In our continued coverage of the astounding interview we did with ex-Scientologist and Sea Org member Marc Headley, he revealed David Miscavige, RTC President and head of the Church, was directly involved in the cover-up of Lisa McPherson’s death. Lisa, a young and pretty Scientologist whose death in 1995 rocked the Church of Scientology, has since become the poster child for the alleged abuses leveled at the Church.

The story of Lisa’s death is incredibly tragic. Not simply because we see the face of vibrant, beautiful young woman cut down it the prime of her life, but because for all intents and purposes, her death was completely preventable. Here’s a very brief summary in the interest of time, but I encourage anyone interested to do more research about the events surrounding Lisa’s death:

Police say McPherson, 36, entered the Fort Harrison Hotel, Scientology’s Clearwater headquarters, in November 1995. They say she was physically healthy but psychologically disturbed. Seventeen days later she died. An autopsy determined her death was due to a blood clot brought on by “severe dehydration” and “bed rest.” Pinellas-Pasco Medical Examiner Joan Wood has said the medical evidence indicates McPherson went without fluids for five to 10 days, possibly longer, and was comatose for at least 24 hours before she died. Bites on her hands were most likely made by cockroaches, Wood has said. (Tampa Tribune, June 1, 1997)

The Church of Scientology pulled out ALL the stops on this case to disassociate themselves with Lisa’s death, in the end the criminal charges of “homicide” were dropped and the case was settled out of court in a civil trial. But apparently, there’s more to this story than what we been led to believe. From Marc Headley’s interview:

DO: Do you think if enough Scientologists got together, I mean you and the staff and whoever, and came up with a Class Action Suit, do you think that would be an effective means, or do you think it’s still too crazy to do something like that?

MH: I don’t know, you gotta dig that the Church of Scientology, International Management sends about a hundred thousand dollars a week to the Office of Special Affairs to conduct legal battles, that is in-house attorneys, private investigators, whatever. That’s a lot of money. A hundred thousand dollars a week, so, that’s the kind of thing that I myself, when I hear people saying like that, “We’re gonna get a bunch of people together and we’re gonna do this”, I kind of think, ok, it seems plausible, if you had enough people, and it was an open and shut case, then maybe that would work. But at the same time, they killed a woman and got away with it.

DO: You’re talking about Lisa McPherson?

MH:Yeah, that’s a whole ‘nother interview. And I’ll probably have somebody call you. But I know people that were there in Clearwater that cleaned out different offices or rooms where she was in after that incident happened, so there would be zero evidence left behind on what happened. When that case was going on, David Miscavige was up day and night reading through medical books trying to come up with some way that the condition she had was totally disrelated to what they were subjecting her to. I mean, he was up day and night. He had medical books. He was on the internet. He wasn’t sleeping for weeks, trying to figure this out. He HIMSELF was doing that, because it was looking really, really bleak that this thing was not going to go their way. But somehow they managed to do whatever they did and settle, or whatever happened, and it went away.

DO: I heard a rumor Marc, and I don’t know… and I would love to have you back. Believe me.
We’ve got people clamoring for the information and they really want to know it and you seem to
have it. But I heard a rumor about Lisa, Lisa’s case, that people were speculating that she wasn’t
even actually held at Fort Harrison and maybe she was held at … I don’t know if it’s a Best Western
or at some other building that is kinda off-site there in Clearwater. And there’s rumors about a
locker or whatever that means. It’s obviously a rumor.

But they thought it was really odd that she had cockroach bites on her and this was supposed
to be like, a Five-Star hotel. There were no cockroaches in any of the other rooms. Why is it that
she’s in this Five-star whatever, it’s the mecca of Scientology, this high-end place for worldwide
people to come visit. She’s been bitten by bugs and she’s been dehydrated. And this whole
embolism thing sounds like … probably came from not being moved enough if you’re in a
vegetative, comatose state. Do you think there’s more to this story of legal actions than what we
heard in the news?

MH: Oh absolutely. Absolutely. Not to go off on a total wild thing but all of the people that were involved in that from RTC to the Flag Land Base Staff, the people that were auditing her, the people that were overseeing her auditing, every single one of those people that was anywhere involved with that: as soon as that case was settled, they were whisked off and made to disappear. The girl that was in Religious Technology Center in Clearwater was sent to Australia to do the Rehabilitation Project Force there. Australia! Because they wanted her far, far, far away, never to be seen or heard from again, because she had involvement and knew information regarding the Lisa McPherson case. Her name is Ricky Yensen, by the way. Or Ricky Galviotti, or Ricky Drake, whichever name she uses now.

There’s absolutely more than has been told and more that’s been heard that went on. I’ll have
this other fella that I know contact you, who was there in Clearwater and was working with Marty
Rathbun when this was going down. Marty Rathbun was in Religious Technology Center at the
time as well, he was like David’s henchman. Cleaning up all this messy stuff. So there’s absolutely
more more to this story.

DO: Do you think this case could be re-opened if somebody would be willing to come forward with
new details that there was a cover up involved?

MH: Well, it’s the same type of thing. You’ve got to get enough people that all know the same thing that are all willing to put their neck on the line and persevere through whatever the church is gonna throw at them. It’s that same kind of scenario.

Here’s an interesting story about Marty Rathbun and how his first assignment in the Sea Org was to protect a woman named Diane Colletto from her husband who she’d disconnected from. Diane’s husband, John Colletto had been forcibly sent to the RPF, or the Scientology prison work force, and he escaped because he wanted to see his wife. Due the disconnection policy of the Church, they were forbidden from speaking and John tracked down Diane who was with Marty Rathbun at the time and he watched her get shot down in cold blood. John tried to shoot Marty too, but was out of bullets. John Colletto was later found dead, having shot himself with the same gun.

After witnessing an incident like that, handling the Lisa McPherson case for David Miscavige must have been a trip down tulip lane.