Arrest In Travolta Tragedy

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Sat Jan 24, 2009 at 04:10:35 PM EST
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A bizarre story on top of the tragedy of the death of John Travolta's son:

Authorities in the Bahamas have charged an island lawmaker and detained two other people in an alleged plot to extort money from actor John Travolta after the death of his son, police said Friday. Two of the suspects — ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne and former tourism minister Obie Wilchcombe — were detained on Friday. Earlier, several tabloids quoted Lightbourne describing efforts to revive the celebrity's chronically ill son, Jett, who died of a seizure this month at their family vacation home on Grand Bahama.

[More...]

Sen. Pleasant Bridgewater, an attorney from Grand Bahama, was arrested on Thursday. She was charged with abetment to extort and conspiracy to extort and released Friday on $40,000 bail, according to Assistant Superintendent of Police Loretta Mackey. Authorities said Travolta filed a complaint of attempted extortion but they did not reveal what the allegations involved. The actor and his wife Kelly Preston returned home to Florida with the ashes of their 16-year-old son, and Travolta's publicist Paul Bloch said Friday that he has no comment.

I will not pretend to understand what the alleged extortion scheme could have been attempting. I am unable to understand how the scheme would work. What was the threat to Travolta? I do not get it I admit.

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Arrest In Travolta Tragedy | 19 comments (19 topical)

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I must say that it would never occur to me (5.00 / 1) (#6)
by andgarden on Sat Jan 24, 2009 at 04:42:40 PM EST

to go to omg.yahoo.com.

Extortion (none / 0) (#1)
by Laurie Bell on Sat Jan 24, 2009 at 04:22:58 PM EST

I got the impression from one news report that there were photos of the incident that they were threatening to release.

: i posted prior to seeing yours. (none / 0) (#4)
by cpinva on Sat Jan 24, 2009 at 04:24:40 PM EST

i read the story as well. i didn't get that impression at all. i saw no reference made to any possible photos. where did you see this?

very odd indeed. (none / 0) (#2)
by cpinva on Sat Jan 24, 2009 at 04:23:03 PM EST

i can't imagine what such a plot might involve. however, never underestimate the thought process of someone who thinks there's a dollar to be made.

: Sick, but perhaps not odd (none / 0) (#3)
by andgarden on Sat Jan 24, 2009 at 04:24:30 PM EST

There are places in the world where much worse is common. Kidnappings in Mexico, for example.

Photos and autopsy (none / 0) (#5)
by Jacob Freeze on Sat Jan 24, 2009 at 04:28:08 PM EST

AFP has some details...

Senior Assistant Commissioner Marvin Dames earlier said that Travolta and his wife Kelly Preston filed a complaint after they were approached by someone claiming to have photographs of their 16-year-old son Jett, who died January 2 at the family's vacation house in Grand Bahama.
Bahamas officials who conducted an autopsy on Jett Travolta said the teen died of a seizure and that his body showed no signs of head trauma.
The autopsy results appeared to contradict statements from the boy's family and island police that he had hit his head in the bathroom.

Coping with a sudden death (5.00 / 2) (#10)
by Inspector Gadget on Sat Jan 24, 2009 at 06:22:55 PM EST

does things to the survivors. There is a need to find the scenario that means nothing could have been done to avoid the death. It helps to relieve some of the survivor's guilt that they weren't there to intervene and save the person.

I had a sibling die in what most would call accidental circumstances. The horror in that caused each of us to create a belief that the death could not have been avoided, that something else contributed and no one could have done anything to effect the outcome. The autopsy didn't agree with us, but we still needed to believe our own scenarios in order to cope.


What on earth difference (none / 0) (#8)
by gyrfalcon on Sat Jan 24, 2009 at 05:57:26 PM EST

does it make whether the boy died from something related to a seizure or because he hit his head in the course of having said seizure? Either way, it's a clear natural or accidental cause of death. How do you blackmail somebody over that? I think there have to have been photographs involved, of the dead boy and/or Travolta wailing in grief, and the involvement of the ambulance driver would seem to point to that.

