Death of federal prosecutor found on beach was suicide, investigators say

[Jose Garcia]

Source: The Sun-Sentinel

Thhe death of a federal prosecutor whose body was found on the beach in Hollywood has been ruled a suicide, Hollywood police said Thursday.

Beranton J. Whisenant Jr. 38, was found dead by a beachgoer in Hollywood near Magnolia Terrace shortly before 6:30 a.m. on May 24.

Detectives and a medical examiner found Whisenant died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Hollywood police said.

He was assigned to the Miami office of the U.S. Attorney’s Office and been hired as federal prosecutor a few months earlier.

Read more: http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/hollywood/fl-sb-hollywood-whisenant-ruled-suicide-20170810-story.html

[RussBLib]

1. commence conspiracy theories

Is Trump or Putin beginning to knock off troublesome investigators in the USA?

[sandensea]

4. It would be good to know what he was working on.

[riversedge]

10. I loved that show. Wish they did re-runs.

[sandensea]

12. Magnifique!

There's a complete set on eBay right now for about $40 (a bidding, unfortunately - although there are others for sale on the site as well). You should treat yourself, riversedge!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Agatha-Christies-Poirot-Complete-Cases-Collection-DVD-Set-Visa-MC-Pay-only-/132279945535?hash=item1ecc7fc93f:g:zpgAAOSwwvZZV7l8

Bon chance!

[Corgigal]

2. Isn't it always?

Did the solve Johnathan Luna's homicide out of Baltimore DA office yet ? The one where the Feds wanted it listed from the Medical Examers office as a suicide but they said, in our professional opinion Nope

Sorry to all these families.

[Gothmog]

3. But JPR, they were claiming that this was part of the Seth Rich stupidity

The idiots suing the DNC cited this death to try to get federal marshal protection. Luckily the court denied this request

[Achilleaze]

5. Hired just a few months earlier... sniff sniff

Young guy, climbing the career ladder successfully...hmmm. Sniff sniff. I smell republican "values" somewhere in this "mystery"

[jimmil]

6. Bill and Hilary did it... N/T

[dalton99a]

7. It's time for a Congressional investigation

He found Hillary's emails to Putin

[Ford_Prefect]

8. A dead Fed is found and no one thinks it is suspicious at all?

And you lot assume the only questions about it amount to CT speculation.

I'm not defending the patently absurd lawsuit or those who brought it.

I am saying a Federal Prosecutor dies in what can only be described as very suspicious circumstances on a beach in south Florida. He doesn't leave a note or other communication to loved ones or friends and that's a suicide? It may be all they can officially prove but only the foolish among us would accept this as conclusive evidence.

The citation doesn't explain anything. The headline asserts that the wound was self inflicted but no comment is made about proof.

A previous article from the same sources about his funeral raised questions.

Hollywood police and the Broward Medical Examiner’s Office had no new information Friday, saying Whisenant’s death is an open investigation.

Federal officials are not commenting either. Typically however, if there was any suspicion that the death of a federal prosecutor was related to a criminal case they were handling or that they had been targeted for retaliation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI would be heavily involved in the probe.

Whisenant’s body was found in the surf by a beachgoer in Hollywood near Magnolia Terrace shortly before 6:30 a.m. on May 24. His death may have been caused by a gunshot wound to his head or another type of trauma, Hollywood police spokeswoman Miranda Grossman said at the time.

He was 37.

Whisenant graduated from the University of Florida Levin College of Law in 2004 and was admitted to the Florida Bar the same year. Whisenant, who was assigned to the Miami office of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, was hired as a federal prosecutor a few months ago. Before that, he spent nearly 10 years at a private law firm in Miami.

Whisenant lived in Miramar with his wife and three children.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/hollywood/fl-sb-beranton-whisenant-follow-20170602-story.html

The Miami Herald had a different take on the death one month after the body was found.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article158305419.html



What does his family say if anything?
Which cases was he working on at the time? Who was overseeing his activities?
Any evidence of a difficult personal life?
Any evidence of inter-office strife?
Were there any ghosts from his previous career coming back to haunt his seemingly bright future?
How did he get to that location and when?

I don't know what the answers are at this point and the citation for the OP does nothing useful to explain the finding of suicide.
Everything I read about the man who died argues that he had much to live for and was not the kind to make a desperate decision.

[riversedge]

9. says head trauma may have been from a gun but no gun found .

[Ford_Prefect]

11. Body was found rolling around in the surf near Magnolia Terrace.

The release referred to in today's OP said he was shot.

Beranton Whisenant, 38, was found dead by a beachgoer in Hollywood near Magnolia Terrace shortly before 6:30 a.m. on May 24.

Detectives and a medical examiner found Whisenant had shot himself in the head, Hollywood police said.

Police searched for two blocks north and south of the crime scene but couldn't find the gun or any other weapon.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/hollywood/fl-sb-hollywood-whisenant-ruled-suicide-20170810-story.html

Any way you want to analyze it he was found with a gunshot wound to the head in the surf less than 30 yards from several Beach front high rises at 6:30 in the morning. No comment made about how long he may have been in the water nor how far he could have drifted to the point where he was found. No weapon found in the water near where he was found nor reported found on the beach nearby. How did he get to the beach when his office and his residence are some considerable distance away? No taxi reported delivering him there. What was he doing on the beach, assuming that is where he was shot? Why didn't a shark or other smaller predator consume part of what must have been a bloody mess in the water?

What was the weapon caliber? Could the victim have made the shot? Was he right or left handed and does the shot match with the geometry of his arm and hand?

There are lots of questions unanswered here that should have been commented in the Coroner's conclusion. I have only asked the most basic ones.

Beranton Whisenant was a talented and accomplished lawyer with a wife, children, and a diverse and promising career. He was also a successful black American. I am reasonably persuaded that he probably did not end his own life, no matter the conclusions published thus far. The number of Federal Prosecutors who have died by their own hand is Zero up to this point. I find it highly suspicious that he would be the first. Far too many other probable causes are far more likely. For a man who valued organization and clear decision making to have left no note nor other message to his family is out of character and unlikely in such a suicide.


On the other hand, if only for example of what could be inferred, his body was discovered roughly 100 yards north of Trump Hollywood.