According to ex members, Scientology teaches its followers to go to any lengths to silence critics, including murder. There have been several instances of questionable suicides and deaths (link has automatic music) of active and ex cult members, most recently of a well to do artist couple in NY. Jeremy Blake and Theresa Duncan committed suicide within days of each other after telling friends of extensive harassment and stalking by Scientologists.

Now the guy who claimed to have “wedding” pictures of Tom Cruise, the most high profile Scientologist around, has “committed suicide.” He was on house arrest after trying to extort money from Cruise for the photos. If he was trying to get paid millions for them, you know they weren’t just happy non-incriminating snaps:

The man who agreed to plead guilty to a plot to extort more than $1 million from Tom Cruise for stolen photos taken at his 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes in Italy was found dead in his home, the AP is reporting.

David Hans Schmidt, 47, was under house arrest and faced up to two years in federal prison. Authorities say it appears that he had committed suicide.

Schmidt, known as the Sultan of Sleaze, was found dead in his Phoenix townhouse on Friday afternoon after police noticed that a tracker placed on him had not moved and he had not checked in with them.

[From US Weekly]

It’s possible this man’s suicide was legitimate, not that I’m uh, suggesting that it was anything else. Daily News columnist George Rush says he was depressed and talking about suicide:

George Rush, one half of gossip columnist duo Rush & Molloy, said that Schmidt, who was most recently in the news for attempting to extort money from Tom Cruise, called him two weeks ago and told him of another suicide attempt.

“I did something really stupid. I put a belt around my neck in the shower. Fortunately, it didn’t work,” said Schmidt over the phone.

Rush says he encouraged Schmidt to get help. “He was phoning me every other day. I said, ‘You’ve got to get yourself on some medication. He said he was on some, but it just didn’t work for very long.

[From TMZ.com]

I’m sure the Scientologists will say it was all the fault of the antidepressants he was on. I picture a bunch of guys in dark suits shrugging and trying to look innocent, then pointing fingers.

According to The National Enquirer, the suicide was suspicious:

The 47-year-old Schmidt was found in a shower stall at a North 21st street condominium in Phoenix, AZ. “He hung himself, and the shower stall was so small, he had to squat to get the job done,” a source familiar with the situation said.

[From NationalEnquirer.com]

David Miscavige, the head of Scientology, was at Cruise’s wedding and there was a weird picture that came out of Cruise posing in what looked like a throne with his son Connor and Miscavige by his side. I wonder if they did any rituals at that wedding and if someone had documentation.