[Index: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #7, #8, #9, #10 & #11]
Introduction. This is part #6 of my concluding summary of the evidence that the 1988 radiocarbon dating of the Shroud of Turin as "mediaeval ... AD 1260-1390"[2] was the result of a computer hacking, allegedly by Arizona radiocarbon dating laboratory physicist Timothy W. Linick (1946-89)[3], aided by German hacker Karl Koch (1965–89)[4], on behalf of the former Soviet Union, through its agency the KGB. Previous posts in this series were parts: #1, #2, #3, #4 and #5. I will link the main headings in these posts back to my previous, "My theory ..." posts on those topics. It is my emphasis below unless otherwise indicated. The next post in this series is part #7.
[Above (enlarge): Arizona radiocarbon dating laboratory staff and Rochester radiocarbon dating laboratory's Prof. Harry Gove (second from right) around the AMS computer's control console terminal[5], after it had on 6 May 1988 displayed the alleged hacker's computer-generated radiocarbon age of the Shroud, "640 years"[6] before 1950[7], i.e. 1310, which was then calibrated to "1350 AD"[8]. The alleged hacker, Timothy W. Linick, is the one in a black shirt standing (significantly - see below) most prominently in the foreground[9].]
■ Evidence that Timothy W. Linick was the primary hacker [#10(7) & #7]
• Linick was an extreme anti-authenticist who would not have accepted that the Shroud was authentic, even if its radiocarbon date was "back 2000 years," as he was quoted in David Sox's 1988 book (see previous):
"Timothy Linick, a University of Arizona research scientist, said: `If we show the material to be medieval that would definitely mean that it is not authentic. If we date it back 2000 years, of course, that still leaves room for argument. It would be the right age - but is it the real thing?'"[10].By contrast, anti-authenticists like Oxford's Prof. Edward Hall (1924-2001) and Prof. Harry Gove (1922-2009), would have accepted that the Shroud was authentic if its carbon-date was first century[11].
• Linick was aware of McCrone's prediction that the Shroud's carbon date would be "about 1355." Linick's words above, coupled with his extreme anti-authenticism, indicate that he was aware of the prediction of the extreme anti-authenticist Walter McCrone (1916-2002) who wrote in 1980 of a future "carbon-dating test" that:
"A date placing the linen cloth in the first century, though not conclusive in proving the cloth to be the Shroud of Christ... a first century cloth could have been found and used by a 14th century artist to paint the image."[12].This was in the context of McCrone's claim that "the image [on the Shroud] was painted on the cloth shortly before the first exhibition, or about 1355"[13]. That McCrone regarded what he wrote in 1980 as a prediction is evident from: 1) he later claimed it was a prediction: "I could predict with complete confidence what the result of the radiocarbon dating of the linen cloth would be ..." followed by an excerpt from the above 1980 quote[14]; and 2) in a 1980 letter to David Sox, McCrone wrote: "The carbon date will be helpful here; I predict the range of dates found will include the 1350's but it could be earlier"[15].
• Linick was the leaker of Arizona's "1350" first date of the Shroud. As we saw in part #5, the above quote of Linick by Sox is proof beyond reasonable doubt that Linick was the leaker, who told Sox that Arizona's first calibrated radiocarbon date of the Shroud was "1350"[16]. Linick was not a laboratory leader, but an ordinary `back room' Arizona laboratory scientist, who would have been unknown outside of radiocarbon dating circles. So Sox, who lived in England[17], would not even know that Linick existed, let alone quote him, unless Linick had contacted Sox, in breach of his signed undertaking "not to communicate the results to anyone ... until that time when results are generally available to the public"[18]. Gove had, by a process of elimination, concluded that the leaker of Arizona's first "1350" date had to have been "someone who was present at Arizona during the first measurement"[19] as Linick was (see above)[20].
• Linick's role at Arizona laboratory included the AMS carbon-14 measurement procedures. Linick was mentioned in footnote 9 of the 1989 Nature paper[21] as the lead author of a 1986 Radiocarbon journal paper which gave the "specific measurement procedures" of the AMS radiocarbon dating system at Arizona laboratory[22]. In that paper Linick described in intricate technical
[Above (enlarge): Excerpts from page 613 and footnotes on page 615 of the 1989 Nature paper, which states that Linick was the lead author of a 1986 Radiocarbon paper which described the radiocarbon dating measurement procedures for Arizona laboratory.]
detail how the AMS system at Arizona laboratory measured the carbon-14 content of samples[23]. Included in this intricate technical detail supplied by Linick is evidence that the current Director of the Oxford radiocarbon dating laboratory, Prof. Christopher Bronk Ramsey, who as "C.R. Bronk" was a signatory to the 1989 Nature paper, is hiding something about Linick being the alleged hacker of the Shroud's radiocarbon dating, as we shall see in part #8 of this series.
