Missing CDC Employee Body Found Where Police Already Searched

Public Officials Report ‘No Foul Play’

Dr. Timothy Cunningham, epidemiologist for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as a team leader in the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, was last seen on February 12, 2018. According to Atlanta Police, his body was discovered on Tuesday, April 3rd in the Chattahoochee River in northwest Atlanta by two fishermen. Public officials say that the preliminary cause of death is drowning, but as mainstream media sources like CNN are reporting it, there were no signs of foul play.

However, Fulton County Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Jan Gorniak, also stated that the manner of death has not been determined. Not that I follow things like this that closely, but when have you ever heard a statement like that? The preliminary cause of death is drowning, but the manner of death has not been determined? Call me a conspiracy theorist, but doesn’t the mainstream press seem to be going to pains to downplay the peculiarities of this case.

There were no signs of foul play in the death of a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention epidemiologist who likely drowned, officials said Thursday.

Okay people, move along. Nothin’ to see here?

CNN’s story on this latest development in Dr. Cunningham’s case (link below) starts off with “[t]here were no signs of foul play…” and seems geared to downplay the suspicious facts in this case. It reminds me of Officer Barbrady from South Park telling people to move along when there’s clearly something to see. But don’t take my word for it. Take the very facts provided in that same CNN article.

The promotion that Dr. Cunningham didn’t not get

First there’s the disputed account of what transpired at work the day Dr. Cunningham went missing. According to CNN, Dr. Cunningham was last seen on February 12th, shortly after a CDC supervisor told him why he was being passed over for promotion. Co-workers told authorities that Cunningham had been “obviously disappointed” on the morning of February 12, when he learned why he wasn’t getting the promotion he’d hoped for, according to police. But the CDC’s director issued a statement in mid-March denying that Dr. Cunningham hadn’t been denied a promotion. In fact, he had just been promoted in July.

Early morning text message to Mom

Then there’s the text message Dr. Cunningham sent his mother at at 5:21 a.m. asking if she was awake. His mother says she didn’t answer because her phone was on silent mode, but what kind of parent doesn’t bother following up a 5:21 a.m. text message like that? Apparently not his mother, because he apparently tried calling her at 9:12 a.m. but she did not answer and he didn’t leave a message.

This after what his parents described as troubling calls, the details of which we are not privy to, from their son the night before. Furthermore, according to YouTuber, Really Graceful, Dr. Cunningham told his neighbor to tell his wife to delete his phone number just the day before (see link below).

Who goes running without their keys?

Dr. Cunningham’s body was found wearing his “favorite running shoes”, but his keys, cell phone, credit cards, debit cards, wallet and all forms of identification were found in his house, along with his “beloved dog”. Furthermore, and again these details are taken from the CNN story put out today, Dr. Cunningham’s home wasn’t far from the Chattahoochee River, but his body was found in a “remote area that’s not easily accessible by walking trails, by vehicle or by people just being around here” according to officials.

Does a doctor who works for the CDC seem like the kind of person to leave the house his keys, wallet and cell phone?

Body found with 3 crystals where officials already searched?

The CNN story also states that Dr. Cunningham was an avid collector of crystals and three were found in his pocket. This sounds both simultaneously an irrelevant fact to report and a bit odd, as well. A CDC doctor doesn’t have enough to occupy his time that he’s collecting crystals? Metro Atlanta is the textbook definition of urban sprawl. Where would you go collecting crystals in running shoes without your cell phone, i.d. or your keys in a strip mall hell like northwest metro Atlanta?

More importantly, Sgt. Cortez Stafford, a spokesman for the Atlanta Fire Department, said the department had searched the area of the river where the body was found on February 23. But two guys who were fishing on a Tuesday managed to find the body. Just another odd fact in an odd case?

Last, but not least

On February 25th, CDC asked congress for $400 million for a new lab to house the world’s deadliest pathogens. The current lab for that purpose was opened in 2005 at a cost of $214 million and was supposed to last for 50 years. Dr. Cunningham was involved in work on both the Ebola and Zika viruses.

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Resource Links:

• CNN: No signs of foul play in death of CDC scientist
• Really Graceful: Something Strange Is Happening in Georgia
• CDC Requesting Over $400 Million To Replace World’s Deadliest Pathogen Lab
• CDC image of Tom Harkin Global Communications Center credit James Gathany, Centers for Disease Control’s biomedical photographer (2006).