A whistleblower is someone who holds secret information from within an organization or governmental body, who expses that the organization is acting illegally or immorally. It can be any kind of information that reveals these actions. There are even services like Wikileaks designed specifically to aid whistleblowers leak information as anonymously as possible. Whistleblowers have it rough. Not only do they risk the wrath of their former employers, or maybe even their government, but sometimes they are even forced to go into hiding or seek political asylum like Edward Snowden. But there are many more whistleblowers who died mysteriously, many assume as a result of them releasing their evidence. There is always a level of risk involved with making enemies of powerful leaders. Here are my top 10 whistleblowers who died mysteriously.
David Kelly
David Kelly worked for the British Ministry of Defense as a bioweapons expert. As he once operated as a weapons inspector to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. In 2003, he told a journalist that no weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq. The claimed existence of such weapons was the justification British politicians had given for the invasion of Iraq, so this was a big deal. Politicians immediately started attacking Kelly, calling him a traitor as he basically implied they were lying to the British public. That same year, Kelly was found dead. The initial report stated that he has overdosed on painkillers and cut his wrist. So it was a suicide. But many believed that he was assassinated, and would never have killer himself. A government investigation was launched into the suspicious nature of his sudden death. British politicians refused to let the investigation report be released for public viewing. They ordered it to be sealed for 70 years and kept a complete secret. This is suspicious if you ask me. Everyone involved will likely be dead before the report is finally released, so you and I may never learn what truly happened to Dr David Kelly. As you’ll see, most whistleblowers who died mysteriously share a similar story.
BP Whistleblower Deaths
In 2010, a huge oil spill occurred in the gulf of Mexico, resulting in 87 days of oil flooding into the ocean. In total, eleven people mysteriously went missing during the whole thing, but we’re not going to be talking about them. We’re focusing on the nine whistleblowers who were found dead soon after the event. There really are nine whistleblowers who are no longer with us. One of the men was cycling a 3,200 mile journey to draw attention to the oil spill, and he was killed when a truck ran into him. This alone isn’t suspicious, but when you combine it with all the others deaths it tells a rather different story. Another case is Ted Stevens, he was an American senator who died in a plane crash. He was on the payroll of BP and appears to have held some of their secrets. Other cases include a relevant scientist being shot dead and an anti-BP activist having a sudden cardiac arrest.
Shanmugam Manjunath
Shanmugam Manjunath was an official for the Indian Oil Corporation who is known to have been murdered for whistleblowing. While working as a manager, he discovered that illegal quality oil was being pumped, so he order the pumps be put on hold. He reported it, which basically exposed an act of corruption. Clearly this didn’t make him the most popular guy in the corporation. He was shot with 6 bullets while inspecting the pumps one more time. His death brought significant attention to the corruption, which is ironic as they killed him to avoid him drawing attention to it. His family were given a sum close to 40 thousand dollars by the oil corporation.
John Clifford Baxter
John Clifford Baxter was an executive at the now notorious Enron corporation. Enron was one of the world’s largest energy companies before it imploded in a huge scandal and went bankrupt in 2001. A lot of this was due to criminal activity by high ranking executives, for which some of them are now in prison. John Clifford Baxter had agreed to testify for the US Congress investigation of Enron. He was found dead in his car before he was able to testify. It was death by gunshot, in what has been judged as a suicide. A suicide not was found adressed to his wife. Why would he kill himself before testifying at the time he had agreed to? A common question in cases of whistleblowers who died mysteriously.
Satish Shetty
Satish Shetty was a multiple-time whistleblower well known for exposing corruption. So he had made enemies of many powerful people. Prior to his death he had been receiving credible death threats but police protection was refused for him. In Roman fashion, several people stabbed Shetty to death while he was out on a peaceful walk. After his death, he has gained recognition as a brave whistleblower but the identity of those who murdered him is still a mystery. Some claim it was a government conspiracy as he had exposed curruption within government organizations. This might explain why police refused to protect him. It’s possible.
Pat Tillman
Pat Tillman was a successful American football player who joined the military after the September 11 attack. The government used him to promote the war in Afghanistan, which is where he eventually died. While there, he was extremely critical of the war and exposed flaws in military practices. Soon after, he was killed in friendly fire. Being killed by close-range friendly fire is also mysterious but can it be a coincidence that a whistleblower was accidentally shot dead from a distance of only about 40 yards? He was the first American football player to be shot dead in combat since the Vietnam war, when several celebrities were sent to fight.
Serena Shim
Serena Shim was a young journalist for the Iranian media company Press TV, which has a growing prsence in Europe. Like many ambitious journalists traveled to the middle-east to report on all the crazy things happening there. She was in Turkey when she revealed Turkish officials were actually helping ISIS militants commit their brutal crimes. This was a big story at the time, and seemed like a good move on her part. It’s implications were huge, leading people to accuse the Turkish government of being an ally to terrorist organizations. Serena Shim died in a car crash soon after. She actually survived the crash but died of a heart attack shortly. Press TV have made it clear they believe her death is mysterious and they suspect foul play.
Satyendra Dubey
Satyendra Dubey was an Indian highway official known for taking a stand against corruption. He exposed three other corrupt officials and they were suspended for it. This made him an enemy of the Indian Mafia, and he made it clear to them that he wouldn’t tolerate any kind of corruption of illegality. He was shot dead in 2003 while on his way hoe from a wedding. The Indian Prime Minister was interested in the investigation of his killing, ordering it a government issue as the local police may have been involved themselves. You may have notice a lot of the whistleblowers who died mysteriously were from India. I’m not sure why this is the case.
Alexander Perepilichny
Alexander Perepilichny is one of many successful Russians who died mysterious deaths in the UK. He blew the whistle on money laundering practices involving both the Russian government and the Russian mafia. Those are two powerful groups of people so I would never have blown the whistle on them. But I guess Alexander Perepilichny was fearless. In his revelation, the two groups were essentially stealing over 200 million dollars from the state of Russia. So he moved to England to avoid their wrath. He was found dead by the side of a road in London. Post-mortem reports found poison in his system. It’s obvious why he was poisoned, like so many other whistleblowers who died mysteriously.
Michael Ruppert
Michael Ruppert worked in the Los Angeles police department before leaving to become a whistleblower exposing corruption within both the police and the CIA. He then embarked on a bizarre career as a writer focusing on dangers to human survival. He claimed that human civilization will soon collapse mostly as a result of oil production running into difficulty. He ran a magazine called “From The Wilderness” that focused on all kinds of issues relating to this”. He was essentially a conspiracy theorist, but he did expose genuine corruption in his whistleblowing days. He was found dead in 2014 from a gunshot wound which was judged as a suicide. A suicide message was recorded by him stating that he couldn’t be murdered by the CIA or corporations as it would cause more problems that it would solve for them. Despite this, many believe he was murdered, suggesting that a man as spiritual as Michael Ruppert would never have commit suicide. Of all the many Whistleblowers Who Died Mysteriously, none touched more hearts than Michael Ruppert.