• Linick would have had access to Arizona's AMS computer, and would understand fully how its carbon 14 measurement program worked, and may even have written or at least modified that program. Also, the previously mentioned standard order of samples explains how Linick could write a program, not only for Arizona, but also for the other two laboratories, Zurich and Oxford, and the program would know which sample was from the Shroud. And as we saw, a unique identifying code for the Shroud and control samples was given to the laboratories by the coordinator of the dating, Dr. (later Prof.) Tite of the British Museum[24]. It would therefore not be difficult for a competent programmer, as the "extremely mathematically gifted"[25] Linick presumably was, to write a program which could detect that a sample was of the Shroud and then substitute the radiocarbon date of that Shroud sample with random dates within limits which, when they were calibrated, totalled and averaged, would make the flax of the Shroud appear to have been harvested a plausible period of time before McCrone's prediction of "about 1355" above. The sole exception may have been Arizona's very first run which produced the `too good to be true', calibrated, "1350 AD" date[26]. This looks like it was a `hard-wired' straight substitution of 640 years BP ("1350 AD" calibrated) for the actual Shroud date, by Linick's alleged program. The hacker, allegedly Linick, presumably wanted the very first run to yield a `perfect' calibrated "1350" date for its psychological and media leak value. He would have wanted to create a climate of expectation that the Shroud's radiocarbon date was medieval, so his program's combined average 1325 ±65 calibrated date of the Shroud across the three laboratories would be accepted unquestionably, as it was with Arizona's first run "1350 AD".
• Linick was in charge of the AMS computerised dating process. That Linick is standing in front of his laboratory leaders and colleagues in the historic group photograph (above) of the dating of the Shroud at Arizona laboratory, can only be plausibly explained by Linick having been in charge of the actual AMS computerised dating process, and those present were, by giving Linick the most prominent place in that historic photograph, acknowledging that. Also, Linick was the second-last person present to sign the confidentiality agreement:
"The next morning at about 8 am (6 May 1988) I arrived at the Arizona AMS facility ... I would be the only one present outside the Arizona AMS group. Doug [Donahue] immediately asked me to sign the following statement: `We the undersigned, understand that radiocarbon age results for the Shroud of Turin obtained from the University of Arizona AMS facility are confidential. We agree not to communicate the results to anyone-spouse, children, friends, press, etc., until that time when results are generally available to the public.' It had been signed by D J Donahue, Brad Gore, L J Toolin, P E Damon, Timothy Jull and Art Hatheway, all connected with the Arizona AMS facility, before I signed. My signature was followed by T W Linick and P J Sercel, also from the Arizona facility."[27]indicating that he had been commencing the AMS dating process immediately before.
• Linick had sufficient time to prepare and carry out the hacking. On 10 October 1987 the Archbishop of Turin advised the seven laboratories which had originally been agreed would carbon-date the Shroud, using two different methods[28], that their number had been reduced to three laboratories using only one method, AMS: Arizona, Oxford and Zurich[29]. So after that the hacker (allegedly Linick) would have realised that it was feasible for him to write a program to be installed on the AMS computers at the three laboratories (which were effectively clones of each other[30]), to replace the Shroud's carbon 14 dates coming from their AMS systems, with computer-generated dates which would ensure the Shroud appeared to date from a plausible time before the Shroud's debut in undisputed history at Lirey, France, about 1355[31]. On 22 January 1988, the leaders of all three laboratories, Professors Hall (Oxford), Wolfli (Zurich) and Donahue (Arizona), met in London with Turin's Prof. Luigi Gonella to "work out the final details of how and when they would take the samples"[32]. On 21 April 1988 the sample was cut from the Shroud and sub-samples in turn were cut from it and distributed to leaders of the three laboratories[33]. The first actual dating of the Shroud was over six weeks after that when Arizona carried out its first run on 6 May 1988[34]. Zurich was next with its first dating on or about 26 May[35], nearly three weeks after Arizona's. Eight weeks after Zurich, on 21 July, Oxford completed its dating of the Shroud[36]. So Linick, the alleged hacker, had plenty of time, after he had proved his program worked at Arizona, to have it installed on Zurich and Oxford's AMS computers. The leaders of all three laboratories: Professors Hall (Oxford), Wolfli (Zurich) and Donahue (Arizona), were all together in Turin with the British Museum coordinator Dr Tite at the cutting of the samples[37]. They would surely have then (if not before on 21 January) prearranged the order and approximate timeframe in which each laboratory would conduct its dating. If so, Linick would have known from then (if not before) in order and approximately when each laboratory would date the Shroud.
