Bizarre Suicide

Suicide means “to kill oneself”or “end your own life”, is an intentional act of causing his or her own death, committed out of despair, attributed to a mental behavior, such as severe depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, drug abuse, alcoholism, stress due to financial difficulties and family relationship problem. The most common methods use in suicide is deadly weapons such as knives,gun, or sharp blades use to cut their wrist, hanging, or pesticide poisoning and jump from higher buildings, bridges and cliffs, and the rates of suicide  are higher in men than in women. Several studies about suicide is viewed as influenced by religion beliefs, and honor like the traditional belief of the Abrahamic religions, considering suicide as a grave offense to God, Seppuku (also known as harakiri, “cutting the belly”) was a suicide ritual during the Samurai era in Japan, respected as a means for failure or as a form of protest and Jigai, the female ritual suicide was practiced by the wives of samurai who have committed seppuku or brought dishonor. In ancient India, Sati, a Hindu funeral tradition, where the widow sacrifice herself throwing herself on her husband’s funeral pyre, voluntarily or under pressure from the family and society. Assisted suicide is a suicide committed with the help of another person directly, intentionally, and voluntarily causing one person’s own death, by providing a person with the means of drugs or equipment to end his or her own life, which differs from euthanasia or mercy killing, which is when another person ends the life, due medical reason. When the dying patient or suffering from prolong illness, seeking practical assistance and approval from medical professionals, it is commonly called physician-assisted suicide and consent from the family or nearest kins. In other countries and several jurisdictions, Assisted-suicide is legal, including Belgium, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Switzerland and four states in the United States such as Oregon, Washington, Vermont and Montana.

1)  Edward Downes, committed Assisted Suicide

British conductor Sir Edward Downes, aged 85, and Lady Joan Downes, aged 74, ended their lives on July 10, 2009 by assisted suicide at the Diginitas clinic in Zürich, Switzerland, Sir Edward was not terminally ill, but his wife was diagnosed with rapidly developing cancer.Their children issued a statement  and revealed that their parents are suffering from”serious health problems”, that their father, Edward Downes could have gone on living with his deafness and blindness, while their mother, Lady Downes was diagnosed with terminal cancer.Keir Starmer , the director of public prosecutions stated in March 2010, that Caractacus Downes would not be liable and prosecuted for his involvement with his parents’ assisted suicide because it was not in the public interest.

2)   Craig Ewert

Craig Colby Ewert, a 59-year-old retired university professor who was suffering from Lou Gehrig’s disease also known as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) the most five motor neuron diseases (a disease with characterized by rapidly progressive weakness, of a decrease in the mass of the muscle and a small, local, involuntary muscle relaxation and contraction or muscle twitch, an unusual “tightness”, stiffness, or “pull of muscles”, dysarthria or difficulty speaking, dysphagia or difficulty swallowing, and dyspnea or difficulty breathing ) who decided to end his own life which was filmed by Canadian John Zaritsky, the Oscar-winner, who directed and produced the documentary film, aired on December 2008 on Sky Real Lives, and was rebroadcast on March 2, 2010 on PBS, as The Suicide Tourist, about the assisted suicide by the Diginitas NGO at a rented apartment in Zurich. The documentary film, which covers the last four days of life of Craig Ewert, showing him dying on September 26, 2006 with him beside is his wife of 37 years, Mary. In the documentary film, an employee of the Diginitas Swiss clinic, can be seen preparing a lethal dose of barbiturates which Ewert drinks and end his life on camera. Ivan and Katrina Ewert, Craig’s children who live in the US, decided not to attend their father’s death after he expressed his concerns not to upset his children.

3)  John Hicklenton

John Hicklenton (8 May 1967 – 19 March 2010), better known as John Deadstock, was a British comic artist best known for his 1980′s and ’90s, brutal, visceral work on Judge Dredd the flagship 2000AD character or Heavy Metal Dredd and Nemesis the Warlock. Hicklenton was suffering from multiple sclerosis (a nervous system disease that affects your brain and spinal cord) and recorded an award-winning documentary about living with this kind of condition. John Hicklenton chose to end his life through an assisted suicide at Diginitas in Switzerland on March 19, 2010.

4)  Roy Raymond, Victoria Secret Founder

Roy Raymond (April 15, 1947 – August 26, 1993 was an American businessman and founder of Victoria’s Secret lingerie retail store. Raymond was a former employee for the marketing department for the Vicks company. Raymond first opened the Victoria’s Secret store at the Stanford Shopping Center, after he was trying to buy a lingerie for his wife in a department store, and feeling awkward and embarrassed with the situation. Raymond made a bank loan of $40,000 and borrowed another $40,000 from his relatives, to start his lingerie business which he named Victoria’s Secret, and on its first year, the company earned $500,000. He immediately started a mail order catalog catalog and opened three more stores. After five years of operation, Raymond sold the Victoria’s Secret company, in 1982, to Leslie Wexner, The Limited creator, for $4 million with its six stores and 42-page catalog, with a gross of $6 million per year. Victoria’s Secret had become the largest American lingerie retailer, topping one billion dollars in early 1990s. Victoria’s Secret was worth over USD$5 billion during the 2009 fiscal year. Raymond started a new company, My Child’s Destiny, in 1984, a retail store for children, that went bankrupt in 1986. Raymond committed suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge at the age of 46 on August 26, 1993.

