Deceased Boeing whistleblower John Barnett, 62, reportedly predicted he could wind up dead and told family friends he was “not suicidal” days before his death. Barnett, who exposed the airline giant’s faulty processes on several of its planes, was found dead with a gunshot wound in his temple, in his truck last weekend in North Carolina. Barnett was expected in meetings for his third day of depositions in his whistleblower lawsuit against Boeing.The coroner's report, released Monday, said the cause of the former Boeing quality manager’s death was suicide. “Self-inflicted,” the report stated. His lawyer, Brian Knowles, cast heavy doubts on the claims his client committed suicide, explaining Barnett was heavily involved in pursuing the case. Jennifer, a family friend of Barnett spoke on an ABC News televised broadcast, where she recounted the last time she spoke to her friend. She had asked him, “aren’t you scared?”“Nah, I ain’t scared,” responded Barnett at the time. “But if anything happens to me, it’s not suicide.”“I know that he didn’t commit suicide,” she said on air, “there’s no way.”“He loved life too much, he loved his family too much, he loved his brothers too much, to put them through what they’re going through right now,” she said. .Despite Barnett’s death being deemed a suicide by the coroner, police announced they are investigating the matter, including dusting Barnett’s truck for fingerprints per The New York Post, which is unusual in the case of a suicide and conducting interviews with hotel staff. Another close family friend of Barnett, Bob Emery also raised questions round the whistleblower’s death. Barnett "seemed too focused on what he was doing with the Boeing lawsuit,” said Emery, and he "didn’t seem depressed."Barnett, who worked at Boeing for more than 30 years, was found dead in his vehicle in a hotel parking lot on March 11 after two days of depositions. He was scheduled to appear that morning for the third day, where he would be cross-examined by his own lawyers.