• Linick was found dead of assumed suicide on 4 June 1989 Linick was found dead in Tucson, Arizona[38] on 4 June 1989[39], at
[Right: Photograph of Linick and report that "He died at the age of forty-two on 4 June 1989, in very unclear circumstances, shortly after the campaign of the Italian press reporting our [Bonnet-Eymard's] accusations"[40]. This is consistent with my theory that the KGB murdered confessed KGB hacker Karl Koch between 23 and 30 May 1989 (see part #8) and the day after the German police had publicly released the identity of a burnt body as Koch's on 3 June 1989[41], the KGB murdered Linick on 4 June 1989 and as with Koch (see part #9), made it look like suicide. This was to prevent Koch and Linick revealing that the radiocarbon dating of the Shroud as "mediaeval ... AD 1260-1390" was the result of a KGB- sponsored computer hacking by Linick, aided by Koch.]
the age of 42[42]. Linick's obituary in Arizona laboratory's journal Radiocarbon stated that his death was "untimely"[43], and the lack of details (e.g. "after an illness," "in a road accident," etc) suggests that Linick's death was sudden, unexpected and embarrassing (as a suicide would be). Moreover, there must have been something about the manner and/or circumstances about Linick's suicide which caused those at the time to describe them as "very unclear circumstances" (see above). Ian Wilson recorded Linick's death in his chronology of the Shroud for 4 June 1989, that it was "in unclear circumstances"[44]. Vatican Insider reported that Linick's death was "suicide in mysterious circumstances"[45]. Those who correctly concluded that since the Shroud is authentic, there had to have been fraud in its radiocarbon dating, such as Roman Catholic scholar Br. Bruno Bonnet-Eymard[46], suspected that Linick was murdered to cover up his part in the radiocarbon dating fraud[47]. Linick's death occurred shortly after a campaign in the Italian press reporting Bonnet-Eymard's accusations of fraud in the radiocarbon dating[48]. No other signatory to the 1989 Nature paper appears to have met an untimely death[49].
Yet, despite my emailing Arizona news media, police departments, etc, I have been unable to find any further information on Linick's death (but see my later post of 3 February 2021, "Evidence in Timothy Linick's autopsy report that he was murdered disguised as suicide!"). Arizona is a "closed record" state, which means that death records are not normally available to the public[50]. The US Library of Congress could only find for me two newspaper items about Linick's death, a funeral notice in the Arizona Daily Star of June 6 and a death notice in the Los Angeles Times of June 9 (see below). That Linick's death was apparently not reported in at least the local Tucson or Arizona state newspapers, suggests that there was something mysterious about Linick's death. The sudden
[Left: Timothy W. Linick's funeral and death notices sent to me by the Library of Congress. In the words of the librarian: "I am attaching two death notices, one from the Arizona Daily Star (June 6), and one from the Los Angeles Times (June 9)" and "I have not been able to find any additional information on the cause of Linick's death"[51].]
"untimely" death of a 42 year-old local scientist (especially one who had only a year before been involved in carbon-dating the Shroud of Turin) would have been sufficiently unusual to have been newsworthy. Unless Linick's death was suicide which tends not to be reported to prevent `copy-cat' suicides.
