The unbelievable life and death of Michael C. Ruppert

Ruppert drove to Louisiana and found her, he later wrote, "Equipped with a scrambler phone and night-vision devices, and working from sealed communiqués delivered by Naval and Air Force personnel." He concluded that "She was involved in something truly ugly" – "Arranging for large quantities of weapons to be loaded onto ships leaving for Iran." She was also working with "Associates" of a New Orleans mafia boss bringing "Large quantities of heroin into the city." Ruppert would later say that he and Teddy had even been shot at outside a New Orleans-area bar – retribution, he concluded, for discovering too much about Teddy's covert actions.

"Each of these three professionals professed both a measure of admiration and a measure of fear of Ruppert," the series read. With paltry professional prospects, Ruppert drifted.

Ruppert read a story that would change his life.

In the video – now legendary among Ruppert's fans – Ruppert looks like a high-school social studies teacher, with combed-over gray hair, a manicured mustache, and wire-rimmed glasses.

In Ruppert's estimation, the piece "Establishes CIA foreknowledge … and strongly suggests that there was criminal complicity on the part of the US government." The list led Ruppert to publish his first book, 2004's Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil.

Ruppert suggested the meth ring was connected to the CIA. Either way, Ruppert told staff, friends, and readers, his life was in danger.

In the months prior to his departure, Ruppert had grown fond of a new female hire – according to court records, Ruppert "Said he was 'in love' with and told her he was willing to have a 'sexual relationship if that's what she wanted.'" The staffer wasn't interested.

One evening in mid-May when Complainant and Ruppert were alone in the office, Ruppert began complaining that he had a story he needed to get out, that he needed to free himself, and that it would be great if he could just run around the office naked for a minute to get out his "Writer's block." Shortly afterward, Complainant was typing at her desk and Ruppert came to her open door, standing in his underwear in a "Wide legged stance" with a "Big smile.”

After Ruppert's public appearance at the town hall meeting with the director of the CIA, it sent investigators to meet with Ruppert and dig into his accusations about Teddy, the CIA, and the LAPD. The investigators concluded that "While Ruppert communicates his allegations fervently, they have no firm anchor in reality.”

When Ruppert's ex-wife, Mary – who asked that her last name be withheld from this story – asked Ruppert to sign divorce papers in 1996, Ruppert told her that the mere thought of divorcing her made him want to kill himself.

Wes Miller, Ruppert's lawyer, casts aside suggestions that Ruppert was bipolar, or that his mental illness, coupled with his decision to start drinking again, might've pushed him to suicide.

That's why she was willing to uproot her life in Colorado to live with Ruppert in Calistoga merely two weeks before he killed himself.