Conspiracy theorist and investigative journalist Michael Ruppert, 63, has reportedly committed suicide
Ruppert, Michael C. 'Suicides'
9/11 conspiracy theorist and investigative journalist Michael Ruppert has reportedly committed suicide.
The 63-year-old former narcotics investigator with the LAPD shot himself after his radio show, according to an announcement by author Carolyn Baker who was a guest on his final broadcast on Sunday.
Mr Ruppert was famous for his litany of conspiracy theories which encompassed
the CIA to drugs, international politics, the oil industry, Wall Street and
9/11.
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Conspiracy theorist and investigative journalist Michael Ruppert, 63, has reportedly committed suicide
On her Facebook page,
Ms Baker wrote: 'This was not a ''fake'' suicide. It was very well planned by
Mike who gave us few clues but elaborate instructions for how to proceed without
him.
'It was my privilege to have known Mike for 14 years, to have worked with him, to have been mentored by him, and to have supported him in some of his darkest hours, including the more recent ones.... Thank you Mike for all of the truth you courageously exposed and for the legacy of truth-telling you left us. Goodbye my friend. Your memory will live in hour hearts forever.'
Mr Ruppert, 63, has recently moved to the Rocky Mountains, a friend said in a Facebook announcement about his death
Dozens of fans left tributes to Mr Ruppert on his Facebook profile page.
Attempts by MailOnline to confirm Mr Ruppert's suicide were unsuccessful.
42 West, the New York publicity department for his 2009 documentary Collapse hung up the phone when contacted while the Milwaukee production office could offer no information.
Attempts to contact author Carolyn Baker were so far unsuccessful.
Phone numbers connected to Mr Ruppert's businesses were disconnected.
Max Mogren, who worked with Mr Ruppert for 15 months between 2011 and 2012,
could not confirm his death today but said that a lot of his former colleagues'
close friends had posted messages of condolence online.
Mr Mogren told MailOnline today that Mr Ruppert was very passionate and very
committed to his work.
Mr Mogren said: 'He believed what he believed. All of his work was motivated by
his love of humanity.'
After leaving the LAPD, Mr Ruppert started a website From The Wilderness which
claimed to expose government corruption. It included his claims that he had seen
drug-dealing at the CIA.
Mr Ruppert gained notoriety by confronting
then-CIA Director John Deutch during a meeting in 1995 and telling him that he
had seen CIA officers involved in drug-dealing.
He later claimed on his website that the CIA and American government was
involved in 9/11.
In 2004, he published Crossing the
Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil.
The book alleged than former VP Dick Cheney had conspired with Wall Street and
other government officials over the September 11 World Trade Center attacks.
In 2009, he starred in a documentary called Collapse where he spoke about his
theories involving the demise of mankind following the economic and energy
crises.
His work was not without detractors. Many claimed that the investigator only used partial sources to qualify his work. Activist and writer Norman Solomon wrote: 'Some of the problem is in how he characterizes news reports. These citations can be narrowly factual yet presented in a misleading way. Yes, such-and-such newspaper reported that thus-and-so claim was made by so-and-so. The paper reported on the claim, but that doesn't mean the claim is true.'
Mr Ruppert had recently moved to the Rocky Mountains.
He is survived by his partner Jesse Re.