Is there a shrink in the house? Sugar Land anomalies surrounding the known circumstances of Cliff Baxter's death abound.
1. He was a whistleblower, not, like so many other Enron execs, a probable criminal defendant. Or, as one report puts it, "He isn't exactly the one who you'd tap to take such a rash step. Far from being the guilty party at the center of the mess, he seems quite the opposite."
j-marshall.com
2. About a month before his death Baxter did not strike people who knew him as suicidal. "He seemed happy and jovial but concerned about the Enron thing," said club commodore Chuck Buckner, a Houston accountant." http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-000006977jan27.story?coll=la-headlines-nation
3. At least some friends who saw him just days before his death claim they saw no sign of depression or unusual anxiety. ""The Enron employee, who had worked closely with Baxter, said he last spoke to the former executive last Monday and sensed no signs of depression or panic. The employee, who declined to speak for the record, said they discussed Enron matters, including the shareholder lawsuit that names Baxter. "[He] did not seem unduly upset about that suit," the employee told CNNfn."
money.cnn.com
4. He was known to have been making future plans, like purchasing a larger yacht, hiring a lawyer, preparing to travel to D.C. for a congressional interview. chron.com
5. He told another friend he was thinking of hiring a body guard. "The associate said Mr Baxter 'was talking about perhaps needing a bodyguard, though I'm not sure where that idea came from'".
ananova.com
6. He was not under subpoena. There is some question about whether there were any exit wounds, as one might expect, for bullet fragments, etc. etc.
But the one that gets me is the report that in the early morning hours his car was found parked in the median turning lane of a suburban street. "His car was parked in the turnaround of a median in view of two $1million-plus homes and less than a half-mile from a law enforcement substation," says one report. chron.com And, "His body was found at 2:23 a.m. Friday in a car parked in between two medians in a residential area in Sugar Land. He was in the driver's seat of the vehicle and a police officer stopped to check on him after noticing the parked car." dailynews.yahoo.com
I'd be interested in knowing if it strikes anyone as odd that a middle aged wealthy man intent on shooting himself would choose a multi-lane city street for such an act, rather than some park or other out of the way place? |
