Ninth Boeing Whistleblower Dies

Officials stumped by uncanny string of deaths

“I’ve never seen anything like this. It defies belief,” said FAA investigator Charles Johnson, about the death of yet a ninth person who had come forward to testify about safety problems with Boeing’s manufacturing process. The FAA has been investigating Boeing since an improperly installed door plug fell off an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 at 15,000 feet.

Strange as that Alaska Airlines incident was, stranger still is what has happened since. Nine whistleblowers have died within a period of five months. The first was found dead in his truck of an apparent “self-inflicted gun wound.” The next died of a sudden and mysterious infection.

Nine Boeing whistblowers have died with five months.

Six deaths followed in quick succession, one from a fatal reaction to organic peanut brittle served on a flight, which the victim consumed after landing, and another the result of a still unexplained bomb-like explosion while renovating a basement.

Right wing zealots have been quick to scapegoat their favorite culprit for the nine mysterious deaths—diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. “This crazy policy of DEI is killing people,” tweeted Elon Musk. “All of these people died as a result of that policy. Who served that victim peanut brittle? Who rigged up that highly volatile device in that basement? And who stole the job he deserved from that guy who blew his brains out? I’ll bet the responsible people were graduates of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.” In January, Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade asked on the air if DEI was “causing problems” at Boeing.

While those comments are obviously offensive, a larger question looms around the death of the latest and ninth victim, Boeing employee Louie Miller. The body of Mr. Miller, who did construction work in his spare time, was found at the bottom of a lake near his home in suburban Seattle—his legs entangled with the drawstrings of two bags of cement—by Ms. Lucy Brown, a longtime friend.

Seattle authorities believe that, after coming home from the bank, Mr. Miller had been in the process of constructing a concrete pier at water’s edge when, somehow, his legs became entangled with the drawstrings, causing him to trip and fall into the water. In a vain attempt to swim, they suspect, he only ended up moving himself close to the central, deepest part of the lake before he went entirely under.

“Everyone at Boeing is shocked at this tragic death of one of our own,” said Mackinley Heath, Boeing’s chief of public relations, who had just returned to town from vacation. “All of our thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Miller and his family.”