Michael Hastings’ Ashes Sent Home for Burial

Michael Hastings’ Ashes Sent Home for Burial

www.sandiego6.com

"Details uncovered by this reporter shed new light into the June 18 death of journalist Michael Hastings.

Hastings’ friend and confidant SSgt. Joe Biggs disclosed a macabre twist in the award-winning journalist’s death in a suspicious single-car accident. According to SSgt. Biggs, “Michael Hastings’ body was returned to Vermont in an urn.” He further alleged, “Family members did not want Michael’s body cremated.”

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Interesting developments regarding the car crash of the Journalist. It it very suspicions for him to have been cremated without anyones consent.

According to the video, Hastings had met with a lawyer prior to his death and kept the information on the story he was working on from his wife for fear of her safety.

www.sandiego6.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by add alone


If all the public details are correct on this case then it's got cover up written all over it

The car did that...

"OMG! THE BODY WAS CREMATED!"

Yah, cuz the guys body was in a TINY METAL INFERNO OF DOOM!

Honestly, what did you all expect? For him to be miraculously fireproof?

Yes that is interesting, seems like that confidences do not end with his death, or murder. His finance brought up concern and more, why didn't they ask her? Why didn't they ask his family. Sure his remains were likely almost cremated, but some people do not wish cremation as a final resting state. Somethings not right.

So they should have used superglue and gelatin to put the ashes back together?

Man dies in house fire after getting drunk and forgetting stove on.

Conspirazees! Teh gubbmint!

More like cause and effect: die in fire, get burned like a marshmallow.

Originally posted by teachtaire
So they should have used superglue and gelatin to put the ashes back together?

Man dies in house fire after getting drunk and forgetting stove on.

Conspirazees! Teh gubbmint!

More like cause and effect: die in fire, get burned like a marshmallow.

You don't know how bad off his body was. Besides the fact that if he was Jewish, or another religion for example, that would be disrespectful to the family.

That's could just be the straw man of it, now how can the family have remains tested properly, if they wanted that?

Omuhgord tinfoil hatz!

Originally posted by teachtaire
So they should have used superglue and gelatin to put the ashes back together?

Man dies in house fire after getting drunk and forgetting stove on.

Conspirazees! Teh gubbmint!

More like cause and effect: die in fire, get burned like a marshmallow.

Read the article again. It clearly states the following:

Nevertheless LA County assistant corner, Ed Winter, said it took two days to identify the burned-beyond recognition body of Hastings. Officials also confirmed that an autopsy has been performed, but the cause of death is still pending. Unfortunately the family will have to wait for cause of death answers as LAPD media spokesperson Lieutenant Andrew Neiman indicated, “It will take several weeks to get the toxicology results.”

Interesting theory that you're positing there as it's a really neat trick to be able to perform an autopsy on a pile of ashes but gonna have to debunk your theory as being a reckless disregard of factual information. In other words, there was a body and it was cremated without permission by the family. Not cool.

reply to post by WhiteAlice


I'm going off of what I've seen of car crash victims who were burned and that scene in star wars where the bodies of Aunt Em and Uncle whoever were left burned to a crisp after the stormtroopers.

Calling an examination of a body that deteriorated an autopsy reminds me of calling janitors "sanitary engineers" when actual engineers go through intensive schooling to earn the title.

Don't mean to be garish or in bad taste, but a quick look at some gruesome images which I wont post here will give you a good idea of how calling an examination an "autopsy" is a pile of BS. They left the body for two days in the morgue, and it was so deteriorated that they couldn't do anything but finish the process of cremation.

They only called it an "autopsy" because that is what they need to write down on the paperwork. Saying: "pile of ashes, bones and some tissue burned to hell. Left for two days and smelled like rot. Heck if I know," just doesn't have that official bureaucratic ring to it.

*edit* Toxicology results: carbon carbon carbon.

reply to post by teachtaire


I'm with you man. No big shock he was cremated. In fact, cremation happened on site. Not only do auto fires burn extremely hot because of the material which is burning but I believe it was even reported that this fire was abnormally hot compared to most. So unless he was ejected from the car, like his engine and transmission, he'd be nothing but ashes by the end of it.

