Would a major company like Boeing that manufactures planes, rockets, satellites and weapons of war take out an individual that threatens the profitability of their business? Well, either that or they caught an insane amount of luck when the whistleblower who was in the middle of testifying about their quality control and safety procedures was found dead a few days ago.
John Barnett, the 62-year-old Boeing whistleblower, was found dead with a “self-inflicted gunshot wound” in his truck in the parking lot of a South Carolina hotel on Saturday, but had apparently told a family friend not to believe authorities if he was to wind up dead, because he had no plans to kill himself.
Speaking to ABC News 4, Jennifer, who didn’t give a surname, claims that Barnett insisted “I ain’t scared” before adding “if anything happens to me it’s not suicide.” Jennifer said:
“I know he did not commit suicide there’s no way. He loved life too much, he loved his family too much, he loved his brothers too much to put them through what they’re going through right now…I think somebody didn’t like what he had to say and wanted to shut him up and didn’t want it to come back on anyone so that’s why they made it look like a suicide.”
Even Barnett’s lawyers, who were in touch with him every day lately said that his “suicide” makes no sense and that John Barnett would never take his own life, especially just one day into the deposition. In a statement, Robert Turkewitz and Brian Knowles said there was “no indication” their client would take his own life. The statement read:
“John was in the midst of a deposition in his whistleblower retaliation case, which finally was nearing the end. He was in very good spirits and really looking forward to putting this phase of his life behind him and moving on. We didn’t see any indication he would take his own life. No one can believe it. We are all devastated. We need more information about what happened to John. The Charleston police need to investigate this fully and accurately and tell the public what they find out. No detail can be left unturned.”
A recent piece in the NY Post interviewed several plant workers where John Barnett used to work up until 2017, and they all seem terrified of their bosses:
“I don’t know what to believe. We don’t really talk about it on the (assembly) line. We’re on camera from the minute we get on the property. They can hear us. So no one wants to talk about it at work. A lot of people are skeptical, because he made some pretty powerful enemies.”
Nothing surprises me when it comes to Boeing. It’s a good job but you’ve got to stay in line. If you don’t, you won’t work there anymore.”
As is always the case with these whistleblowers who suddenly wind up dead, we’ll probably never know the whole truth. All we know is that Boeing had already lost $30,000,000,000+ in market cap this year, and you can bet people have been killed over a lot less than that. Taking out someone who could potentially cost them billions more is just a necessary business transaction to them. They’ve also got enough power and influence where any suspicious circumstances around a whistleblower death isn’t investigated properly, or indeed at all.
What I will say though is that it would have been good if John Barnett had at least texted or e-mailed or put out a public statement that he would never kill himself, just so we can validate what his friend is saying. Maybe he just didn’t get around to it? We obviously can’t say for sure whether he did or didn’t off himself, but telling someone “if it happens I didn’t do it” while 100% planning to kill yourself would be a pretty hilarious troll. Fair play to him if that’s how he chose to go out.
For the author who ‘took her own life’ in 2020 then came back to life after her book sales skyrocketed, click HERE.
