Plot thickens.. but will it gel?
Report: Michael Hastings feared his car had been tampered with
According to the LA Weekly, reporter Michael Hastings asked to borrow a friend's car shortly before his death
BY JILLIAN RAYFIELD
War correspondent Michael Hastings, who died in a car crash in April, had reportedly become concerned that his car had been tampered with in the days leading up to his death, and asked friend Jordanna Thigpen to borrow hers, according to new profile in the LA Weekly.
From the report:
Helicopters often circle over the hills, but Hastings believed there were more of them around whenever he was at home, keeping an eye on him. He came to believe his Mercedes was being tampered with. ÂNothing I could say could console him, Thigpen says.
One night in June, he came to ThigpenÂs apartment after midnight and urgently asked to borrow her Volvo. He said he was afraid to drive his own car. She declined, telling him her car was having mechanical problems.
ÂHe was scared, and he wanted to leave town, she says.
The next day, around 11:15 a.m., she got a call from her landlord, who told her Hastings had died early that morning. His car had crashed into a palm tree at 75 mph and exploded in a ball of fire.
According to the LA Weekly, this was not the only indication of Hastings Âincreasingly erratic behavior, as writer Gene Maddaus put it, in the days leading up to his death:
The day before Hastings died, he sent an email to his BuzzFeed bosses with the subject line ÂFBI investigation, re: NSA. The email informed them that Âthe Feds are interviewing Âmy close friends and associates,Â  and advised them to get a lawyer if they were contacted. (No friends or associates have stepped forward to say that they were interviewed, and the FBI has denied it was investigating Hastings.)
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