I'm not saying one way or the other about how it happened for those that are wondering my take on it. But the fact that he was sent back in an urn I would have assumed was already common sense.

Well, putting yourself in the spotlight where anyone who wants to make America look bad only has to kill you and make it look like the government did it is never a good idea.

That being said, he was a human and a man.

He probably thought he knew something, got stressed, took mind altering substances, got paranoid while driving, and couldn't compensate for his self-inflicted mental handicap.

People are there own worst enemy, and he must have been jumping at shadows. It is a bad idea to drive when you're in that mental state as you become an offensive, rather than defensive driver.

He launched an offensive into a tree.

Tree won.

So they do an autopsy, then cremate the body, without permission from the family, and before the results of the autopsy come back. Seems legit.

On the other hand, doing the autopsy behind closed doors, then cremating the body before anyone else gets a chance to check it out sure does stop any chances of "approved" findings to be disputed.

Bodies are not cremated without expressed consent by the will, or the family of a person. This screams cover up and it should be interesting to see if anything comes of it. I doubt it will though, the LAPD seems to be keeping this one under wraps, which gives them ample time to re-write the report however they want, with no opportunity for anyone to question any of the findings. Mighty convenient.


DC

well we all know that cremation can cover up almost anything, gun shot wounds, poisons, or anything else for that matter.

let me ask a question, who identified the body? did any of the family ever see the body? could this possibly be a cover up in another way, as well as hiding cause of death or anything else it could completely hide the identity of the body. could it even NOT BE Michael Hastings? i doubt you could for example get a DNA test done on ashes. could Michael Hastings actually be detained somewhere? as he is "officially dead" who would know. they could hold him forever, torture him, whatever since he would not be missed. they would have all the time in the world to get any information out of him they want, and not ever have to worry about any methods used to extract it.

kinda wish we could examine the car. why do i suspect it has already been destroyed. did anyone actually see Michael Hastings in the car? did anyone actually see a body removed from the wreck? questions, questions

could the family sue the heck out of them over this? i mean cremating a body without permission of the family is a VERY BIG NO NO.

Originally posted by teachtaire
Well, putting yourself in the spotlight where anyone who wants to make America look bad only has to kill you and make it look like the government did it is never a good idea.

That being said, he was a human and a man.

He probably thought he knew something, got stressed, took mind altering substances, got paranoid while driving, and couldn't compensate for his self-inflicted mental handicap.

People are there own worst enemy, and he must have been jumping at shadows. It is a bad idea to drive when you're in that mental state as you become an offensive, rather than defensive driver.

He launched an offensive into a tree.

Tree won.

You go from saying he was completely burnt in the car before said cremation, to now he had a bunch of drugs in his system because he "thought" he knew something, got paranoid while driving and purposely crashed into the tree.

Case closed, thank you.

reply to post by teachtaire


Now this is where I do differ in opinion however. I do think there is reason to believe that he was killed rather than this just being some result of bad driving. Sure he may have been stressed out but you have to remember who this guy was and what he did for a living. He has obviously been in stressful situations like this before from reporting on the kinds of stories he did in the past. So I don't think it was "the pressure" that got to him making him drive head on into a tree. Plus, the other strangeness surrounding his "accident" does make you wonder wtf, does it not. The engine and trans being ejected so far from the vehicle. The fact that it was a new car with remote capable hacking and so on.

I mean this guy obviously made some serious enemies with some very powerful people. The same people who also have "friends" who can sometimes do "favors" if the price is right. So I wouldn't rule out foul play at all. In my opinion, the first red flag is usually when you have an unusual amount of strange and uncommon details surrounding an event. Doesn't mean it's always a sign that something is up, but it is often a clue that things are not as they seem.

reply to post by teachtaire

reply to post by mOjOm

*EDIT* Toastman, that is some dark humor!

Back to killroy:

Well, we can agree to disagree.

