The death of Tommy Burkett

[Kane]

Many of you will probably remember the segment on the 1991 death of Tommy Burkett. It aired during the 1994-95 season, and is the kind of case that is bound to outrage you. This is because his family has been stonewalled by the authorities, who claim that Tommy Burkett killed himself, despite overpowering evidence to the contrary! Here is the link to the Tommy Burkett case:

http://www.thepacc.org

Hope this helps.

[SitcomsAreTheWay]

Originally posted by Kane
Many of you will probably remember the segment on the 1991 death of Tommy Burkett. It aired during the 1994-95 season, and is the kind of case that is bound to outrage you. This is because his family has been stonewalled by the authorities, who claim that Tommy Burkett killed himself, despite overpowering evidence to the contrary! Here is the link to the Tommy Burkett case:

http://www.thepacc.org

Hope this helps.

I've read his story and I just can't stand when cases such as his are overlooked. :mad: :(

[kadrmas15]

Sorry for bringing this case back up but I just saw it for the first time on the best of UM volume 2. This case is an obvious murder there is really no question and I am just shocked at not only the amount of crappy police work but at the amount of covering up and in some cases down right lying by not only the Fairfax County, Virginia sheriff's department but also by the Drug Enforcement Administration. There is someone lying here. Either it is the Burketts or is it the sheriff's department and government. I think it is the latter two. The Burkett's got more out of their investigation and did more investigating than the sheriff's department did. I dont think the sheriff's department even really talked to the neighbors about what they saw the evening of Tommy's murder because the sheriff's department was conviced from the start it was a suicide. I think Tommy was working for the DEA as a paid informant, I think some drug dealers on his campus found out about this and didnt want to get in trouble and so they figured they would shut up. They beat him up in the hallway of a building first but it didnt work and so they decided to kill him. They chased him to his house got in the house, took him into his room and beat him to death, thus explaining the broken jaw. Then they staged it to make it look like a suicide. There was also when the paramedicas said that Tommy had been dead for several hours and then the cops said he had only been dead a few minutes. The DEA didnt want to look bad because an informant of theirs got killed so they lied about it. The police didnt want to look bad because they had failed to protect him as well as answer the 911 calls that Tommy had placed so they lied about it too.

[Bazorro]

these cases always piss me off because someone is going to get away with murder all because the cops are too lazy to do their jobs.

Just like the Keith Warren case, they will never find out who killed him.

[DarkDante]

^ I never felt that in the case of Tommy Burkett that it was a case of laziness on the police's part that caused this case from being solved. Actually its quite the opposite, I feel that this case could be solved very easily because the authorities know who murdered Tommy but they don't want this case solved.

The Tommy Burkett case from what has been put forth by Tommy's parents has something to do with the DEA. Tommy was either an informent for the DEA or worked with them and possibly was killed because he either became expendable or a security risk to someone.

You will find that a lot of the cases that UM has profiled which are the most intriguing have something to do with some form of government corruption usually involved drugs (such as the Ives & Henry "Train deaths and this case)

If Burkett was indeed working for some covert government agency trying to bring down high levels of drug activity at his college and was murdered while doing so, obviously the people who may have information as to who killed Tommy and why don't want that information revealed as it would probably expose too much about their operation.

[kadrmas15]

I am watching this case again. It just makes me more mad everytime I watch it. My blood is boiling right now. I am just totally disappointed in the Fairfax County Police Department. That is just downright scary to me that the police would not investigate this because they didnt want the true cause of his death known. Just horrible. There was such a massive cover up of this on a couple levels of goverment. I think there should have been a congressional investigation into this because of the massive coverup. This is obviously a homicide. There was the car chase the day of Tommy's death. There was his injuries that he received from a beating. There was the staged suicide with the bullet still in the wall. His jaw was broken. The gun couldnt even have fired and the way it was resting in his lap was a little too convinent. How the baseball bat of his was missing. How just weeks before he was beaten pretty good by a guy in the dorm. How this same guy had Tommy's drivers license after he was dead. Also how the cops covered up the fact that Tommy called 911 and said that he must have never called. However notice how the spokesman didnt deny there was a record of Tommy calling he said that the department had erased the copy of his calls after 30 days but he never actually denied there was record of Tommy calling. Interesting.

[DarkDante]

Amen kadrmas15, the thing is Beth George passed away a few years ago and was the main advocate for the PACC. The website now has been taken down (I hope its being revamped and not that it has just expired)

Tommy's dad, Tom Burkett is still alive though and I assume is still persuing the case. The thing is more people need to get involved in this one and find out what really happened. I don't know what they can do because from what I remember the cover-up spans many levels.

I think I remember reading either on the PACC or somewhere, Tommy Burkett was put into these situations by the DEA to try to expose a scandal of drug use on the Marymount campus. Apparently from what I recall there may have been a pay off of some sort because one of the boys Tommy was going to implicate was the grandson or relation of Linda McMahon who was the President of the college or was somehow related to some higher up in Virginia government.

