Some background on Flo Barnett's death

Here is a repost of some materials I have on the death of Flo Barnett.
Don't expect to know who suicided her by reading it :-)

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From RVY:

     Another mysterious but key death was that of Flo Barnett,
Miscavige's mother-in-law.  She died in 1985 of three shots to the
chest and one to the temple from a semi-automatic rifle.  Two suicide
notes were found.  Although she was only 5'3" tall (and weighed only
114 pounds), the examiner determined she shot herself three times in
the chest (with a rifle) before shooting herself through the head.
(See coroner's report attached as Exhibit V.) What the authorities
didn't know was that she had left Scientology and was associating with
apostates, to the anger of her son-in- law Miscavige.

[RVY here states an *lay opinion* (that the suicide is suspicious),
and a *fact* (that she was squirrelling)]

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Vicki Aznaran #1:

     THE DEATH OF FLO BARNETT

     11.  Flo Barnett's suicide was a scandal within the inner circles
of Scientology.  This was not due to the fact that she supposedly
committed suicide, but due to the f act that she had become a member of
a declared.  enemy group, David Mayo's Advanced Ability Center.  She was
receiving auditing and assistance from this group and at the time of her
death, possessed a pack of the NED for OTS (secret upper level auditing
procedures) which were believed to have come from David Mayo's group.
Flo Barnett's membership in this group made her a suppressive person as
she was actively "squirreling" and a member of a suppressive group.  The
fact that David Miscavige was linked to her by familial ties was
extremely repugnant to him and to his wife, Michelle Miscavige.  David
Miscavige's comment upon her death was that "the bitch got what she
deserved." His wife Shelly, did not appear to feel any different about
it than David.  I asked Shelly if she was doing alright since receiving
this bad news.  She said that personally she was doing just fine and
that this was an excellent opportunity to find out where the NED for OTs
materials had come from and to use it as leverage against Mayo.  She
also stated that it was not surprising that this happened to her mother
since she had been "squirelling".  The circumstances of the deaths of
both Flo Barnett and Yvonne Jentzsch are very relevant to the issues in
this case, as I understand them to be.

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Vicki Aznaran #2 (in which she accused Graham Berry of having written
her affidavit himself, after she settled with the co$):

     b) The statements in the filed declaration concerning the death of
Michelle Miscavige's mother were added to without authorization by me.
This included mention of the death of Heber Jentzsch's wife which is not
something I had ever spoken to Mr.  Berry about, and I have no knowledge
and never heard anything that indicated there was anything unusual about
Mr.  Jentzsch's wife death.  She died of natural causes.  The statement
concerning Flo Barnett's death were not put in context and were not
meant to imply that there was any wrongdoing surrounding her death.

     In approximately September 1985, when I was the Deputy Inspector
General of Religious Technology Center ("RTC"), I learned that Mary
Florence Barnett, Mrs.  Miscavige's mother, had committed suicide.  She
had been involved with a group of disaffected former Scientologists who
practiced altered versions of Scientology.  I only know that after
hearing about her death both David and Shelly Miscavige were very upset
over the fact that Flo Barnett had killed herself.  I also wish to make
known that I have seen mention in an affidavit by Vaughn Young that
David Miscavige ordered the matter "hushed up." This was stated in the
context of indicating wrongdoing on Mr.  Miscavige's part and
insinuating he had some participation in the matter.  A careful and
literal reading of the statment shows that Mr.  Young never actually
says he knows Mr.  Miscavige was involved in this suicide, or that there
was any evidence of such, but by innuendo his statement still leaves
this impression.  To my knowledge there was never any order by David
Miscavige or anyone else to keep the matter quiet.  If any such order
existed it would most likely have been given to me.  And since I took
actions to make the matter quite well known and never heard anybody, let
alone David Miscavige, ask for the matter to be hushed up, I know this
statement and the innuendo to be false;

[My comment: note that she said that "She died under natural causes"
(haha) and that she does not specifically recant her allegations.
Instead, she says that "she didn't talk about it" or "it was not
unusual"]

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From Miscavige:

19. Exemplifying the unsupportable, irrelevant and malicious
nature of Vaughn Young's personal assault on me is his false
and repugnant insinuation that I was involved with the death
of my mother-in-law, Mary Florence Barnett. Not only is there
no evidence to support this claim by Young, but there is
clear evidence to the contrary. With the reports of the
coroner and the medical examiner's investigator, and with the
deposition of the medical examiner taken by Geertz's counsel
at hand -- all to the unanimous, unequivocal conclusion that
Ms. Barnett died from self-inflicted gunshots -- Young has
the temerity to suggest that I should be investigated to
determine what he calls my role in that tragic suicide. With
complete disdain for the facts and no regard whatsoever for
any sense of decency, Young has taken a personal tragedy in
my family's life, the suicide of my mother-in-law, and
attempted to make this an issue in this lawsuit by twisting
it to imply non-existent wrongdoing on my part. I not only
had nothing to do with this tragic incident, but Vaughn
Young's gratuitous embellishment that I ordered the matter
"hushed up" is equally false. My only association with this
tragedy was to console my wife who was understandably
emotionally traumatized and grief stricken. Vaughn Young's
effort to exploit this tragedy is malicious in and of itself,
but his innuendo and attempts to recast the incident, despite
the uncontroverted evidence as to the true cause of Ms.
Barnett's death, show the depths to which he is willing to
sink.