I see the merit in your logic, but I've also seen firsthand how people can let their paranoia get the better of them. Once that begins, a self-destructive cycle usually ensues; barring outside intervention, the net damage is usually proportionate to their end mental state.

psychodynamic triggers are very real, and if people aren't aware of them they can easily get the better of you.

My hunch is that records of the traffic flow information will show relatively light traffic, during which a car from some average Joe who works at iHop "followed" Michael for some time (due to the "wolf pack" phenomena of driving where cars tend to group together because everyone is in such a goddamn rush these days.)

If I were in Mr. Hastings shoes, this normal phenomena would have had me #ting bricks, and would have floored it. When you think the world is out to get you, one tends to form a skewed view of the world which favors your perceptions.

A pareidolia and Foile a deux are some "official" words I can throw around, cept I'm not qualified to be using them.

reply to post by teachtaire


Your theory would work except for one fact. They used his fingerprints to identify his body:
www.usatoday.com...

Coroner's Lt. Fred Corral said an autopsy was performed Wednesday but findings on the cause of death were deferred pending the results of toxicology tests expected in eight to 10 weeks.

Hastings, 33, was identified by matching fingerprints to prints the FBI had on file, Corral said.

Obviously not quite as toasty as you presume if he still had fingerprints. Instead of looking at every fiery vehicle incident and trying to jam this one into a generalized stereotype of fiery car crashes, perhaps try looking at the facts specific to this case including statements from the corner.

Originally posted by teachtaire
.

He probably thought he knew something, got stressed, took mind altering substances, got paranoid while driving, and couldn't compensate for his self-inflicted mental handicap.

your kidding right.....?

reply to post by WhiteAlice


Okay. The police say they got prints off of a cinder.

But unfortunately police lie about evidence all the time.

They probably said "we aren't paid enough for this #, lets just say we got the prints." and wrote that down in their report.

In this kind of accident, using dental records or skull curvature seems to be par to the course.

I really don't think there'd be any prints as prints are basically OIL, and when the body is burning in an oven, it tends to have all the oil and fat burned off and released.

Also, most cars that are that expensive have expensive coverings for their steering wheels, e.g. leather, rubber, whatever, to give the driver better grip and to protect the steering wheel from sun/heat/abrasive damage.

If the whole car is up in flames, the fingers of the body would literally fuse to the wheel making printing impossible. This isn't to mention the fact that the fat and blood bubbles up and bursts through the skin (gruesome, I know. Sorry, it is the truth.)

Then again, perhaps enough of a fingerpad was preserved??? I somehow doubt it, the drivers arms and collar bones would likely be broken, and his hands would, just from the impact, have deep tissue damage that would accelerate the loss of the surface skin once the fire started. In other words, you hold the wheel during impact and a certain % of that kinetic energy is transferred directly into your hands, causing the skin to get ripped off by the steering wheel. Once the fire starts, that skin becomes fused and, well, burned.

Um, just my opinion after having been in minor accidents; most of the primary damage was in my palms; peoples instincts are to lock up during a collision, this makes the hands have sloughing damage, the fingers break, the forearms break, the ligaments in the elbow get damaged, and your collar bones/solar plexus go all to heck as well. Not to mention all of the whiplash and spinal injuries besides being in an oven.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure measuring the curvature of the inside of the skull (so long as it is in fact intact,) would be the only way to ID a body in that situation with any degree of precision or accuracy. I mean, you could get a hobo and give them dental work to match Mr. Hastings and no-one would know. Modifying the curvature of the inside of your skull however, is another matter entirely.

*another EDIT* I forgot to mention that, depending on the method of cremation, skull fragments are usually left over. Assuming that enough/a large enough fragment is/are left over, they can be used to provide actual identification, rather than bureaucratic proof. The family would need to claim ownership of such remains as the cremation facility usually just throws the bones out. Any type of anthropologist or archaeologist would be able to explain all these things better than I'm able to.


*EDIT* after further thought, the skull may very well burst due to the brain cooking off, even if the skull is split in this fashion, putting it back together for identification may be possible. I think I'm going to skip lunch now, thanks guys for getting me thinking about such a pleasant topic.
Just my opinion, I'm not trained for this kind of stuff.