As mentioned at the start of part #5, on 2 January 2016 I discovered that Timothy W. Linick had a half-brother Anthony Linick (1938-) and that Anthony had written a biography of his (not Timothy's) stepfather, the composer and conductor (Ingolf Dahl (1912–70), titled, "The Lives of Ingolf Dahl" (2008). [Right: Amazon.com]. I didn't have that book then (I do now) but I was able to read online Google books snippets about Timothy in it. In 1952 Dahl took a year's sabbatical in Europe with his wife and Anthony's mother, Etta. Anthony chose to remain in Los Angeles and live with his father Leroy, his second wife Delphine and their six-year old son, Timothy[52]. Anthony recorded that Timothy, "was a bright little boy doomed to grow up in a family of losers" and over the ensuing years he sank so deeply into introversion that Anthony had difficulty connecting with him:
"I also enjoyed having a little sibling and Timmy doted on me ... He was a bright little boy doomed to grow up in a family of losers ... Eight years my junior, Timmy was just too young to be a real pal and ... we soon resumed our separate existences. As he sank deeper into what seems to have been the family's hereditary introversion he became harder and harder for me to connect with"[53]And near the end of the book, I read online where Anthony Linick confirmed that "my half-brother Timothy, took his own life at age 42 in 1989":
"Adolph Linick, my grandfather, died in 1967 at the age of 97. On my rare visits to Laurel Avenue during his old age he would always slip me a dollar bill. Once I heard him complain, in the wake of the Holocaust, `God must hate the Jews!' His son, my father Leroy, died in 1986. His son, my half-brother Timothy, took his own life at age 42 in 1989" Emphasis original)[54]Having posted my discovery on 2 January 2016 at the start of part #5, on that same day, 2 January 2016, I sent a message to Anthony Linick in England through his website, with the quote of his half-brother Linick in David Sox's 1988 book (see above) and other evidence that Timothy was the leaker of Arizona's first run "1350" date of the Shroud[55]. I did not mention anything about Timothy being a hacker, or that I had read Anthony's book online, or that Timothy had committed suicide, because I did not want to put Anthony Linick off in my first message to him. In his reply of 3 January, Anthony wrote:
"Only a few hours after receiving your email I also heard from Mr. Hugh Farey [the anti-authenticist editor of the BSTS Newsletter] on the same topic. I am sending him as well, therefore, the same response ..."[56]Anthony continued:
"Of course I have encountered materials on the controversies surrounding the Turin Shroud, including theories of conspiracy – including those on the death of my half-brother, Timothy Linick, in 1989"[57]Remember I mentioned nothing about Timothy Linick being a hacker or about his death. So presumably Farey tried to "poison the well" against me by telling Anthony Linick about my hacker theory, including falsely, that it is merely a "conspiracy theory." Nevertheless, it is revealing that Anthony Linick had "encountered materials on the controversies surrounding the Turin Shroud ... including those on the death of my half-brother, Timothy Linick, in 1989."
"I have to say that I have nothing to add to these matters. I spent only one year under the same roof as Tim – and that was when he was six years old. I had very little to do with my father Leroy's second family ... I never visited any member of this family after their move to Arizona nor did I have any direct contact with my half-brother while he was there. I knew, of course, that he was a specialist in carbon dating but I don't remember when I learned that he was part of the team charged with dating the shroud"[58].Linick's "I can't remember" sounds evasive. It was in October 1987 (see above) when it was announced that Arizona laboratory was going to be one of the three laboratories to date the Shroud. And since Anthony says he did learn that Timothy "was part of the team charged with dating the shroud," it had to have been between October 1987 and May 1988 when Arizona did date the Shroud. So why the evasiveness, unless Anthony Linick has something to hide (see below)?
"When my step-mother, Del (Delphine) [Timothy's mother] called to share the news of his passing she said only that he took his own life and that he had been suffering from depression. I called her every few months but from this point until her death in 1993 she never alluded to any mysteries or controversies involving Tim's death or work. This is all I have to add and I hope therefore that I can be spared any more inquiries"[59].Again, I had not mentioned anything in my message to Anthony about Timothy's death, let alone that it was suicide. I respected Anthony's request that he "be spared any more inquiries" and thanked him for what information he had provided[60].