5)   Suicide due to Bullying

2010- suicide of Phoebe Prince

The suicide of 15 year old Phoebe Prince, on January 14, 2010, which led to the criminal prosecution of six teenagers for charges including statutory rape and civil rights violations, as well as to the enactment of stricter Massachusetts state legislature of anti-bullying legislation.  Prince’s suicide triggered, after suffering months of bullying from school classmates, that brought international attention to the US schools regarding the problem of bullying. In March 2010, A state anti-bullying task force was organized as a result of her death in March 2010, followed by signing into law on May 3, 2010 by the Massachusetts legislation.On May 5, 2010, the accused were given sentences of probation and community service after guilty pleas.Prince moved from Ireland to South Hadley, Massachusetts recently moved to the U.S. from Ireland, and was approached by sarcastic, insulting, or jeering manner and mocking and bullied for several months by two groups of students because of arguments over ‘relation with their boyfriends’, a football player of the school and another male student at South Hadley High School. According to investigations, Phoebe Prince was one of the four girls bullying a student in Ireland in a fight over a relationship with a boy, and the said ‘bullying victim’ was moved to another school by her parents. Phoebe Prince sent a letter of apology to the victim’s mother, which was praised, who blamed the bullying and the lack of action by the school authorities. Prince committed suicide by hanging herself in the stairwell leading to the second floor of the family apartment, on January 14, 2010, after a day of harassment, bullying and taunting followed by throwing a can at her from a car, while she was walking home from school. Her body was discovered by her 12-year-old sister.Her parents chose to have Prince buried in Ireland.

Jamey Rodemeyer, 14 year old

Jamey Rodemeyer was a 14 year-old teenager and an openly bisexual referring himself as gay on social media sites as Tumblr and YouTube videos, as a form of activism  against homophobia (person with irrational fear or hatred of homosexuals), to help victims from homophobic bullying. Jamey Rodemeyer was open about his sexuality but because of severe bullying, he committed suicide. Despite this grave bullying, he used his sad experiences to make videos on YouTube, under the username xgothemo99xx to help other victims experiencing similar bullying situations, and also created “It Gets Better” video, a website dedicated to prevent teen suicide. Rodemeyer was found hanging and lifeless, in apparent suicide by his sister on September 18, 2011 morning. Jamey Rodemeyer posted a final update on Twitter before his death addressed to Lady Gaga, and his tweet read, “@ladygaga bye mother monster, thank you for all you have done, paws up forever”. Lady Gaga was so sadden, and met with President Barack Obama to discuss what his administration would do to prevent bullying in schools. Kaitlin Monte, Miss New York, founded an online petition to bring the issue of cyberbullying later named as “Jamey’s Law” as a response to Rodemeyer’s death, to New York legislators. That same month another teenager, a 15 year-old Jamie Hubley, committed suicide as a result from the same reason leading to severe depression subjected to anti-bullying at his high school. While he never fully and clearly expressed or talked about Rodemeyer, comparisons have been drawn.

Amanda Todd

Amanda Michelle Todd a 16 year-old Garde 10 student at CABE Secondary school in Coquitlam, in British Columbia, committed suicide on October 10, 2012, at her home in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada, a school that caters to students who have experienced social and behavior issues in previous educational settings. Todd had posted a 9 minute video on YouTube on September 7, 2012, with title; My Story: Struggling, bullying, suicide and self harm, before her death,using a series of flash cards shown on her videos, to tell of her experience of being blackmailed, bullied, and physically assaulted. After her death, the video went viral and gained international media attention, receiving over 1,600,000 views by October 13, 2012. Todd writes during the video, that when she was in grade 7, around the same time she moved in with her father, to meet new friends over the internet, Todd used video chat and was complimented that she was beautiful until a stranger convinced Todd to bare her breasts on camera. This ‘stranger’ later blackmailed her threatens to expose the topless photo to her friends unless she gave a “show.” Todd returned to live with her mother in March 2012 after two years of living with her father, and wrote that police informed her that the ‘photxadno’ was going viral over the internet during the next Christmas break. Todd also wrote that she was experiencing severe panic disorder, anxiety and extreme depression, and revealed that she started using drugs and alcohol, despite of moving into a new place with her family. After a year, this ‘stranger’ resurface, creating a profile in Facebook using Todd’s topless photo as profile image, adding classmates at her new school, and was again bullied. Todd revealed that she contacted a former friend, and invited her to his house to have sex, while his girlfriend was on holiday. But this girlfriend learned about the affair and physically attacked Todd with other groups, shouting insults and punching her to the ground. Todd attempted suicide by drinking bleach, after the attacking incident, but she survived after being rushed to hospital to have her stomach pumped. Todd discovered abusive messages posted on Facebook, about her failed suicide attempt, after she returned home from the hospital. Her family decided to move to another city to start her new life, but Todd was unable to escape the past. Todd was found hanged at her home on October 10, 2012 at about 6:00 PM (PDT).

6)  Alexander McQueen

Lee Alexander McQueen was an openly gay, British fashion designer and couturier best known for his knowledge of clothing item made to a buyer’s personalized or tailored, British tailoring, his tendency to place together for for comparison or contrast with fragility in his fashion shows collections. McQueen was the chief designer at Givenchy from 1996 to 2001 and founder of his own Alexander McQueen label. McQueen had a marriage ceremony with his partner George Forsyth, a documentary filmmaker, on a yacht in Ibiza in the summer of 2000, although the marriage was unofficial since same sex marriage is not legal in Spain. However their relationship ended after a year but McQueen and Forsyth maintained a close friendship. The suicide of international style icon and fashionista Isabella Blow on May 7, 2007, gave McQueen a media attention, when rumors were published that at the time of Blow’s death, there was a rift between her and McQueen, regarding McQueen’s under-appreciation of Blow and made her very upset. McQueen denied all these rumors in an interview. McQueen’s housekeeper found him hanging at his home on Green Street, London W1, in the morning of February 11, 2010. Paramedics were called and they pronounced him dead at the scene. McQueen committed suicide 9 days after his mother’s death, Joyce McQueen, 75 years old, who died from cancer, and days before London Fashion Week, though he was not scheduled to appear there. According to McQueen’s close friend, David LaChapelle, he said that McQueen “was doing a lot of drugs and was very unhappy” at the time of his death.The Westminster Coroner’s Court was told that a post-mortem examination result on February 17, 2010, McQueen’s cause of death was due to hanging and asphyxiation

