The police station of Clearwater is at a stone's throw from the Fort Harrison Hotel, the centre of scientology in Florida. Here we meet Ariane Jackson again, the following day. Martin Ottmann has convinced her to give testimony to assist in an ongoing investigation by the Clearwater police against the organisation.
It involves the mysterious death of a young scientologist, who lived in Ford Harrison. Gary Scarff wants to support the investigations as well, he has offered his help to the investigators.
Lisa McPherson, here with her mother, died in december 1995 under strange circumstances a short time after she had succesfully concluded a scientology course.
Lisa wanted out, says the lawyer for the family. After a nervous breakdown, seventeen days before her death, the organisation isolated her fully in the Fort Harrison Hotel.
Kennan G. Dandar, lawyer for the family: From our investigations it appears that she was unconscious. She didn't get food or water, she was extremely dehydrated. Before she lost consciousness, she hammered the walls with her hands, trying to get out.
How do you know all this?
The scientologists themselves have admitted that she pounded the walls.
From the autopsy report it appears that Lisa was administered strong medication before her death. To sedate her?
So if she fell into a coma from the heavy sedation, or from a psychotic breakdown, we don't know. In any case they have decided very late to bring her into the clinic.
And instead of driving her to the nearest hospital, that is only a few of blocks away, she was brought to the Colombia New Port Richy Hospital, because a scientology doctor works there in the emergency ward. They called him earlier. And he said, "bring her up here".
Was Lisa already dead upon arrival in the hospital? According to the scientology doctor from the hospital, Lisa died in the emergency ward, from the effects of a bacterial infection. Is the report manipulated?
In any case, it carries a false date of birth...
Furthermore, the pathologists that performed the post-mortem on Lisa's body after her death, found no sign of an infection. More likely the scientologist died of severe dehydration.
At this moment, Scientology has taken a case to the Clearwater Court, to stop publishing of the test results of the postmortem. The case stirres quite a bit of dust.
Did Lisa McPherson die while she was locked up in Fort Harrisson and was barred from much needed medical assistence?
Exactly this question is under scrutiny by Sergeant Wayne Andrews who leads the police investigation in the McPherson case. He doesn't want to give an interview. However, he does give us permission to investigate other cases. We stumble into a series of rare death cases that occured during the last twenty years amongst the guests of Fort Harrisson. Amongst those were German Scientologists as well.