Although it was reported as if it was fact, the idea that he'd hit his head as a result of a seizure was clearly nothing more than a guess, since he wasn't found until some time after it happened. He was subject to seizures, which normally aren't fatal, and found unconscious on the floor of the bathroom. It was a reasonable supposition, but no more than that.

Now they're saying he died from the seizure itself, which I don't get. Seizures don't kill people.

Does anybody have any more info about what exactly killed this poor child?


I've known two people who died (5.00 / 2) (#9)
by Inspector Gadget on Sat Jan 24, 2009 at 06:13:58 PM EST

from seizures. They most certainly CAN be fatal. My niece was in bed at the time she had a fatal seizure...nothing to contribute to her death except the seizure.


Seizures (5.00 / 1) (#15)
by themomcat on Sun Jan 25, 2009 at 07:35:47 AM EST

can most certainly result in death. They can cause hypoxia from prolonged apnea and cardiac arrhythmias.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1187111-overview


Thank you both (none / 0) (#16)
by gyrfalcon on Sun Jan 25, 2009 at 02:55:22 PM EST

You taught me something I didn't know. I'd never heard of that before.


: You are very welcome (none / 0) (#18)
by themomcat on Mon Jan 26, 2009 at 03:11:27 AM EST

There is a lot of misinformation or lack of understanding about a lot of medical conditions. Myths, as it were. Happy to be of assistance.

Travolta (none / 0) (#7)
by MTSINAIMAMA on Sat Jan 24, 2009 at 04:51:47 PM EST

I've also read that photos were not involved, but the threat came surrounding the circumstances of Jett's death. Bridgewater, the Senator, resigned today and implied in her statement that she was only acting in her capacity as an attorney and expressed bewilderment at being charged.

Well, the rumors that Travolta is gay (none / 0) (#11)
by ericinatl on Sat Jan 24, 2009 at 06:54:50 PM EST

and having an affair with his children's nanny for one. Or maybe that Scientology prevented the Travoltas from getting their son the medical treatment he needed. The possibilities are ENDLESS.

I read up a little (none / 0) (#12)
by Fabian on Sat Jan 24, 2009 at 07:38:20 PM EST

on Kawasaki syndrome.

I would have chosen a different course of treatment for my child...but it wasn't my child. I've cringed more than once because of people's health care choices for their children before. I'm sure I'll do it again.


: Several close friends of the Travoltas said (none / 0) (#13)
by Inspector Gadget on Sun Jan 25, 2009 at 12:32:22 AM EST

Jett had severe mental disabilities. I didn't get the impression that they were related to Kawasaki. The Travoltas appeared to be a very close and happy family, but they never spoke of any disabilities in Jett that I heard of. I think they just loved him completely, and that was all they felt we needed to know.
They are really good and decent people. I watched the John Travolta episode of "Inside the Actors Studio" a couple of weeks ago. He's truly someone to admire.

Scientology, it's been (none / 0) (#17)
by gyrfalcon on Sun Jan 25, 2009 at 02:59:00 PM EST

said over and over since this happened, has nothing against medical treatment for this or any other physical condition. It's not Christian Science. What they rail against is psychotropic drugs, belieiving that depression and the like are a result of spiritual problems that can be fixed if one would only see the light, and have nothign to do with "chemical imbalances."

And I don't get what Travolta's real or imagined sex life has to do with any of this. He certainly wasn't having sex with the nanny-- or anybody else-- in the ambulance while his son was dying.


The lawsuit could be a preemting PR move (none / 0) (#14)
by ding7777 on Sun Jan 25, 2009 at 06:03:47 AM EST

by Travolta to minimize the public's desire to see the photos, hoping no tabloid would publish them now.

My heart aches at the thought of (none / 0) (#19)
by MyLeftMind on Mon Jan 26, 2009 at 12:25:35 PM EST

someone losing a child and then having to deal with extortionists, for whatever reason. Have they no shame? I hope they throw the book at them.

Tabloids suck, but the people that buy them suck even more. I hope that someday our society will choose to not give money to the people and companies who promote this horrendous antisocial behavior. Putting them out of business is the best way to stop them.