However, on 22 February 2016, I discovered in Anthony Linick's Wikipedia entry, that he had worked at the American School in London for 20 years from 1982 to 2002:
"In 1982 Linick began a twenty-year tenure as a member of the faculty of the American School in London (ASL) in St John's Wood. There he taught courses for both the social studies and the English departments, moving permanently to the latter in 1988 and serving as its chair for the last eight years of his teaching career, 1994-2002"[61].And David Sox, whose quote of Timothy Linick I had sent to Anthony in my email of 2 January (see above) was a teacher at the American School in London from at least 1978 to 1995:
"Sox, an American Anglican priest, teaches [in 1995] at the American School in London, England. He has long been interested in the Turin Shroud and has authored several books about it"[62]Since the last date in Gove's book is "September 1995"[65], that is an overlap of at least 13 years from 1982 to 1995 when Anthony Linick worked at same school as Sox. And, since I had prefaced my above quote of Sox in my first message to Anthony Linick with:
"On 11 May 1978 I phoned the Reverend H David Sox at his home in London to find out what the latest interest was in carbon dating the shroud. ... A few days later I got another letter from Sox saying that he was planning to visit his parents in North Carolina sometime around the end of June and he would also like to visit Rochester. ... he is an American-an Anglican-who teaches [in 1995] at the American School in London"[63]
"On 12 May [1988] I flew to London. David Sox had made a reservation for me at the Abbey House Hotel, which was not far from where he lived. ... The next morning, I was to appear at the American School. Cameron had decided that he would film the part of the Timewatch programme on the shroud which involved me at David Sox's school, and to make believe that it was my laboratory"[64]
"Your late half-brother Timothy W. Linick, who was a member of the team at Arizona Radiocarbon dating laboratory which radiocarbon dated the Shroud of Turin in 1988, was quoted by the Rev. David Sox as follows: ..."[66]I felt I was owed an explanation why Anthony had not mentioned that he knew Sox. So I emailed Anthony Linick again on 23 February, with the above quotes from Wikipedia and Gove's book, putting those questions to him:
"So did you know David Sox? And that he was deeply involved in seeking to discredit the Shroud of Turin? Including being the secondary source of leaks to the media of Arizona's first "AD 1350" date:I concluded my email to Anthony Linick with:"[Hardly had this wave of publicity died down before on 26 August the London Evening Standard ran as its front-page lead story `Shroud of Turin Really is a Fake'. Accompanying this was a seemingly authoritative article by librarian Dr. Richard Luckett (1945-2020) of Magdalene College, Cambridge, cryptically remarking that `laboratories are rather leaky institutions' and `a probable date of about 1350 looks likely' ... When in a telephone enquiry to Dr. Luckett I asked whether the Revd. David Sox had been his source, he hastily changed the subject.] ... I complained to the Sunday Times Editor ... This prompted a conciliatory phone call from the Science Correspondent who when challenged directly, admitted that his source had been the Revd. David Sox. He said he had in front of him the Revd Sox's already complete book about the Shroud's mediaeval date, awaiting publication the moment this news becomes formally released. Sadly, as evident from a Daily Mail article of September 19, Professor Gonella and Cardinal Ballestrero in Turin have attributed the succession of apparent `leaks' emanating from England to malicious breaches of confidentiality on the part of the Oxford laboratory scientists and Dr. Tite. It seems clear that they have been mistaken, and that the true source of possibly all the leaks is the single non-English clerical gentleman whose identity will now be self-evident. This individual's means of obtaining his `inside' information (which can only have come from Arizona or Zurich), and his motives for flouting the confidentiality that all others have respected, can only be guessed at." (The words in square brackets mentioning the "1350" date were omitted in my email) [67]which date presumably Timothy was the source of Sox's "`inside' information ... which can only have come from Arizona ..." Not Zurich because it turned out that "1350" was not Zurich's date."[68]
"It seems an amazing coincidence that your half-brother Timothy was in contact with David Sox, who presumably you worked with? Did you put Timothy in touch with Sox or vice-versa?"[69]In his reply email the next day, 24 February, Anthony claimed that he only had "a suspicion" that the "David Sox" whom I and "others [plural] mentioned" was the same David Sox "who worked at the American School in London":
"You have confirmed for me a suspicion that began to grow when you and others mentioned David Sox. I had wondered if this was the same chap who worked at the American School in London and this is now confirmed. I did meet him once or twice and, indeed, my first long-term assignment at ASL was in the middle school, where he was a faculty member. This was in the spring of 1982."[70]This seems most implausible, on several counts: 1) "David Sox" is an unusual name. 2) In my first message of 2 January to Anthony Linick, I wrote that in "1988 ... Sox was in England"[71]. 3) In my experience as a relief (substitute, supply) teacher for 6 years from 2010-2015 at over a dozen different high schools, it would be highly unlikely that two teachers could work in the same school for 13 years and indeed in the same middle school faculty, and only "meet ... once or twice."
"I also knew that he [Sox] wrote on religious topics. However I do not recall his ever seeking me out (in spite of a rather uncommon last name) or putting any questions to me about Timothy Linick and I certainly did not know of his interest in the shroud nor did I have anything to do with putting him in contact with my half-brother."[72].The implausibilities continue: 4) how would Anthony Linick know that Sox wrote on "religious topics" and not know that most (if not all) of Sox's religious writings (including three books in 1978, 1981 and 1988) were on the topic of the Shroud? 5) Sox was well-known at ASL for "his interest in the shroud." In his first 1978 book on the Shroud, Sox wrote that his "associates (i.e. fellow teachers) and students at the American School in London have had to suffer through much of this project":
"My associates and students at the American School in London have had to suffer through much of this project and I appreciate their forbearance and good humour"[73]6) As we saw above, in May 1988 the BBC filmed part of its Timewatch program about dating the Shroud, arranged by Sox, in an ASL science laboratory, which Anthony must surely have been aware of. 7) Linick's "I do not recall" again sounds evasive (see his "I can't remember" above) Sox's ever seeking him out. And 8) Since Sox was communicating in 1988 with an American Timothy Linick, with the same "uncommon last name," it is hard to believe that Sox would not have asked his work colleague, Anthony Linick, if he was related to a Timothy Linick who worked at the Arizona radiocarbon dating laboratory which had been chosen to date the Shroud?
