Update on Jeremy Blake, Theresa Duncan: body found + CoS claims
The artist and video game designer is believed to have killed himself last week, just after his filmmaker/writer/blogger companion Theresa Duncan took her life in New York City.
In related news, the LAT reports a weird Scientology element to the story:
"They thought Scientologists were really harassing them," [friend and gallery owner Christine Nichols] said. "They would say, 'They are following us, harassing our landlord.' I did not see any evidence of that.(thanks, TJ Armstrong)"But it got to be something that was huge to them -- a 'You're either with us or against us' thing where if you didn't believe them, you weren't on their side. The story they had woven in paranoia and conspiracies took over part of their lives. A lot of us couldn't understand that acting out."
Two other art world sources corroborated Nichols' characterization but declined to speak on the record out of concern that Blake may still be alive.
Beck was unavailable for comment, but his manager, through a publicist, let it be known that things were "extremely cordial" between the singer and the artist the last time they talked three years ago.A spokesman said the New York Police Department was not investigating any involvement by the Church of Scientology. Karin Pouw, a spokeswoman for the Church of Scientology, denied the allegations, saying, "Never heard of these people. This is completely untrue."