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Police find US diplomat dead
By Jean Christou
POLICE yesterday found the badly decomposed body of the US embassy’s military attach? Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Mooney in a remote area near Orkonta four days after he disappeared.
According to post mortem results Mooney, 45, who was third in command at the embassy, is likely to have committed suicide. He was found with this throat cut in a ditch some 100 metres from his locked and undamaged car.
Forensic pathologist Marios Matsakis, who was called in by Cyprus police, said the wound was self-inflicted. “The cause of death was bleeding due to a wound to the blood vessels in the neck,†Matsakis told Cyprus Mail immediately after carrying out the post mortem last night. “There was no evidence of foul play. Definitely not.â€
Matsakis, who was assisted in the post mortem by state pathologists Sophocles Sophocleous and Nicos Charalambous, said he could not comment on reports on the presence of a razor blade, although it is believed one was found at the scene.
Matsakis was present at the scene when Mooney’s body was found around 10am yesterday. Police had received information from a local man who spotted Mooney’s car on a dirt road, and then his body some metres away. Orkonta is some 45 kilometres north west of Nicosia.
Mooney’s body was not immediately identifiable and it was not until late afternoon after he had been identified through dental records that the US embassy confirmed that it was the Lieutenant Colonel. He had been dressed in civilian clothes at the time of death.
“After the notification of next of kin, with deep sadness, I announce that LTC Thomas Mooney, who served his nation with distinction as our Defense Attach?, was found dead by Cypriot authorities on Monday,†US ambassador Ronald Schlicher said in a statement published on the embassy’s website.
“We appreciate the extraordinary support the Cypriot authorities and the Cypriot people have provided in locating LTC Mooney,†he added.
The US diplomat, who was on his second tour of duty to Cyprus in five years, had been on the island since June 2006. His wife and children had remained in the US. Mooney was last seen leaving the embassy in Nicosia on Thursday afternoon driving off in his black Chevrolet Impala. He lived alone in Latsia. One western diplomat acquainted with Mooney described him as “very pleasantâ€.
Some reports quoted a colleague of Mooney’s saying he had been going to a gym in a Nicosia hotel, while another said he had been on his way to Larnaca airport to pick someone up.
It was more than 24 hours later that the embassy publicised the fact that “an employee†was missing. There was no indication how senior an official he was until a day later.
Mooney was photographed after briefing US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at Larnaca airport during last summer’s Lebanon crisis when she made a brief stopover on her way to Israel and Beirut. According to reports he had also served in Afghanistan and Iraq.
But Washington yesterday dismissed any connection. "I would not point you in the direction of an act of terrorism," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. “I don't think there is anything pointing in that direction," he added.
The embassy in Nicosia also cancelled its Independence Day reception, which was due to take place last night in light of these “sad circumstances'' Schlicher said.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2007
By Jean Christou
POLICE yesterday found the badly decomposed body of the US embassy’s military attach? Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Mooney in a remote area near Orkonta four days after he disappeared.
According to post mortem results Mooney, 45, who was third in command at the embassy, is likely to have committed suicide. He was found with this throat cut in a ditch some 100 metres from his locked and undamaged car.
Forensic pathologist Marios Matsakis, who was called in by Cyprus police, said the wound was self-inflicted. “The cause of death was bleeding due to a wound to the blood vessels in the neck,†Matsakis told Cyprus Mail immediately after carrying out the post mortem last night. “There was no evidence of foul play. Definitely not.â€
Matsakis, who was assisted in the post mortem by state pathologists Sophocles Sophocleous and Nicos Charalambous, said he could not comment on reports on the presence of a razor blade, although it is believed one was found at the scene.
Matsakis was present at the scene when Mooney’s body was found around 10am yesterday. Police had received information from a local man who spotted Mooney’s car on a dirt road, and then his body some metres away. Orkonta is some 45 kilometres north west of Nicosia.
Mooney’s body was not immediately identifiable and it was not until late afternoon after he had been identified through dental records that the US embassy confirmed that it was the Lieutenant Colonel. He had been dressed in civilian clothes at the time of death.
“After the notification of next of kin, with deep sadness, I announce that LTC Thomas Mooney, who served his nation with distinction as our Defense Attach?, was found dead by Cypriot authorities on Monday,†US ambassador Ronald Schlicher said in a statement published on the embassy’s website.
“We appreciate the extraordinary support the Cypriot authorities and the Cypriot people have provided in locating LTC Mooney,†he added.
The US diplomat, who was on his second tour of duty to Cyprus in five years, had been on the island since June 2006. His wife and children had remained in the US. Mooney was last seen leaving the embassy in Nicosia on Thursday afternoon driving off in his black Chevrolet Impala. He lived alone in Latsia. One western diplomat acquainted with Mooney described him as “very pleasantâ€.
Some reports quoted a colleague of Mooney’s saying he had been going to a gym in a Nicosia hotel, while another said he had been on his way to Larnaca airport to pick someone up.
It was more than 24 hours later that the embassy publicised the fact that “an employee†was missing. There was no indication how senior an official he was until a day later.
Mooney was photographed after briefing US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at Larnaca airport during last summer’s Lebanon crisis when she made a brief stopover on her way to Israel and Beirut. According to reports he had also served in Afghanistan and Iraq.
But Washington yesterday dismissed any connection. "I would not point you in the direction of an act of terrorism," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said. “I don't think there is anything pointing in that direction," he added.
The embassy in Nicosia also cancelled its Independence Day reception, which was due to take place last night in light of these “sad circumstances'' Schlicher said.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2007
I have many questions about this "suicide".
If you were going to commit suicide, would you drive into the wilds, knowing your body would rot and become a "bloater" in a few hours in this weather (40°C)? Would you then walk 100 m in the heat before committing your soul? If you were going to use a razor blade, would you choose to cut your throat? If you were a Lt.-col in the military, in charge of all the Embassy armoury, would you choose a razor blade, in preference to a gun (nearly all professional military guys who top themselves, use a gun)? None of the number of reports make any mention of a suicide note. The whole thing smells to me as much as his corpse must have done after 4 days in the sun. However, I suppose we'll never know.
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