"I would also continue to maintain that the depression that my step-mother referred to, at the time of Tim's death, was not linked by her to any work crisis; it may have been a long-standing condition."[74]The "work crisis" being the repercussions that would have followed when it was discovered by Timothy Linick's laboratory leaders and colleagues that he had been quoted in Sox's 1988 book about Arizona's radiocarbon dating of the Shroud and was therefore almost certainly the leaker to Sox of Arizona's first "1350" date (see part #5). Anthony Linick's dismissal of this as a factor in his half-brother's suicide, when he had claimed he hardly knew him, and that his step-mother (Timothy's mother) Delphine "said only that he [Timothy] took his own life and that he had been suffering from depression" and "never alluded to any mysteries or controversies involving Tim’s death or work" (see above) does not mean that it was not. Timothy's mother might not have known about his "work crisis," for starters. Anthony Linick's attempt to downplay this even when it would have helped support the case that Timothy was not murdered by the KGB (which Farey presumably told him was my theory - see above), adds weight to my impression gained from the first part of his email (above) that Anthony Linick did know Sox and was involved in putting his half-brother Timothy in touch with Sox (or vice-versa).
In my reply email of 24 February 2016 to Anthony Linick, I pointed out that Timothy Linick's suffering from chronic depression and then committing suicide following a "work crisis" are not mutually exclusive, because "a major crisis" can turn "chronic depression" into "acute" depression followed by suicide":
"My understanding is that chronic depression can become acute and lead to suicide when the sufferer encounters a major crisis. As Timothy finding his name in Sox's book, and the censure that would have followed from his laboratory leaders and colleagues when they also read it, would have been."[75]In the same email, I asked Anthony if he knew "by what means Timothy" [it was assumed] "took his own life?":
"Do you know by what means Timothy took his own life?"[76]In asking this key question I was prepared to receive an answer from Anthony which would falsify my theory, e.g., "Timothy overdosed on his medication," etc. That is because the KGB would be unlikely to use a means to kill Timothy that would take a long time to work (because someone might find him unconscious and save his life), and might not even be fatal.
So I was relieved to receive the answer from Anthony Linick on 25 February that Timothy Linick died from gunshot:
"As far as I know, Tim shot himself."[77]Making it appear that a victim shot himself is a known (or at least suspected) KGB method of execution. For example, Walter Krivitsky (1899–1941) was a Soviet intelligence officer whose death by gunshot in the USA may have been an execution made to look like suicide by the NKVD, the predecessor of the KGB[78]. A recent example is the death by gunshot in 2012[79] of former KGB chief Leonid Shebarshin (1935–2012), even though he left a `suicide note'[80], (which was merely a diary entry[81]), his death was reported in the news media as an "apparent suicide"[82] implying that he may have been executed by the KGB.
On the same day, 25 February, I emailed Anthony Linick with two more key questions:
"Do you know if Timothy left a suicide note? Failing that, do you know if there any suspicion that he had been murdered?"[83]Expecting that he may not answer, I disclosed what I always had intended to do (and I assumed that Farey already had from the beginning - see above):
"I apologise for what must seem like gross impertinence by me, but as you may know (see my "The 1260-1390 radiocarbon date of the Turin Shroud was the result of a computer hacking"), it is my theory that Timothy was murdered by the KGB on 4 June 1989, to ensure his silence for his part in the hacking of the Shroud of Turin's radiocarbon dating fully computerised process, that he was the resident expert on at Arizona laboratory ..."[84]On 28 February Anthony Linick replied in his final email to me, that he did not know if there was a suicide note:
"I don't know if there was a suicide note or not but can I have a break from this topic now?"[85]If Timothy Linick had left a suicide note, then his mother Dephine, who also lived in Tucson (see funeral notices above), would have known and told Anthony about it when she phoned him to inform him that Timothy "took his own life" (see above). I therefore take it that Timothy Linick did not leave a suicide note. While the lack of a suicide note does not prove that Timothy was murdered (since only about 25–30% of suicides leave a note)[86], if he had left a note it would have been a problem (if not a falsification) of my theory that Timothy Linick was murdered by the KGB. But that Timothy Linick died of gunshot and left no suicide note is fully consistent with my theory that he, and his alleged accomplice Karl Koch (see above and future part #8), were killed by the KGB and that their murders were made to look like suicide, to ensure their silence for their part in the Soviet sponsored hacking of the 1988 radiocarbon dating of the Shroud.