[Miscavige's affidavit is misleading (what else would you expect)
 - RVY did not allege that Miscavige was involved, that was Vicki
 - RVY did allege that Miscavige was angry about her squirrelling
 - Miscavige and Vicki#2 use the word "hushed up".
 - Miscavige does not comment Vicki#1
 - Miscavige does not deny that Flo was squirrelling, and that
   he was angry about it
 - the rest is just blabla]

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From FACTNet:

?????          Barnett, Flo                                   murder
Flo Barnett a.k.a. Miller died from several gunshot wounds.
She was David Miscavige's mother- in-law. Just before her death
she was reported to have had an argument with David Miscavige
and threatened to go public and sue Scientology

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Fishman press release 28.4.94:

   David Miscavige's mother-in-law, Mary Florence "Flo"  Barnett,
died  from  four  rifle  shots, three to the chest and one to the
head.   Originally  classified  as  a  "suicide",   upon   closer
inspection  it  was determined from the ballistics and the height
of  Ms.   Barnett  that  the   wounds   could   not   have   been
self-inflicted.  Evidence  was collected that just one week prior
to her death, Ms. Barnett had threatened to sue the  Church,  and
was in contact with David Mayo, a former member who was an avowed
enemy of David Miscavige.

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Fishman 10.12.93 letter to IRS about Miscavige:



       Yet nowhere does his name show up as either a director  or
a  trustee. This may have something to do with a multitude of bad
acts for which he is being investigated, including the murder  of
his mother-in-law, Mary Florence Barnett in 1985, whose death was
ruled a suicide until recently, when the Medical Examiner in  Los
Angeles  gave  the  opinion  that  she  could  not have committed
suicide, from the ballistics, as she  would  have  had  to  shoot
herself  four  times with a shotgun.  Her death is being referred
over to the Sheriff's Office for  investigation  as  a  homicide.
Several  days  before  her death, she threatened to sue Miscavige
and the Church of Scientology International. (See Exhibit B).

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Milne DA vs. FACTNet:


From: milne@crl.com (Andrew Milne)
Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology
Subject: Flo Barnett's death
Date: 25 Apr 1995 23:49:05 -0700


            The source of the false allegation about Mr. Miscavige's
      mother-in-law is FACTNET.

            This is a pernicious effort by Wollersheim to exploit a
      family tragedy.  As reflected in the medical examiner's
      records and sworn testimony (which Wollersheim has), Ms.
      Barnett was despondent after failing to fully recover from a
      brain operation, and she took her own life.

            The Autopsy Report dated September 11, 1985, concluded:
      "The case is that of a 52-year old woman who died as the
      result of multiple gunshot wounds which were self-inflicted.
      The gunshot wound of the head was immediately fatal and
      occurred following the 3 gunshot wounds to the chest which
      had produced a very small left hemothorax.  In addition there
      were 2 recent incised wounds that involved the right and left
      wrists.  Two suicide notes were left and the decedent had
      become depressed following surgical intervention for an
      aneurysm of the carotid artery."

            Contrary to Factnet's lies, the December 1993
      deposition testimony of the Chief Medical Examiner of Los
      Angeles County confirmed that "the cause of death and the
      manner of death was suicide." Factnet's allegation that the
      deposition of the Los Angeles County Coroner "cast doubt upon
      whether such a set of facts could possibly be a suicide" is
      completely false.

            Mr.  Miscavige had nothing to do with Flo Barnett's
      death and it did not occur while she was receiving
      "Scientology services." There was no argument between Flo
      Barnett and Mr.  Miscavige.  In fact, Mr.  Miscavige had not
      been in communication with his mother-in-law for some years
      prior to her tragic death.


[Notice this:
 - he has not denied Miscavige's (David and Shelly) reaction
   to the suicide.
 - no one alleges that Flo was getting "scientology sevices",
   since she was "squirrelling" :-)
 - *both* FACTNet's claim and Milne's claim (that there was an argument)
   are nothing more than allegations (sorry FACTNet)
 - Both Fishman and Milne fail to provide meaningful excerpts of
   the depo. I hope this will be resolved soon.
 - Saying "had not been in communication" means nothing from a scieno.
   Does this mean they didn't audit each other ? That they didn't
   write each other ? Scienos redefine words all the time. Even if
   it was true, it doesn't matter, since Miscavige could be mad on
   Flo without "being in communication" with her.]





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