Phillip Merrill, the millionaire owner of the Annapolis Capital and other publications, was found dead in the water after his sailboat washed up on shore last Saturday.
Now the family says that he may have committed suicide with a recently purchased shotgun, but wait for this:
Samuel W. Lewis, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, was one of several hundred guests who attended a party Merrill gave the weekend before he disappeared. Vice President Dick Cheney and former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell attended this year's annual fete, but Lewis said Merrill seemed "less optimistic" that evening and "more going through the motions."
The Sun
article says that Merrill was "depressed", but where did he get the idea to buy a shotgun? Could "Buckshot Cheney" be involved?
This might seem like a stretch, but check out the facts:
Phillip Merrill was a "friend" of Buckshot Cheney.
Cheney visited him a week before he died.
Merrill is alleged to have killed himself with a shotgun, Cheney's weapon of choice.
So even if we don't make the leap to Buckshot Cheney actually doing the deed, who knows, it wouldn't be the first time Cheney shot someone in the face, and naturally he would not report it. Probably more likely that Buckshot Cheney provided the inspiration to purchase the gun- what an example he is of shooting prowess!
Updated: Maryland columnist: search was extensive only because Merrill was a rich crony.
Throwback: Why do I find it hard to believe that if you or I fell off a boat in the Chesapeake Bay, three helicopters, an airplane, a sonar unit and an armada of taxpayer-funded boats would spend a week and a half looking for a body? Authorities insist they would. Who are they trying to fool?
Candus Thompson says this was no ordinary search.