7)  Isabella Blow, age 48

Isabella Blow born Isabella Delves Broughton in Marylebone, London, England on November 19, 1958, – 7 May 2007, was an English magazine editor, muse of hat designer Philip Treacy, and was credited for discovering models Sophie Dahl and Stella Tennant and fashion designer Alexander McQueen. In 1989, Blow married art dealer Detmar Hamilton Blow, her second husband, in Gloucester Cathedral. The bride’s wedding headdress was designed by Philip Treacy, and a now-famous fashion relationship was forged. Blow established Treacy in her London flat, where he worked on his collections when Blow realized Treacy’s talent. Blow began wearing Treacy’s hats, making them a signature part of her dashing and colorful style. Isabella Blow discovered Alexander McQueen and purchased McQueen’s entire graduate collection for ₤5,000 (US $7829.5), paying it off in weekly ₤100 (US $156.58) installments. Blow was the creative director and stylist of a series of books about Arab beauty, and the books were being produced by Sheikh Majed al-Sabah, Kuwaiti fashion entrepreneur, but was terminated from the project for unknown reasons and attempted suicide. Blow’s friend, Daphne Guinness quoted that Blow was very upset, that Alexander McQueen did not take her along when McQueen sold his brand to Gucci,  and according to Tamsin Blanchard, it was Blow who brokered the deal of McQueen’s label in which Gucci purchased. During the occurrence of the deal, Blow fell by the wayside, because everybody else got contracts, and she got a free dress”. Isabella Blow was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, underwent electroshock therapy, and other pressures included financial problems, (in 1994,she was disinherited by her father), and infertility. In an effort to have a child, Blow and her husband had eight times unsuccessful in vitro fertilization. Isabella and husband, Detmar Blow separated in 2004, when Detmar had an affair with British Harper’s Bazaar society editor, Stephanie Theobald, while his estranged wife entered into an affair with gondolier she met in Venice. After an eighteen month separation, Isabella and Detmar Blow were reconciled after an 18 months of separation, but was later diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Depressed over her declining celebrity status, her cancer diagnosis, Blow attempted suicide fr0m 2006 to 2007, with an overdose of sleeping pills, by jumping from the Hammersmith Flyover of that same year, which resulted in her breaking both ankles, by crashing her into the rear of a truck, attempting to take horse tranquilizers, attempted to drown herself in a lake and by drug overdose while on a beach in India. On May 6, 2007, Blow was discovered by her sister, Lavinia, on a bathroom floor,unconscious, for drinking weedkiller Paraquiat during a weekend house party at Hilles. Blow died at the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, the following day May 7, 2007 with initial report cause of death due to ovarian cancer, but was later ruled cause of death by the official coroner as suicide.

8)   Tobi Wong

Donald Tobias Wong born June 10, 1974 was a Canadian-born artist and designer, where his work was influenced by causing destruction of an art movement including Fluxus (international network of artists, composers and designers) and Dada, and been receiving cease and desist orders ( an order to stop an activity and not to take up again or can face legal action). Wong become known for suitable work by others, and using the paraconceptual terms describing his art. In 2004, Wong met his American-born partner of five years Timothy Edward “Tim” Dubitsky, an artist and designer, in New York City. Wong created the Diamond Project series in collaboration with the designer Philipp Mohr, and the “hidden diamond ring” featuring a diamond on the inside of a wedding band as well as an engagement ring with a reverse diamond. Along with Ken Courtney of Ju$t Another Rich Kid Wong also launched a collection of luxury products cast in gold with Ken Courtney of Ju$t Another Rich Kid. One of Wong’s most famous designs is his Ballistic Rose, a rose pin made of black bulletproof material which was included in the design collection at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) an art museum in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Tobi Wong committed suicide at the age of 35 and found hanging by his partner on May 30, 2010, at his apartment at East Village in New York City. A report from New York Times revealed that Tobi Wong was suffering from sleep disorders or long history of parasomnia, and has the ability to perform “executed tasks that required by agency and concentration” while in his sleep, and his partner’s strong belief, is that Tobi Wong hanged himself while sleep walking.

9)  Jack Wishna, CEO

Jack Wishna was an American businessman and photographer, president and CEO of CPAmerica based in Las Vegas, Nevada, a consulting firm for gambling, hotel and leisure organizations. Jack Wishna was also a founder of Rockrena Inc., which launched a social music network Rock City Club. Wishna was also known as “a wheeler and dealer in the gaming industry” putting together a deal with potential worth $250 million for Wayne Newton” at the Stardust Resort & Casino, and had worked with famous celebrities on a Las Vegas projects, such as Britney Spears, Michael Flatley, Mohamed al-Fayed and Richard Branson. He also became partner with Tony Orlando, and was credited with Bringing Donald Trump to Las Vegas by facilitating the partnership between Trump and Phil Ruffin. Wishna had a big influenced convincing Michael Jackson to return to America after in exile for 18 months, and worked with him for seven months and worked on several projects with him, including Wishna’s Rock City Club project and presenting Cirque du Soleil with the idea to do a Michael Jackson show based upon the Thriller song and Jackson’s many number one hit songs. On November 27, 2012, Wishna was found dead in his car from carbon monoxide poisoning at his Henderson, Nevada home at the age of 54. Wishna’s death was ruled a suicide. Wishna is survived by his wife, Donna.

