Police Report Found no Scientology Role in Suicide

Police report did not conclude church members forced Kyle Brennan off antidepressant. The Clearwater police released on Tuesday 200 pages of documents from the investigation.

Police report found no Scientology role in suicide - St. Petersburg Times:

"CLEARWATER — Police investigated the role Scientology played in the suicide of a troubled young man two years ago, but did not conclude church members forced him off his antidepressant medication or contributed to his death.

[...]Clearwater police on Tuesday released more than 200 pages of documents from the investigation of Brennan's death. The reports don't provide evidence of a key claim in the lawsuit: that Brennan was denied access to the antidepressant Lexapro.

Police instead learned that Brennan wasn't taking the medication regularly. The only Lexapro pills police found were in a 30-pill bottle issued to him almost three months earlier. Sixteen pills remained.

The mother's attorney, Ken Dandar, said Kyle was taking the medication as needed.

The young man's own psychiatrist told police the prescription would have to be carried out on a regular basis. He was not aware of any "major side effects" from suddenly withdrawing from the medication. The drug's Web site states that quickly coming off the drug can increase the risk of suicidal thoughts.

[...] Thomas Brennan told police he didn't approve of psychiatric medication because it clashed with his religious beliefs. But he said Kyle agreed to go off the medication because he didn't like taking it either — a claim that Kyle's mother and her attorney reject.

[...] He left two suicide notes that claimed people had failed him.

Prior to his death, Kyle Brennan, who had depression, anxiety and early signs of schizophrenia, lived in Virginia with his mother. In late 2006, he took $8,000 from his bank account and left on a cross-country trip.

On Jan. 7, 2007, his mother received a call from an FBI agent in Des Moines, Iowa, who said Kyle Brennan had stopped by and claimed he was being followed and "they were after him," the agent said. He wasn't eating and appeared emaciated.

Kyle turned up in San Diego at his aunt's home, according to the report. He told her that "they were hunting him down." The aunt tried to get him to seek mental help, but he left. Kyle contacted his father, who agreed to bring him to Clearwater.

[...] Thomas Brennan worked as a handyman on Denise and Gerald Gentile's properties in the area and became a friend of Denise's.

[...] The lawsuit claims that Denise Gentile was acting in her function as a "chaplain" when she interfered with Kyle Brennan's prescriptions.

[...] Denise Gentile admitted to police that she spoke very briefly with Kyle's mother about getting the young man drug treatment, but she said that was in her capacity as a friend — not as a representative of the church.

Relate blog entries: R-KyleBrennan-

Mom Sues CoS in Son's Death

The mom of non-Scientologist Kyle T. Brenman, 20, who committed suicide on Feb. 16, 2007, is suing the CoS and three parishioners for wrongful death. The three parishioners are Denise Gentile, the twin sister of David Miscavige, her husband, and Kyle's father, Thomas Brennan.

The lawsuit claims Gentile and her husband persuaded Kyle Brennan's father to take away Kele's Lexapro, which he was taking for depression and anxiety, and which led him, the suit claims, to shot himself with a loaded .357 Magnum that he found in his father's apartment.

The suit is being brought by attorney Ken Dandar, well-known for his extended legal battle against Scientology during the Lisa McPherson case.

Mom sues Church of Scientology in son's death - St. Petersburg Times:

CLEARWATER — A mother has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Church of Scientology, its Flag Service Organization and three parishioners, claiming they brought about her son's death by denying him access to his antidepression medication.

Among the three parishioners named as defendants: Denise Gentile, the twin sister of the church's current worldwide leader, David Miscavige, as well as her husband, Gerald Gentile.

The lawsuit stems from the death of Kyle T. Brennan, 20, who shot himself in the head on Feb. 16, 2007, in Clearwater, while visiting his father, who is a Scientologist.

[...] Filed in Tampa federal court Friday, the lawsuit claims Gentile and her husband persuaded Kyle Brennan's father to take away his Lexapro, which his son was taking for depression and anxiety.

The suit, which also names Thomas Brennan as a defendant, states that the defendants tried to put Kyle Brennan into a Narconon drug treatment program.

Kyle Brennan was not a Scientologist, the suit states.

The suit is being brought by attorney Ken Dandar, well-known for his extended legal battle against Scientology during the Lisa McPherson case. McPherson, a 36-year-old Scientologist, died in 1995 while in the care of church staffers in Clearwater.

Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis said the lawsuit is an attempt to "draw the church into something that we don't have anything to do with."

None of the Scientologists named as defendants were church staff members, he said. They were all just parishioners. And Davis emphasized that the events took place on private property without church involvement.

Even Narconon, the drug treatment program that uses L. Ron Hubbard's teachings, is a separate entity from the Church of Scientology, he said.

Still, the case draws attention to Scientology's opposition to psychiatric drugs like Lexapro, which it deems to be mind-altering.

The Web site for Lexapro warns users not to go off their medication suddenly, even if they are feeling better. Changes in dosage, it says, can cause patients on antidepressants to worsen their depression, show signs of mood changes and exhibit thoughts of suicide.

Before his death, Kyle Brennan lived at home in Charlottesville, Va., where he was attending college, Dandar said. He was in the second year of a liberal arts degree when he left school and traveled around the country, Dandar said.

Kyle Brennan made a number of stops, going as far west as Hawaii, but in February 2007 he found his way to Clearwater, to stay with his father, whom he hadn't seen since the summer before.

Dandar said Kyle was taking a 10 mg dose of Lexapro, which he descried as "moderate." It was prescribed for him in early 2006 to help him with depression and anxiety.

He continued to use the drug while staying in his dad's two-bedroom apartment at 423 Cleveland St. in Clearwater, Dandar said.

But a week into the stay, Denise Gentile and her husband prevailed upon Kyle's father to take away the Lexapro medication and lock it in his truck, the lawsuit alleges.

While Scientology spokesman Davis said Denise Gentile was not in any authority position at the church, the suit alleges she had the title of "chaplain" and was held up as an authority of sorts on helping families with emotional matters.

The Gentiles and Brennan also phoned Britton, the young man's mother, to try to persuade her to put Kyle in Narconon, the lawsuit states.

The mother, who is not a Scientologist, was adamant that she and her son did not want anything to do with the drug treatment, the lawsuit states. She insisted that her son be put back on Lexapro.

The medication remained locked away, the suit states.

On Feb. 16, 2007, just after 11 p.m., Kyle Brennan shot himself with a loaded .357 Magnum that he found in his father's apartment, the lawsuit states.

His father found him dead, his head slumped in a laundry basket.

The lawsuit said it is unclear how he got ahold of the gun, but it blames "one or more of the Defendants."

"They locked up his medicine, but not the loaded .357 Magnum. That's the story line," Dandar said. "I think that's the case."

Thomas Brennan did not return a phone call left on his voice mail. Neither Denise nor Gerald Gentile could be reached for comment.

Relate blog entries: R-KyleBrennan-