerbated.
Numerous mental health issues related to the whistleblower case he was suffering from.
Fingerprint analysis found only Barnett's and a ballistic report confirmed the trajectory
of the bullet was consistent as originating from Barnett's hand.
As of March 12, the lawsuit against Boeing was pending, continuation under Barnett's
estate.
His attorney stated that the case would still go to trial in June.
My question is, we're thinking there's ulterior motives to this but there's no one else seen
on the video.
That's what I'm gathering from that.
Now we are going to go through the conspiracy theories for it though.
Great.
Because I'm just like what?
Yeah.
It seems like why would this guy be fighting so hard that all of a sudden just give up?
That is two out of three days and it would basically be the end because that's deposition.
You might have to talk in court but it's not going to be as hard as deposition.
There is a conspiracy out there alleging that Boeing had assassinated Barnett, spread widely
after a woman who identified herself as a friend of Barnett said that Barnett told her,
quote, if anything happens to me it's not suicide, end quote.
She said, quote, they made his death look like a suicide, end quote.
I have no idea who this she is.
It's just what the Wikipedia article says.
Boeing released a statement saying, quote, we are saddened by Mr. Barnett's death and
our thoughts are with his friends and family, end quote.
Knowles and Turkowitz told CBS News that Barnett was in very good spirits and really looking
forward to putting this phase of his life behind him and moving on, those being his
lawyers.
We didn't see any indication he would take his own life.
No one can believe it, end quote.
Turkowitz called for a police investigation into his death but later told Fox News that
he did not believe Boeing had orchestrated his death.
This family said that, quote, he was looking forward to having his day in court and hoped
that it would force Boeing to change its culture.
And he was suffering from PTSD and anxiety attacks as a result of being subjected to
the hostile work environment at Boeing which he believed led to his death, end quote.
His attorney said in a statement after the release of the coroner's report, quote, Mr.
Barnett's last words make clear that while Boeing may not have pulled the trigger of the
company's responsible for his death, end quote.
It should be noted though, after this death, 10 new whistleblowers from Boeing and this
other company that we're going to talk about end up coming forward.
So this doesn't exactly stop anything.
Are we going to talk about more because I know there's more deaths associated with the
Boeing?
I could only find the two.
We're going to talk about Joshua Dean now.
And there's not a nice Wikipedia story about it.
I found a good NPR article but because it's an article that's set up in a weird way, we
talk about the death very early on and then we get to everything else.
Okay.
This one's weird though because it's not a suicide.
Interesting.
Quote, he passed away yesterday morning and his absence will be deeply felt.
We will always love you, end quote.
Dean is and Carol Dean Parsons said via Facebook.
This is Joshua Dean.
Dean was one of the first to flag potentially dangerous defects with 737 Max Jets at Spirit
Aero Systems, a major Boeing supplier that was spun off from the playmaker in 2005.
Now federal investigators are looking more closely at Spirit and Boeing to understand what
went wrong with the door panel that blew off an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max in midair
in January.
The latest chapter in a long and troubled relationship between the two companies.
Quote, our thoughts are with Josh Dean's family.
This is a sudden loss and it's stunning news here and for his loved ones.
End quote said spirit spokesman Joe Buccino in a statement.
Dean and Barnett were both represented by the same lawyer, Brian Knowles.
That being the last guy we just talked about.
Quote, Josh's passing is a loss to the aviation community and the flying public.
End quote.
Knowles said in a statement.
Quote, he possessed tremendous courage to stand up for what he felt was true and right
and raised quality and safety issues.
Aviation companies should encourage and incentivize those that do raise these concerns.
End quote.
Dean's mother and stepfather describe him as a studious and odd-est man, a health nut
who rarely drank and attended church regularly.
His career was helped by his prodigious memory and attention to detail.
They said, quote, he was just amazing.
He could read something and then he could just tell you word for word what he read
days later.
End quote said when we are Dean stepfather, Dean started feeling sick around two weeks
prior to this story.
I believe this was about April of 2024.
His mother, Virginia Green, told NPR he stayed home from work for a couple of days, but things
got worse.
Quote, Sunday, April 21st is when I got a call from him that he was really sick and having
trouble breathing.
Said he went to an immediate care and they told him he had strep throat.
End quote.
Green said.
Green went to check on her son at his home telling him to call her if he felt worse.
Quote, he did call me a couple hours later, told me he was in the emergency room and he
was scared and they found something in his lungs.
End quote she said.
He tested positive for influenza B. He tested positive for MRSA.
He had pneumonia, his lungs were completely filled up and from there he just went downhill.
End quote.
Dean was initially treated at St. Joseph's Hospital in Wichita, but as he got worse he
was sent to an integrist hospital in Oklahoma City.
It was a stunning turn of events for Dean and his family.
Green say he was very healthy.
Green says he was very healthy.
Someone went to the gym, ran nearly every day and was very careful about his diet.
Quote, this was his first time ever in the hospital.
He didn't even have a doctor because he never was sick.
End quote she said.
But within days, Dean's kidneys gave out and he was relying on an ECMO life support
machine to do the work for his heart and lungs.
The night before Dean died, Green said the medical staff in Oklahoma did a bronchoscopy
on his lungs.
Quote, the doctor said he'd never seen anything like this before in his life.
His lungs were totally gummed up and like a mesh over them.
End quote.
Green says that she asked for an autoxy to determine exactly what killed her son.
Results likely take months, she said.
Quote, we're not sure what he died of.