10)  Nick Santino

Nick Santino  was an American actor, known for his soap opera roles such as Guiding Light and All My Children and Gossip Girl. In 2010, Santino was involve in argument in a dispute with the 1 Lincoln Plaza condominium board where he is residing regarding a new policy forbidding tenants from owning pit bull terriers. Although Santino’s pit bull Rocco (whom he rescued from an animal shelter) was a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations, several restrictions were imposed on Rocco’s behavior, and Santino complained about harassment dog-related and restrictions from other tenants and building staff, and euthanized Rocco on January 24, 2012, citing changes in Rocco’s behavior. Nick Santino committed suicide, on January 25, 2012, at age 47, several hours later after killing his pet, Rocco, with his suicide note explained that he felt he had betrayed Rocco. The condominium board denied any responsibility for Santino’s death.

11) Hervé Villechaize

Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize aka Mark Marmolejo was a French actor who achieved worldwide recognition for his numerous roles  such as Nick Nack the evil henchman, in 1974 The Man With the Golden Gun the James Bond film, as well as Tatt00 in Fantasy Island  as Mr. Roarke’s assistant from 1978 to 1984. He was also an acclaimed painter. On September 4, 1993, in the early morning hours, Villechaize shot himself at his home, and was found by Kathy Self, his longtime girlfriend, and rushed to the  North Hollywood, California Medical Center, but died later that day as a result of his injuries. Villechaize left a suicide note saying he was feeling hopeless and depressed over a longtime health problems.  Villechaize suffered from dwarfism likely due to an endocrine disorder despite his surgeon father’s attempts to cure the disease in several institutions. Villechaize  insisted on being called a midget than to be called little person. Villechaize was born in Paris to Evelyn Recchionni, an English born and a Filipino biological father, but was raised by her mother and stepfather André Villechaize, a French surgeon who adopted him.

12)  Lucy Gordon

Lucy Gordon was a British actress and model and 1997 CoverGirl face before becoming an actress. Gordon made her film debut in the 2001 Perfume as the character Sarah. She appeared in 2002 The Four Feathers film alongside Heath Ledger, played the role of Jennifer Dugan as the reporter in the 2007 Spider Man 3 film. Gordon also portrayed Jane Birkin’s biopic film as an actress and singer by songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, before her death. Lucy Gordon was found hanging  in her Paris apartment shared with Jerome Almeras, a cinematographer on 20 May 20, 2009 at the age of 28. She left two suicide notes, one detailing her last will and wishes regarding her estate, the other suicide note was for her parents. Richard Gordon, her father, said a post-mortem examination proved she had died from hanging and end her life by committing suicide, that no other marks were found on her body, and also said, “There is no question of foul play. Gordon wrote her will on May 19, 2009. She split her estate between her parents, sisters, friends and Jerome Alméras.

13)  Charmaine Dragun

Charmaine Margaret Dragun was an Australian broadcast journalist and presenter, main co-anchor of the 5pm Ten News Perth bulletin, which was broadcast at the TEN-10 Sydney Studios at Pyrmont. Dragun was diagnosed with anorexia nervosa and bipolar disorder from the age of eighteen and committed suicide on Friday before 4pm of November 2, 2007 by jumping from The Gap of Eastern Suburbs, Sydney at the age of 29. Charmaine Dragun was engaged to be married to a forensic pathologist, Simon Struthers working with the New South Wales police, a photographer and Adam Said Galore’s bass guitarist. Dragun and Struthers were planning to marry at their joint thirtieth birthday celebrations. Dragun visited a psychologist and prescribed her a course of antidepressants. Eight months before leaving for Sydney, Dragun told her mother that she felt numbness with the drugs, and feel that it was not working at all on her, eight months before she left for Sydney. Then she sought help from a Perth doctor who stopped her from taking the antidepressants, and again changed her medication, three weeks before her death. Malcolm McPherson, the Deputy State Coroner, ruled that Dragun’s suicide could have been prevented if doctors had correctly diagnosed bipolar II disorder, and was administered the right medication treatment, and his findings for cause of jumping to death, noted that the easy access to the edge of the roof at the Gap had been a factor.

14)  Don Cornelius

Donald Cortez “Don” Cornelius was an American television show host and producer who was best known as the creator and host of the national syndicated dance and music franchise Soul Train from 1971 until 1993. In 2008, Cornelius sold the show to MadVision Entertainment. On October 17, 2008, Cornelius was arrested at his Los Angeles  home on Mulholland Drive on October 17, 2008, on a charges of domestic violence, a felony case, and again appeared in court on December 4, 2008, and pleaded not guilty to spousal abuse and was banned from going anywhere near his estranged wife, Russian model Victoria Avila-Cornelius or Viktoria Chapman, who had filed two restraining order against her husband, Cornelius. On March 19, 2009, Cornelius changed to no contest plea and was under 36 months probation. Officers responded to a report of a shooting at 12685 Mulholland Drive and found Cornelius with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, in the early morning of February 1, 2012. Shemar Moore, the former host of Soul Train, said, that Cornelius may have been suffering from early onset of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, and his health was starting to deteriorate. An autopsy found that Cornelius had been suffering from 15 years of seizures, from a complication of a 21-hour 1982′s brain surgery he underwent to correct a congenital deformity in his cerebral arteries. According to Cornelius’ son, he was in “extreme pain” before his death, and his father said, “I don’t know how much longer I can take this.” Cornelius committed suicide at the age of 75.