Suddenly Tommy Burkett became the sacrificial lamb so to speak at this stage in the game and someone helped whatever college students who murdered him, set it up to look like a suicide.

Tom and Beth George both stated they had a good idea who these people were but could not name them publically for lack of evidence.

[wiseguy182]

So sad to hear about Beth George's passing. When I saw what position Tommy was in when his parents found him, I knew he couldn't have possibly committed suicide. Had he shot himself while sitting on the couch, he would have been slumped over on the couch or fell down to the floor, he would have not been in the position he was found in: sitting upright. And I highly doubt he would have retained the gun in his hand as well. Obviously staged. The erased 911calls made my blood boil as well. I certainly hope as well that the PACC website is put back up, I'm sure it was a great service and could continue to be.

DarkDante, you mentioned a Linda McMahon. Would this be the a different Linda McMahon than the one that is married to the professional wrestling mogul Vince McMahon?

[DarkDante]

The Linda McMahon I speak of is the vice President for Student Services at Marymount University. Beth George implicated her heavily on the PACC in having a lot to do with Tommy's death and the subsequent cover up from what I remember.

Apparently she denied the Burkett's access to information that would have shed new light on Tommy's death. In addition Beth George also alleges that the FBI has several thousand pages worth of information related to Tommy Burkett which they would not let his family or anyone else see. They stem from their investigation into the case and are deemed classified.

I will say one thing though, the investigator interviewed in that segment appears to be crooked to my eyes. I just re-watched it and you'll notice him either avoiding direct eye contact with the camera or looking down on occasion towards his shoes which to me is the sign of someone not being straightforward with the viewer.

[Awsi Dooger]

Amen kadrmas15, the thing is Beth George passed away a few years ago and was the main advocate for the PACC. The website now has been taken down (I hope its being revamped and not that it has just expired)

You can still read the pages by using Google cache. Takes some different search terms to get all the pages since the links don't work, but here are a few. The others are probably retrievable if someone looks at the titles atop the first link and tries some creative searching:

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:wIO-Hk0yaREJ:www.thepacc.org/FBI.html+tommy+burkett&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:Pf7H1u-CZDgJ:www.thepacc.org/summary.html+tommy+burkett&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:kLAjRSB0zSAJ:www.thepacc.org/Discredit.html+pacc+burkett&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:SidbNgWKPuQJ:www.thepacc.org/PACC.html+pacc+burkett&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2

[NDAlum2003]

I think Linda still works for the university.

[Agent Harland]

Actually, I think so too, but apparently not as Vice Pres of Resident Life anymore, just a professor of History now, I think. Anyhow, looked up a little bit...get a load of this!

http://www.cacsports.com/general_releases/gen0809/08MMUHallOfFame

Apparently, she's being inducted into the school's hall of fame, and to be honored with some big banquet there on May 2nd... Would be funny if someone popped up there and brought up the question "So the name of the student that had Burkett's ID and assaulted him, come to you yet?" :P

[unidentified]

I think I remember reading either on the PACC or somewhere, Tommy Burkett was put into these situations by the DEA to try to expose a scandal of drug use on the Marymount campus. Apparently from what I recall there may have been a pay off of some sort because one of the boys Tommy was going to implicate was the grandson or relation of Linda McMahon who was the President of the college or was somehow related to some higher up in Virginia government.

Which is more than likely what REALLY happened here... Even if he wasn't put in there/working for the DEA, by doing simple dot to dot to solve the puzzle - some crazy high school kids dealing drugs got in a fight and whenever they found out Tommy was gonna rat them out they chased him home and maybe just meant to rough him up but took it a little too far.

Then they panicked and needed help in clearing up the crime scene and the rest is history, because of "people who know" it was all able to be covered up... not to mention that if those people hadn't covered it up, their political or otherwise public or high-profile careers would most probably have been over for good.

The motto of the story is - Always watch your own back.

[DarkDante]

For what it's worth I've just been alerted to the fact that Tom Burkett Sr. has also passed on. So both of Tommy's parents are now deceased.

[TracyLynnS]

Thanks for the update DarkDante.

What terrible news.

My feeling is that Tommy Burkett was murdered, for whatever reason, and it's upsetting to know that both of his parents have now passed without ever seeing the killers brought to justice.

I believe his parents stated that they thought they knew who did it, but couldn't make a public accusation. Knowing who was responisble must have been at least a bit of comfort to them, but I'm sure seeing the killers convicted would have helped make the last years of their lives a bit easier.