In my reply of 28 February, in what I expect was my last email to Anthony Linick, I thanked him again for the information he had given me[87].
Continued in part #7 of this series.
Notes
1. This post is copyright. Permission is granted to quote from any part of this post (but not the whole post), provided it includes a reference citing my name, its subject heading, its date, and a hyperlink back to this post. [return]
2. Damon, P.E., et al., 1989, "Radiocarbon Dating of the Shroud of Turin," Nature, Vol. 337, 16th February, pp.611-615, p.611. [return]
3. Jull, A.J.T. & Suess, H.E., 1989, "Timothy W. Linick," Radiocarbon, Vol 31, No 2. [return]
4. "Karl Koch (hacker)," Wikipedia, 31 January 2016. [return]
5. Gove, H.E., 1996, "Relic, Icon or Hoax?: Carbon Dating the Turin Shroud," Institute of Physics Publishing: Bristol UK, p.176H. [return]
6. Gove, 1996, p.264. [return]
7. Damon, 1989, p.611. [return]
8. Gove, 1996, p.264. [return]
9. Jull & Suess, 1989. [return]
10. Sox, H.D., 1988, "The Shroud Unmasked: Uncovering the Greatest Forgery of All Time," Lamp Press: Basingstoke UK, p.147. [return]
11. Gove, 1996, pp.184-185. [return]
12. McCrone, W.C., 1999, "Judgment Day for the Shroud of Turin," Prometheus Books: Amherst NY, pp.138, 141. [return]
13. Ibid. [return]
14. McCrone, 1999, p.245. [return]
15. McCrone, 1999, p.178. [return]
16. Gove, 1996, p.264. [return]
17. Gove, 1996, pp.8, 20, 267. [return]
18. Gove, 1996, p.262. [return]
19. Gove, 1996, p.279. [return]
20. Gove, 1996, p.262. [return]
21. Damon, 1989, p. 613. [return]
22. Ibid. [return]
23. Linick, T.W., et al. , 1986, "Operation of the NSF-Arizona accelerator facility for radioisotope analysis and results from selected collaborative research projects," Radiocarbon, Vol. 28, No. 2a, pp.522-533. [return]
24. Sox, 1988, pp.138-139. [return]
25. Jull & Suess, 1989. [return]
26. Gove, 1996, p.264. [return]
27. Gove, 1996, p.262. [return]
28. Gove, 1996, pp.8, 155, 187. [return]
29. Gove, 1996, pp.213-214. [return]
30. Wilson, I., 1991, "Holy Faces, Secret Places: The Quest for Jesus' True Likeness," Doubleday: London, p.178. [return]
31. Wilson, I., 2010, "The Shroud: The 2000-Year-Old Mystery Solved," Bantam Press: London, p.222. [return]
32. Gove, 1996, pp.260-261. [return]
33. Wilson, I., 1998, "The Blood and the Shroud: New Evidence that the World's Most Sacred Relic is Real," Simon & Schuster: New York NY, pp.184, 308; Gove, 1996, p.324. [return]
34. Gove, 1996, pp.263-264. [return]
35. Guerrera, V., 2000, "The Shroud of Turin: A Case for Authenticity," TAN: Rockford IL, p.131. [return]
36. McDonnell, D.J., 2003, "The Great Holy Shroud Dating Fraud of 1988," 4 November. [return]
37. Sox, 1988, pp.131, 133; Petrosillo, O. & Marinelli, E. 1996, "The Enigma of the Shroud: A Challenge to Science," Scerri, L.J., transl., Publishers Enterprises Group: Malta, pp.58-60. [return]
38. Suess, H.E. & Linick, T.W., 1990, "The 14C Record in Bristlecone Pine Wood of the past 8000 Years Based on the Dendrochronology of the Late C. W. Ferguson," Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Vol. 330, April 24, pp.403-412. [return]
39. Jull & Suess, 1989. [return]
40. Bonnet-Eymard, B., 2000, "The Holy Shroud is as Old as the Risen Jesus, IV. Caution! Danger!, The Catholic Counter-Reformation in the XXth Century, No 330, Online edition, May. [return]
41. "WikiFreaks, Pt. 4 `The Nerds Who Played With Fire'," The Psychedelic Dungeon, 15 September 2010h; and Clough & Mungo, 1992, p.163. [return]