15)  Andrew Koenig

Joshua Andrew Koenig also known as Josh Andrew Koenig or Andrew Koenig, was an American character actor, film director, writer, editor and human rights activist. Koenig played the role as Richard “Boner” Stabone a best friend to Mike Seaver (played by Kirk Cameron) in the ABC sitcom Growing Pains, first four seasons from 1985 to 1989. In the early 1990s Koenig provided a voice for the character Ambush an animated series G.I. Joe and Night Creeper Leader, and in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode Santuary as Tumak, a minor. On 2003, Koenig played the role of The Joker in the critically successful Batman: Dead End fan film. In February 2010, Koenig was reported missing by friends and family in February 2010, and according to reports, he was last seen on Februaryn14, near a bakery in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and missed a February flight schedule back to the U.S., which was the last day he used his cell phone or made any appointment. A group of 11 of his friends and family members found his body hanging from a tree on February 25, 2010 in downtown Vancouver, Stanley Park. Koenig’s father told reporters that his son showed signs of extreme depressions before he went missing, and “took his own life”. Koenig was 41 years old at the time of his death.

16)  Tony Scott

Anthony David “Tony” Scott was a British film director and producer. Scott was from England and the younger brother of Ridley Scott, a film director. Scott married three times. His first marriage was to Gerry Boldy (1944-2007), Academy Award winning TV production designer in 1967, and were divorced in 1974. His second marriage was to Glynis Sanders, advertising executive in 1986 and divorced after a year, when he had an affair with Brigitte Nielsen, (Nielsen was married to Sylvester Stallone, actor, on December 15, 1985 but their marriage lasted only for 19 months, with their divorce finalized July 1987, and later confessed an affair with Tony Scott) whom he met on the set of Beverly Hills Cop II, and the affair became public. Tony Scott, met Donna Wilson, film and TV actress, who was 24 years younger, on the set of 1990′s Days of Thunder, they married in 1994. In 2000, she gave birth to their twin sons, Frank and Max. Scott committed suicide by jumping off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in the San Pedro port district of Los Angeles, California, at the age of 68, on August 19, 2012 at approximate time (PDT) 12:30 pm. Investigators from The Los Angeles Police Department’s Harbor Dividion investigators, found contact information in a suicide note left in his car, parked on the bridge, a note at his office for his family. An official statement from the coroner, affirmed that Tony Scott “did not have any serious medical conditions” and was not suffering from cancer.

17)  Joseph Brooks

Joseph Brooks (March 11, 1938 – May 22, 2011, was an American screenwriter, director, producer and composer. Brooks was best known for composing the song You Light Up My Life for the film with the same title, which, he also wrote, directed, and produced. In his later years he became the subject of an investigation after being accused of a series of casting-couch rapes. He was indicted and arrested in June 2009, on rape charges or sexually assaulting 11 women from 2005 to 2008 to his East Side apartment, with the help of his female assistant Sahwni Lucier, but committed suicide on May 22, 2011, before he could be brought to trial. Brooks was found lifeless by a friend in his Upper East Side apartment, with a plastic bag over his head and a helium tank with an attached hose. A suicide note was found near his body, but Police decline to reveal the contents of the letter.  Brooks is best remembered for his jingles ads composition such as You’ve Got a Lot To Live for Pepsi in the 1960s, Good to the Last Drop Feeling for Maxwell House. Brooks had two children together with ex-wife Susan Paul, daughter Amanda who was born in 1981 and son Nicholas was born five years later. At the time of Brooks’ death, Nicholas, a former University of Colorado student, was awaiting trial in New York City, charged with the murder of his girlfriend, Sylvie Cachay, a swimwear designer, in a room in Soho House Hotel on December 9, 2010, at the time of his father’s death. The medical examiner ruled that Brooks had committed suicide, citing asphyxia by helium, on May 23, 2011. Shawni Lucier, Brooks’ assistant and accomplice for his crime committed has pleaded guilty to a total 10 counts of criminal facilitation. Brooks was age 73 at the time of his death.

18)  Bob Welch

Robert Lawrence “Bob” Welch was an American musician and former Fleetwood Mac band member, and became successful as solo performer in the late 1970s. His signature single is Sentimental Lady.  On June 7, 2012, Welch was found by his wife Wendy, with self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest, committed suicide in his Nashville home at around 12:15 p.m after six months after the death of Bob Weston, his former Fleetwood Mac bandmate. A 9-page suicide note and love letter had been written to his wife. According to Wendy, three months earlier, Welch had spinal surgery, and Doctors told him he would not get better. Welch was suffering from extreme pains and he did not want his wife to care for an invalid husband. Wendy also believed that the pregabalin (Lyrica), a pain medication which he had been taking on for six weeks, may have contributed to his death. Welch was 65 at the time of his death.

19)  Aaron Swartz

Aaron Hillel Swartz was an American computer programmer, writer, political organizer and Internet activist and was involved in the web feed development format RSS, the Creative Commons organization, the web.py website framework and the Reddit social news site, in which he was an equal partner after its merger with his Infogami company. Swartz was the founder of the Demand Progress online group, known for its campaign against the Stop Online Piracy Act. Swartz was arrested by MIT police on January 6, 2011, on charges of the state breaking-and-entering, in connection with the academic journal articles from JSTOR systematic downloading. Swartz was charged by theFederal prosecutors with two counts of wire fraud and 11 violations of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, with charges carrying a fine of cumulative maximum penalty of $1 million, and 35 years in prison, asset forfeiture, restitution and supervised release. On January 11, 2013, After two years from his initial arrest, Swartz was found dead, and hanged himself on January 11, 2013 at age 26, in his Crown Heights, Brooklyn apartment.

