From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:The death had been planned for months, authorities say. Two helium tanks were purchased, along with an “exit bag,” or hood to be placed over the suicidal man’s head.
Thomas “Ted” Goodwin, 63, formerly of Kennesaw, and Claire Blehr, 76, of Atlanta, would observe the death of the man they were told suffered from pancreatic cancer. In truth, the man was a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent conducting a sting operation at a residence in Dawson County.
On Feb. 25, authorities say, Goodwin walked the undercover agent through the steps that would have killed him. He demonstrated how he would hold down the undercover agent’s hands to prohibit him from removing the “exit bag.”
At that point, other agents moved in and arrested Goodwin, said GBI spokesman John Bankhead. He, Blehr and two men in Maryland were taken into custody on charges they helped John Celmer, 58, of Cumming, commit suicide by the same method last June.
Celmer’s family found his death to be suspicious. They contacted the Cumming Police Department, which led to the GBI’s involvement.Bankhead said agents found evidence in Celmer’s house linking him to the Final Exit Network, a Marietta-based volunteer organization —- of which Goodwin is president —- supposedly dedicated to serving individuals who are suffering from an incurable illness or intolerable pain.
Blehr was one of those volunteers, Bankhead said. She wasn’t present when Goodwin was arrested; she was apprehended after being in a minor car accident en route to Dawson County. Bankhead said the woman was with John Celmer the day he died.
Blehr and Goodwin were charged with assisted suicide, tampering with evidence and a violation of Georgia’s RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act. Officials said these were the first arrests they knew of for assisting a suicide in Georgia.
According to the Georgia criminal code, “‘intentionally and actively assisting suicide’ means direct and physical involvement, intervention, or participation in the act of suicide which is carried out free of any threat, force, duress, or deception and with understanding of the consequences of such conduct.”
The maximum penalties facing the defendants are five years in prison for assisting a suicide, three years for tampering with evidence and a possible 20 years for the RICO violations.
In Maryland, authorities arrested Dr. Lawrence D. Egbert, 81, and Nicholas Alec Sheridan, 60, both of Baltimore.
Jerry Dincin, a retired clinical psychologist and vice president of Final Exit, said in a telephone interview Wednesday night that volunteers do not assist in suicides.
“We observe. We hold hands. We offer psychological support,” he said. “We are very passive.”
The GBI alleges that the four charged were not mere observers, but participants in Celmer’s death.
The Cumming man was not terminally ill, Bankhead said. “He had had cancer of the jaw, but that was under control,” the GBI spokesman said.
John Lemac, who lived two doors down from Celmer, said his neighbor did not seem preoccupied with death.
“He talked a lot and never once said a word about suicide,” Lemac said.
Goodwin had no trouble talking about the issue. In a February 2006 interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he talked of watching his father die after an agonizing 10-year battle with emphysema.
“That made me decide to get active,” he said. Goodwin was described as a driving force in the right-to-die movement by Derek Humphry, author of the best-selling book “Final Exit.”
In the interview, Goodwin said he had already witnessed the deaths of 12 people who had come to Final Exit looking for a way out.
“We feel there will be a prosecution based on political reasons,” he said.
“But we are willing to take that risk to do the compassionate work that needs to be done.”Blehr’s former husband, Mike Thatcher, described the longtime Atlantan as “a gentle person, a compassionate person.”
Thatcher, who lives in Dayton, Tenn., said Blehr once volunteered with an organization that provided dogs for the elderly and very ill.
Investigators remained at her home off LaVista Road in northeast Atlanta well into the night Wednesday.
Bankhead said agents are looking for additional evidence at 16 locations in seven states.
In the Dawson County case, the GBI alleges that Final Exit did not request any confirmation of the undercover agent’s claim he had pancreatic cancer.
“They didn’t even check to see if this was his actual residence,” Bankhead said.
Dincin said he doesn’t believe his associates are guilty.
“It would have to be extremely untrue if it involves Ted,” said Dincin, who said he knew all of those charged except for Blehr.
He said Egbert is Final Exit’s medical adviser who determines whether those seeking to die meet the group’s guidelines.
“We tell them to read a book (‘Final Exit’) and we tell them that, in our experience, this is a lot better than pointing a gun and blowing your brains out,” said Dincin, who joined the group after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, currently in remission. “Our policies forbid any direct involvement.”
The suspects will be prosecuted in Forsyth County. Goodwin and Blehr were being held in Forsyth County jail late Wednesday night.