[Bleedingheart]

1. Dr. James C. Beyer conducted the Autopsy on Tommy

2. This Doctor also did the autopsy on Vince Foster. Vince supposedly killed himself and was linked to the Clinton Administration

3. Both Vince and Tommy died under mysterious circumstances

4. President Clintons Medical examiner the same examiner who did the Autopsy on Kevin Ives and Don Henry in the Mena Arkansas death helped investigate Tommys death

[kadrmas15]

I am sorry about Tommy Burkett Sr's passing. It is still amazing to me how anyone can honestly think this was a suicide as all the evidence points against it. How can someone shoot themselves with an inoperable weapon? That police spokesman was obviously lying and you could tell just by watching him, oh well, the tapes were ah, lost. That and the cops already appearing to be covering up the crime in the minutes after responding, the paramedics saying that Tommy had been dead for hours whereas the cops saying he had only been dead for minutes. The fact Tommy was even rumored to have been working for the Drug Enforcement Administration makes this thing stink even further as the DEA is a well known corrupt agency. Yes I believe Tommy Burkett's parents knew or at least suspected who it was that actually killed Tommy, the student at the college who returned Tommy's drivers license although the administration for some flimsy reasons refused to say who it was that had returned the license, but Tommy's parents found out who it was through their own investigation and that particular student had had numerous confrontations with Tommy, including harassing him and physically assaulting him in Tommy's college dormitory.

[TracyLynnS]

On a thread here called "Why I Don't Think Tommy Burkett Was Murdered", I made the following comment. Items in bold are my original comments from last year.

Very interesting info from both sides of the discussion on this case, imo.

Don't miss the link on page 3 from Arnold Oldschool. I think it's a must read.

[This is the link I was referring to. It was working as of 4/2009 but it had been taken down before 8/2009. At that time, it was just a "parked" godaddy page with no info about the case: http://www.theconspiracy.us/cati2/0034.html]

Another member posted this info about the defunct page: """Go to this site http://web.archive.org/collections/web.html type in the site url & you can see the site. Now I don't know if all of the site is viewable this way but I tried it & was able to see some of the site."""

And another member posted this: """Here is a link I found to another message board: http://www.alien-ufos.com/Tommy-Burk...ice-t3144.html A LOT of NEW information I had never heard before, a lot of it directly from Tommy's parents. Most of the posts were written in 2004 or so. Also, it turns out that Tommy's mother passed away in 2003 and his father passed away in 2006? I was not aware of any of this. It is a very interesting and sad read. Check it out if you can."""

That alien ufo link gives us this info: The paycheck that was stolen from Tommy's mailbox was not a DEA payment or anything. Here's what Tommy's parents said: """A day or two later, Tommy told me he spoke with campus security again regarding the smashed mailbox and they told him they believed it was "an inside job." Our son died believing the theft was being investigated by the Arlington police. He also reported the theft to campus payroll, who stopped payment on the check. A few weeks after Tommy's death, I called the Arlington police to learn the status of that investigation. There was none; Marymount never reported the "break-in in the mail room."""

The original (defunct article link) is where we learn Tommy's mom worked part time at the college as an instructor, so that's how she knew and came into contact with the boys who threatened tommy.

It tells us one reason that Tommy was found dead sitting up: his body was propped up with towels on purpose, apparently posed for maximum impact for when he was discovered by his parents. His hands were somewhat folded and the gun was laying on top of them, with cylinder opened so that his mom could see the numbers on the back of the bullet casings from across the room. [This is one part that really makes me think it's not suicide. Not only was the gun in his lap, his hands were resting on top of the gun with the cylinder open. If he shot himself, I don't think the gun would have landed with the cylinder open and his hands on top of it. I suppose in a suicide, that the gun could have landed in his lap, but I find it hard to believe that it landed in such a position as it was found. Seems staged to me: shoot him, place the gun in his lap, and rest his hands on top of the gun to make it appear that he was the last one to handle the gun and he used it to shoot himself. IMO, the items used to prop up the body into a sitting position seem like a staging of the crime scene, too.]

I wonder if his mom angered one of her students and this was the payback? Kill her kid and pose the body for a shocking discovery?

This case has so much of the CRAZY. The guy who did the first autopsy and ruled tommy's death a suicide also did Vince Foster's autopsy and called him a suicide! The guy said that he didn't take Xrays in either of the cases. That's a big no-no in a gunshot death, because you have to look for pieces of the bullet. The dude is incompetent at best, imo.

edited at this late date because apparently, I didn't proof read this back when I posted it and I needed to correct some errors

[TracyLynnS]

whatreallyhappened.com says that Tommy's case was reopened as a homicide, and was no longer considered a suicide. I don't know how much of their info is correct, but here's what they said. It was on a page about Vince Foster's alleged suicide because both men were autopsied by the same pathologist.

"""Beyer himself, in the case of Tommy Burkett, ignored a broken jaw in order to rule that Burkett had killed himself with a gun. Despite having shown the autopsy photos to Burkett's father, Beyer later claimed (as he did with the Foster X-rays) that they had never really existed. After a second autopsy, the case was reopened as a homicide."""

[Kyte]

bumping this thread