20) Jovan Belcher

Jovan Henry Allen Belcher was an American football linebacker, under the Kansas City Chiefs of the (NFL) National Football League. By late 2012, Belcher was living with his girlfriend Kassandra Perkins and their three-month-old baby Zoey at 5401 Crysler Avenue in Kansas City. Close friends said the couple argued frequently, and a day before the murder-suicide incident, they had a heated argument after Kassandra Perkins returned home at 1 a.m. from a Trey Songz concert at the Midland Theater, on November 30 night. After the argument, Perkins went to an entertainment area known as the Power and Light District by the Midland and Sprint Center in Kansas City downtown. Jovan Belcher was also in the Power and Light District, but with a different woman, and after losing the woman in the crowd, Belcher drove to her apartment, but the said woman was not home. Belcher returned home between 6:30 and 7 a.m., and again had an argument with Perkins and shot and killed her in front of his mother, Cheryl Shepherd. Perkins, who was 22 years old, had been shot a total of 9 times in the neck, chest, abdomen, hip, back, leg and hand. Belcher drove his Bentley car after killing his girlfriend, Perkins, drove about five miles to a parking lot at the Chiefs’ practice facility next to Arrowhead Stadium, stepped out of the car with a gun to his head when he met Scott Pioli, Chiefs general manager, and confessed to Pioli he killed his girlfriend and thanked him, and asked Pioli and Clark Hunt, Chiefs owner, to take care of his daughter, Zoey. Police had been dispatched at 8:01 in the morning to the scene. Jovan Belcher knelt down by a car, made a sign of the cross and shot himself in the head. The Jackson County Medical Examiner’s office released autopsy reports on January 14, 2013, showing Belcher had .170 mg of alcohol in his system, double the legal limit in Missouri. According to New York Post  reports, his mother, Shepherd, told investigators that Belchers has doubts that ‘he was not the biological father of daughter, Zoey. Belcher was only 25 at the time of his death.

21)   Junior Seau

Tiaina Baul “Junior” Seau Jr. January 19, 1969 – May 2, 2012) was a National Football League linebacker, know for his passionate playing style.  Seau’s oldest son, Tyler, was born in 1989 to Seau’s high school sweetheart, Melissa Waldrop, but later broke up with Waldrop when Tyler was only 13 months old. In 1991, Junior Seau married Gina Deboer and had three children together, a daughter and two sons, before divorcing in 2002. Seau sustained minor injuries from an accident in October 2010 when his SUV plunged down a 100-foot cliff, after few hours after he had been arrested for domestic violence reported to the police by his girlfriend. On May 2, 2012, Seau’s girlfriend found him dead with a gunshot wound to the chest on May 2, 2012, at his Oceanside home at the age of 43. No suicide note was found. His death recalled the suicide of Dave Duerson, a former NFL player in 2011, who also shot himself in the chest and left a suicide note requesting that his brain be studied for brain trauma. But Junior Seau had no prior reported history of concussions or known as traumatic brain injury, but his ex-wife said Seau  sustained concussions during his career, and was speculated that Seau was suffering from brain damage due to CTE,  a condition traced to concussion-related brain damage with symptoms of extreme depression, as several of former NFL players who were now deceased were found to have suffered from CTE before their death. The Seau family sued the NFL on January 23, 2013, over the brain injuries suffered by Seau over his career.

Korean Celebrity

22)  Ahn Jae-Hwan

Ahn Jae-hwan born Ahn Gwang-seong  was a South Korean actor, married to comedienne Jung Sun-hee.  On September 8, 2008, Ahn , 36 years old at the time of death, was found dead in his car, but the exact time of his death has not been revealed, but according to the police, Ahn Jae-hwan had died several days prior as his body was already decaying, and his death was ruled out as a case of suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning,  was found in his (SUV) sports utility vehicle parked in Hagye, northern Seoul, Nowon Police Station said. Ahn committed suicide apparently due to distress over mounting debts, who owned several bars and restaurants and shoe stores, and was reportedly facing bankruptcy , and had to sell his profitable bar in Gangnam area, as his last resort. Ahn Jae-hwan and actress Choi Jin-sil had been a long time close friends, and at Ahn’s funeral Choi appeared deeply shaken. Shortly after, There were rumors circulating on the Internet, that Choi Jin-sil, as a loan shark, had lent a large sum of money to Ahn Jae-hwan.  Choi Jin-il sought a police probe into the source of the rumors spreading around the web, calling them groundless on September 22, 2008, and October 2, 2008, Choi Jin-sil committed suicide. Police arrested an employee of securities company for spreading the rumors on September 28, 2008.

23)  Kim Ji-hoo

Kim Ji-hoo  was an openly gay South Korean actor and model, who made his debut in 2007 as a fashion model. Kim Ji-hoo first appeared as a guest  in Before and After Plastic Surgery MBC drama series, and on The Unstoppable High Kick family sitcom. Kim Ji-hoo, played the role as a gay on Coming Out, the tvN reality show on April 21, 2008, a series which profiles the lives of Korean LGBT. After airing the episode, Kim’s personal webpage was overwhelmed with messages and ‘condemned’ his sexuality. Several fashion shows and television shows terminated or cancelled his appearances, while his management company declined to renew his contract. On October 6, 2008, Kim hanged himself at age 23, at his home in Jamsil, southern Seoul, and a suicide note was found at the scene, and wrote, “I’m lonely and in a difficult situation. Please cremate my body.” According to his mother, Kim”underwent many professional and personal difficulties following his coming-out”. The police reports attributed Kim’s suicide to public prejudice against homosexuality.

24)  Choi Jin-sil

Choi Jin-sil was born on December 24, 1968, a famous South Korean actress, and considered one of the best actresses, and was called The Nation’s Actress. Her marriage to Cho Sung-min (a South Korean professional baseball player with the Yomiuri Gians of Japan) received widespread attention in South Korea in 2000. Choi Jin-sil and Cho Sung-min first met in 1998 on a television show. Choi gave birth to a son Hwan-hee (2001) and a daughter Joon-hee (2003). Cho physically attacked Choi, who was then pregnant with their second child in November 2002, and again Cho assaulted Choi in August 2004. Choi divorced him in September 2004. Choi Jin-sil took the child custody and parental rights over their two children on condition of exempting Cho’s debt to her mother and brother as well as dropping several charges against Cho. Cho could make his visitation rights to his children regularly according to the mutual agreement. In January 2008, the South Korean Family Register or hoju was changed, and under this law, the children could use their maternal family name when the family members wanted it. According to the changed register, her children changed their surname from “Cho” (paternal family name) to “Choi” (maternal family name). Choi Jin-sil committed suicide by hanging on October 2, 2008, at the age of 39, at her home in Seoul. After Choi’s death, her mother managed the inheritance and took custody of the children. She was survived by her two children, her mother and younger brother Choi Jin-young,  who committed suicide a year and a half later.