42. de Nantes, G. & Bonnet-Eymard, B., 2014, "The Holy Shroud of Turin: II. The conclusion of a new trial," The Catholic Counter-Reformation in the 21st Century, 27 March. [return]
43. Jull & Suess, 1989. [return]
44. Wilson, 1998, p.311. [return]
45. Galeazzi, G., 2013. "Never solved: The enigma that still divides the Church: The Shroud," Vatican Insider, 1 April. Translated from Italian by Google. No longer online. English translation, "Unsolved Enigma that Still Divides the Church: The Shroud." Also no longer online. [return]
46. Petrosillo, O. & Marinelli, E., 1996, "The Enigma of the Shroud: A Challenge to Science," Scerri, L.J., transl., Publishers Enterprises Group: Malta, pp.128-129. [return]
47. "Examination of the carbon-14 dating of the Shroud," Wikipedia, January 4, 2014. Translated from Italian by Google. [return]
48. Bonnet-Eymard, 2000. [return]
49. From my Google searches on the name of every signatory to the 1989 Nature paper (Damon, 1989, p.611). [return]
50. "Who Can Obtain a Death Certificate,"Arizona Department of Health Services: Office of Vital Records, April 15, 2014. [return]
51. Email reply from the Library of Congress, received on 2 May 2014. [return]
52. Linick, A., 2008, "The Lives of Ingolf Dahl," AuthorHouse: Bloomington IN, p.226. [return]
53. Linick, 2008, p.250. [return]
54. Linick, 2008, p.619. [return]
55. Jones, S.E., Message, "A Walkers Journal Contact: Timothy W. Linick," January 2, 2016, 6:19 am. [return]
56. Linick, A., Email "Re: A Walkers Journal Contact: Timothy W. Linick," 3 January 2016, 11:08 PM. [return]
57. Ibid. [return]
58. Ibid. [return]
59. Ibid. [return]
60. Jones, S.E., "Re: A Walkers Journal Contact: Timothy W. Linick," 3 January 2016, 11:16 pm. [return]
61. "Anthony Linick: Academic life," Wikipedia, 18 February 2016. [return]
62. Gove, 1996, p.8. [return]
63. Gove, 1996, pp.20-21. [return]
64. Gove, 1996, p.267. [return]
65. Gove, 1996, p.309. [return]
66. Jones, 3 January 2016. [return]
67. Wilson, I., 1988, "On the Recent `Leaks' ...," British Society for the Turin Shroud, 23 September. [return]
68. Jones, S.E., Email "Re: David Sox," 23 February 2016, 10:20 PM. [return]
69. Ibid. [return]
70. Linick, A., Email "Re: David Sox," 24 February 2016, 1:04 AM. [return]
71. Jones, 2 January 2016. [return]
72. Linick, 24 February 2016. [return]
73. Sox, H.D., 1978, "File on the Shroud," Coronet: London, p.14. [return]
74. Linick, 24 February 2016. [return]
75. Jones, S.E., Email "Re: David Sox," 24 February 2016, 7:26 AM. [return]
76. Jones, 24 February 2016. [return]
77. Linick, A., Email "Re: David Sox," 25 February 2016, 3:58 PM. [return]
78. "Walter Krivitsky," Wikipedia, 11 January 2016; Giffin, F.C., 1979, "The Death of Walter Krivitsky," Social Science, Vol. 54, No. 3, Summer, pp. 139-146. [return]
79. "Leonid Shebarshin," Wikipedia, 25 February 2016. [return]
80. "Former KGB chief a suicide, police say," CNN, March 31, 2012. [return]
81. "Key Soviet spy who headed KGB found shot dead," RT News, 31 Mar, 2012. [return]
82. Anishchuk, A., 2012, "Former Soviet KGB Leonid Shebarshin found dead in apparent suicide," The Independent, 31 March. [return]
83. Jones, S.E., Email "Re: David Sox," 25 February 2016, 9:17 PM. [return]
84. Jones, 25 February 2016, 9:17 PM. [return]
85. Linick, A., Email "Re: David Sox," 28 February 2016, 7:50 PM. [return]
86. "Suicide note," Wikipedia, 3 March 2016. [return]
87. Jones, S.E., Email "Re: David Sox," 28 February 2016, 10:43 PM. [return]
Posted 22 February 2016. Updated 13 June 2024.
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