We know that he had a bunch of viruses, but we don't know if somebody did something to
him or did he just get really sick.
End quote she said.
Dean followed his father and grandfather into the commercial aviation industry holding
a series of jobs in the same factory in Wichita where they had both worked before.
During two interviews in January, Dean said that spirit pressured employees not to report
defects in order to get planes out the factory faster.
Quote, no, I'm not saying they don't want you to go out there and inspect a job.
You know they do.
Dean told NPR, but if you make too much trouble, you will get the Josh treatment.
You will get what happened to me.
End quote, Dean told NPR.
Dean was fired in April of last year in retaliation.
He said for flagging improperly drilled holes in fuselages.
Quote, I think they were sending out a message to anybody else.
If you are too loud, we will silence you.
End quote, Dean said.
Dean described what he saw while working for spirit in a death position for a lawsuit
filed by the company's shareholders who accused the company of misleading investors by attempting
to conceal excessive numbers of defects at the Kansas factory, he was not a plaintiff in the case.
In the shareholder lawsuit, Dean said he flagged a significant defect,
mistrilled holes in the aft pressure bulkhead of 737 Max fuselages. Months before he was fired,
his deposition lays out a series of pivotal dates. October 2022, in his auditor role,
Dean realizes Spirit workers mistrilled holes on the 737 Max aft pressure bulkhead representing
potential threat to maintaining cabin pressure during flight. The lawsuit accuses the company of
concealing the problem. April 13, 2023, Boeing publicly reveals learning of a separate defect
related to the tail fin fitting on certain 737 Max aircrafts. Spirit then confirms that defect.
April 26, 2023, Spirit fires Dean, saying he failed to flag the tail issue. In his testimony,
Dean said he told the company officials that he might have missed the tail fin defect because he
had just discovered the problem with bulkheads and he insisted he was focused on that. August 23,
2023, yes, I couldn't focus on that other defect because you had this other defect that I was really
focused on. August 23, 2023, Boeing announces it had found fastener holes in the aft pressure bulkhead
on certain 737 Max airplanes that don't match its specifications, resulting in snowmen due to the
multiple holes elongated shape. It's the problem Dean flagged 10 months earlier on the same day.
Spirit releases a statement acknowledging the issue. The shareholder lawsuit accuses Spirit
of concealing the bulkhead defect quote not only from investors but also apparently from Boeing
end quote. The spirit spokesman says the company strongly disagrees with the lawsuit's allegations
is fighting the pace in court. Boeing is currently in talks to acquire Spirit at the plane makers
leader concede that they may have outsourced too many parts for the manufacturing chain quote did
it go too far yeah probably did. Now it's here and now and now I've got to deal with it end quote
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said in an interview with CNBC earlier this year. Boeing agreed last month to
advance 425 million to Spirit as it works to improve its manufacturing quality. In interviews
with NPR, Joshua Dean depicted it would be difficult to replace the experience workforce that Spirit
lost during the COVID-19 pandemic quote the mechanics aren't as experienced neither are the
inspectors we've just lost that end quote Dean said but even after going public with his concerns
with spirit quality control Dean said there were reasons for optimism about the future and he said
that CEO Patrick Shanahan it took over in late 2023 was a unique opportunity to change Spirit's
culture for the better quote what you really want is you want someone to be able to play the hero
end quote Dean said saying Shanahan was a chance to play the new sheriff in town quote we need to
make sure that there is no retaliation or intimidation this culture of you're too loud you'll be moved
or silent that's got to go end quote Dean said end of article that's what we know like that is
super weird is it not like he just comes down with like all these ailments and dies within weeks
I mean it can't be a coincidence something like that can't be a coincidence and be a coincidence
but it's really weird and that's not only that two people with the same lawyer just really weird
coincidences yeah stay away from that weird what's his name again he's not advertising it I know it
but his clients die his last name's nobles with a K he's not talking about time traveling is he
Brian Knowles just so that we all know oh man I'm so sad he's not president we missed a good timeline
we missed a good president what was his name sorry I need to look that up because he's from
Washington it's right on the tip of my tongue I know Bozzi Agu Andrew Bozzi Agu thank you that is
terrifying all the defects yeah that they're finding but yeah that that has to be one of the
bigger ones right now with the whistleblowers that one's still going on and well the open AI one is
just in its infancy so that one could be huge like that whole thing if they can't use copyrighted
information to train AI they can't make AI yeah the implications of that are pretty huge as well
didn't even think about that one AI would be recent and I do have some updates on them too but
those will come out leaked through the fringy minis when I'm not feeling sad okay which is never so
so but yeah Chelsea those are my whistleblowers that's it it actually weirdly started out as an
assassination episode but ended up here I don't know how well sorry I do know how and it has to
do with Luigi Mangione being found who's Luigi again it's the guy who shot the United Healthcare
CEO allegedly right okay because I started the episode with the intentions of covering unanswered
assassinations in corporate work but that one was answered and it kind of killed a lot of that
episode that makes me not want a whistleblow because I don't want to be assassinated I'm
still confused about the one in the trek though nobody saw anything I know it is weird that you
would pick that time but also depositions can be very emotional like they're asking you very hard
questions and you have to answer them I'm leaning more that way I think I don't know I also don't
feel like it's a coincidence so but in invent they are all weird and that's what we're here for is the
weird and and trans praise me to trans ma I have been Taylor here with Chelsea we are journey to the
fringe thank you all for listening we'll see you next week hi thank you for listening to journey
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