25)  Cho Sung-min, Choi Jin-sil ex-husband

Cho Sung-min was born on April 5, 1973, a famous South Korean professional baseball player, but received much a media attention when he married famous actress Choi Jin-sil but was divorced in 2004, because of abused. Cho Sung-min left the  Yomiuri Giants team in 2002, when he had a prolonged ankle injury, and his career went down. Cho also tried various businesses including an unsuccessful bakery chain, and invested in 2008 into a baseball management company he had set up. Cho, the ex-baseball star remarried in 2007 but ended in separation since 2010.  Cho’s body was discovered by his girlfriend, known only as Park, hanged in the bathroom using his belt on January 6, 2013 of her apartment in Dogok-dong, southern Seoul, at around 5:26 a.m. On the night before his death, Cho drank three bottles of soju with Ms. Park, his 40-year-old girlfriend, according to Suseo police investigators, during which Park told him she wanted to end their relationship. Park then left her house at around midnight to meet a friend, and returned at 3:40 a.m. only to find Cho hanging from the bathroom shower. He sent text messages to his mother and girlfriend before committing suicide. Cho’s body was cremated on January 8, 2013 and the remains were buried at the Bundang Sky Castle Memorial Park.

26) Choi Jin-Young, committed suicide after his sister’s death, Choi Jin-sil

Choi Jin-young was born on November 17, 1970, was a South Korean actor and singer, and made his debut in 1987 as a TV commercial model and began his acting career. In 1993, Choi Jin-young rose to stardom with the popular TV show Our Paradise, Choi’s acting career slow down, but after completing military service in 1999, he returned to the stage as a singer using SKY as his stage name. His first album Final Fantasy became a success with the popular single “Forever” topping music charts. When Choi Jin-sil, his elder sister committed suicide on October 2, 2008, photos of Choi in tears clutching his sister’s picture shook the nation, and fans wept with him as he led her funeral procession. Choi Jin-young had been Suffering from depression after his sister’s death. Choi canceled engagements for more than a year. His closed friends revealed that Choi has made several suicide attempts and in 2009, he had his stomach pump for a drug overdose.   Choi Jin-young refused his  mother’s pleas that he see a doctor. Choi hanged himself with an electrical cord in the attic of his apartment in Nonhyeon-dong, Seoul on March 29, 2010. Choi was found by his mother and a woman identified as Chung, who was his junior in college, who made a call, but when Choi did not answer the phone, Chung alerted Choi’s mother and the two hurried to his home together. Choi’s mother and Chung called the police and a 119 rescue squad around 2:14 p.m. Choi was rushed to Gangnam Severance Hospital and was given CPR but was pronounced dead on arrival.

27)  Daul Kim

Kim Daul was born on May 31, 1989, and was a famous international South Korean fashion model, painter and blogger. Kim Daul was regularly featured in magazines such as British Vogue, i-D and Dazed & Confused. Kim was an enthusiastic painter and on August 10,2007 she held a solo artwork exhibits in Seoul. On November 19, 2009, Kim Daul was found hanged in Paris in her apartment at the age of 20. The Paris prosecutor’s office ruled her death as a probable suicide. Kim had been suffering from depression, frustration and insomnia and self-harming for a long time, and had voiced her frustrations in her own weblog and in her paintings.

28) Lee Yoon-hyung

Lee Yoon-hyung born on April 26, 1979 was a South Korean millionaire and daughter of billionaire and former Samsung Group Chief Lee Kun-hee. Lee Yoon-hyung committed suicide by hanging herself in her Astor Place apartment in the East Village, Manhattan on November 18, 2005. Originally, Lee’s caused of death was reported in both American and South Korean newspapers as a car crash because of the social stigma against suicide, but the actual details were followed and published after inquiries by reporters from The Korea Times. Lee Yoon-hyung was a graduate student at the New York University Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development at the time of her death, Lee Kun-hee, her father was in the United States in 2005 undergoing treatment for lung cancer. A doorman at her apartment revealed to reporters that Yoon-hyung sometimes stayed in her apartment for a week at a time, and there were also some reports that her father dislike her to marry her Korean boyfriend. Lee had a personal fortune of more than US$157 million at the time of her death. She was survived by her parents, her brother, Lee Jae-yong, and two sisters, Lee Pu-jin and Lee Seo-hyun. Her parents did not attend her funeral.

29)  Lee Eun-ju

Lee Eun-ju born on November 16, 1980, was a South Korean actress, she was found dead, committed suicide by slitting her wrist and hanged herself  at her apartment in Bundang, Seongnam on the night of February 22, 2005 at the age of 24, few days after she graduated from Dankook University. After finding work as a model, she began to be offered roles in various TV dramas, including Start and KAIST and in 1999, Lee had her film debut, when she played the younger sister in Park Chong-wan’s award-winning feature Rainbow Trout. Lee appeared in the very popular Korean drama, Phoenix in 2004, and later that year she starred in her last feature, The Scarlet Letter by Daniel H. Byun which screened as the Closing Film at the Pusan International Film Festival in 2004. The family blamed the suicide on severe bouts of depression and mental illness, and also claimed that Lee had been suffering from insomnia because of her nude scenes in The Scarlet Letter. A suicide note scrawled in blood, was found in which she wrote, “Mom, I am sorry and I love you.”

