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Have you heard the story of the death of Eugene Izzi? It is one of the more bizarre deaths I have come across. No-one seems to know if he was murdered or committed suicide.
Eugene was an author who had had a mixed career - some great success, then a flop and then later heading towards further success. He had also had a troubled life scarred by violence, which he repeated. His father, and he himself, mixed in dangerous circles with violent criminals.
In 1996 he was found hanging outside the window of his 14th storey office. His office was locked from the inside. When his body was retrieved it was found that he was wearing a bullet proof vest, had mace, brass knuckles and a gun. He had been concerned for his safety in the days leading up to his death, he had moved his family to safety and had engineered a meeting with his son which ended with him saying "whatever happens, know that I love you." There was also found a threatening message on his answerphone supposedly from a militia he had infiltrated for one of his novels, threatening to hang him. Another potential enemy was a skinhead he had interviewed for a story.
The coroner recorded the death a suicide. There had been found a computer disk containing a story in which the main character had been hanged out of his 14th storey office wearing a bullet proof vest and with a gun, mace and brass knuckles. Was he writing his own suicide or enacting a scene from his book to check it was possible? In the story found, the hanged character survives and climbs back in.
There's more here https://litreactor.com/columns/the-s...of-eugene-izzi if you are interested in this strange case.
Eugene was an author who had had a mixed career - some great success, then a flop and then later heading towards further success. He had also had a troubled life scarred by violence, which he repeated. His father, and he himself, mixed in dangerous circles with violent criminals.
In 1996 he was found hanging outside the window of his 14th storey office. His office was locked from the inside. When his body was retrieved it was found that he was wearing a bullet proof vest, had mace, brass knuckles and a gun. He had been concerned for his safety in the days leading up to his death, he had moved his family to safety and had engineered a meeting with his son which ended with him saying "whatever happens, know that I love you." There was also found a threatening message on his answerphone supposedly from a militia he had infiltrated for one of his novels, threatening to hang him. Another potential enemy was a skinhead he had interviewed for a story.
The coroner recorded the death a suicide. There had been found a computer disk containing a story in which the main character had been hanged out of his 14th storey office wearing a bullet proof vest and with a gun, mace and brass knuckles. Was he writing his own suicide or enacting a scene from his book to check it was possible? In the story found, the hanged character survives and climbs back in.
There's more here https://litreactor.com/columns/the-s...of-eugene-izzi if you are interested in this strange case.
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