30)  U;Nee

U;Nee was born Heo Yoon, on May 3, 1981 in Seo-gu, Incheon, South Korea, was an actress, singer, rapper, and dancer who was found dead, hanging at her apartment having committed suicide. Heo Yoon, used the stage name Lee Hye-Ryeon, after her debut as a singer, and used her second stage name U;Nee professionally until her death. U;Nee committed suicide on January 21, 2007, she hanged herself in her home in Seo-gu, Incheon, South Korea. After U;Nee’s death, her mother held a press conference at the hospital, and confirmed that U;Nee was suffering from early depression and was under medication, and had problems dealing with the pressures of fame, as well as personal problems. There was no suicide note found.

31)  Jang Ja-yeon

Jang Ja-yeon a South Korean actress, known for her role in the KBS TV Korean drama, Boys Over Flowers. At the time of her death aged 29, Jang had been suffering from clinical depression and has been undergoing medical treatment for the past years. On March 7, 2009,  Jang Ka-yeon was found hanging at her home in Bundang District of Seongnam Gyeonggi province, at the age of 29, and a police investigation concluded that her death was a suicide. After her death, it was revealed that she had been sexually and physically abused by numerous prominent entertainment executives during her career and caused a national scandal, and that this abuse had contributed to her depression, which she was suffering since 1999′s death of her parents in a traffic accident. Jang had been living with her older sister and younger brother. Her sister made a phone call at 3:30 p.m. that afternoon, and heard, Jang complaining about the “overwhelming stress” saying that she “wanted to die”. Unable to reach Jang Ja-yeon, on the phone, after that call, Jang’s sister returned to their shared home at 7:42 p.m. to find her body hanging from the stairway banister. Jang claimed that her agent Kim Sung-hoon had regularly beaten her and forced her to have sex with several VIPs, according to South Korean reports. Kim Sung-hoon, Jang’s former manager, was arrested in Tokyo, Japan for overstaying his visa in June 2009, and South Korean police requested extradition for Kim Sung-hoon on a warrant related to Jang’s death, admitting he “committed a crime in South Korea and overstayed in Japan to avoid being arrested.” Kim was sentenced to one year imprisonment, two years of probation and 160 hours of community service.

32)  Park Yong-ha

Park Yong-ha , the 32 year-old Korean actor and singer, noted for his musical skills, good looks and acting career. Park co-starred in Winter Sonata in 2002, with Bae Yong Joon and Choi Ji-woo, gained his fame in Japan. On June 30, 2010, Park was found dead after committing suicide by his mother at 5:30 am at his home in Nonhyeon-dong, Seoul, hanging from a camcorder charger cable. Before his death, Park is said to be under pressure while managing his career and his  entertainment company, and was coping with his father’s cancer. Park Yong-ha did not leave a suicide note.

33)  Former South Korea President Roh Moo-hyun

Roh Moo-hyun was the ninth President of the Republic of Korea from 2003 to 2008. His pre-presidential political career was focused on human rights advocacy for student activists in South Korea, and expanded his focus on regionalism in South Korean politics, achieving a large followers among younger internet users, particularly at the OhMyNews website, which helped his success in the presidential election. Despite high initial hopes, Roh’s presidency encountered strong opposition from the media and conservative Grand National Party (GNP),and  accused him of incompetence, and insulting criticism was published by media frequently. After leaving office, Roh returned to his hometown of Bongha Maeul, after leaving office, and was seen visited frequently by his political supporters, and became as a threat to the Grand National Party, and suspected of bribery by prosecutors, and the investigation attracted public attention. Roh Moo-Hyun died after apparently committed suicide by jumping from a 150 ft, cliff known as Bueong’i Bawi  also called Owl’s Rock, on May 23, 2009, behind his rural home in his home village of Bongha. Roh sustained severe head injuries and was rushed to nearby Seyoung hospital at 7:20 and transferred to Busan University Hospital at around 8:15 am but was pronounced dead at around 9:30 am (00:30 GMT). Roh left a suicide note according to police, on his computer, apologizing for making ” many people suffering” and requested that his body be cremated.

34)  Angelo Reyes, Former AFP Chief of Staff

Angelo Tomás Reyes was the Chief of Staff of the(AFP) Armed Forces of the Philippines from 2000 t0 2001 during former President Joseph Estrada’s regime, but withdrew his support at the height of EDSA Revolution in 2001, and supported then Vice President Gloria M. Arroyo as succeeding President , and Reyes serving as the cabinet secretary until 2010, that includes with the National Defense and Energy portfolios. Reyes was survived by his wife, Teresita P. Reyes and his five sons, Pablo, Angelito, Marc, Carlo and Judd.  On January 27, 2011, Former Lt. Col. George Rabusa, who was budget officer when Reyes was still the AFP chief, testified before a Senate panel accusing Reyes of receiving P50 million as a  “send-off money” when he retired from the Armed Forces, as part of an old military tradition, but Reyes denied the accusation  receiving such funds for his own use seeking to cross-examine Rabusa, but his request was denied and was not given the chance. On the morning of On February 8, 2011 morning,  Angelo Reyes, together with two of his sons and a bodyguard, visited his mother’s grave at the Marikina Memorial Park  on the morning of February 8, 2011, and after a while, Reyes, asked his children and bodyguard to go ahead and wait for him in the car, before shooting himself in the left side of the chest near the heart.  Reyes was rushed to Quirino Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City, but was declared dead on arrival. Reyes was buried with full military honors at the Libingan ng mga Bayani or Cemetery for the Heroes  on February 13, 2011, in Taguig.