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Some people think Landreth, 21, has committed suicide. There is clear
evidence that he considered it -- most notably in a rambling eight-page
discourse that Landreth wrote during the summer.
The letter, typed into his computer, then printed out and left in his room for
someone to discover, touched on the evolution of mankind, prospects for man's
immortality and the defeat of the aging process, nuclear war, communism versus
capitalism, society's greed, the purpose of life, computers becoming more
creative than man and finally -- suicide.
The last page reads:
"As I am writing this as of the moment, I am obviously not dead. I do,
however, plan on being dead before any other humans read this. The idea is
that I will commit suicide sometime around my 22nd birthday..."
The note explained:
"I was bored in school, bored traveling around the country, bored getting
raided by the FBI, bored in prison, bored writing books, bored being bored. I
will probably be bored dead, but this is my risk to take."
But then the note said:
"Since writing the above, my plans have changed slightly.... But the point is,
that I am going to take the money I have left in the bank (my liquid assets)
and make a final attempt at making life worthy. It will be a short attempt,
and I do suspect that if it works out that none of my current friends will
know me then. If it doesn't work out, the news of my death will probably get
around. (I won't try to hide it.)"
Landreth's birthday is December 26 and his best friend is not counting on
seeing him again.
"We used to joke about what you could learn about life, especially since if
you don't believe in a God, then there's not much point to life," said Tom
Anderson, 16, a senior at San Pasqual High School in Escondido, about 30 miles
north of San Diego. Anderson also has been convicted of computer hacking and
placed on probation.
Anderson was the last person to see Landreth. It was around September 25 --
he does not remember exactly. Landreth had spent a week living in Anderson's
home so the two could share Landreth's computer. Anderson's IBM-PC had been
confiscated by authorities, and he wanted to complete his own book.
Anderson said he and Landreth were also working on a proposal for a movie
about their exploits.
"He started to write the proposal for it on the computer, and I went to take a
shower," Anderson said. "When I came out, he was gone. The proposal was in
mid-sentence. And I haven't seen him since."
Apparently Landreth took only his house key, a passport, and the clothes on
his back.
Anderson said he initially was not concerned about Landreth's absence. After
all this was the same Landreth who, during the summer, took off for Mexico
without telling anyone -- including friends he had seen just the night before
-- of his departure.
But concern grew by October 1, when Landreth failed to keep a speaking
engagement with a group of auditors in Ohio, for which he would have received
$1,000 plus expenses. Landreth may have kept a messy room and poor financial
records, but he was reliable enough to keep a speaking engagement, said his
friends and literary agent, Bill Gladstone, noting that Landreth's second
manuscript was due in August and had not yet been delivered.
But, the manuscript never came and Landreth has not reappeared.
Steve Burnap, another close friend, said that during the summer Landreth had
grown lackadaisical toward life. "He just didn't seem to care much about
anything anymore."
Typed for PWN by Druidic Death
From The Dallas Times Herald
______________________________________________________________________________
Beware The Hacker Tracker December, 1986
-------------------------
By Lamont Wood of Texas Computer Market Magazines
If you want to live like a spy in your own country, you don't have to join the
CIA or the M15 or the KGB. You can track hackers, like John Maxfield of
Detroit.
Maxfield is a computer security consultant running a business called
BoardScan, which tracks hackers for business clients. He gets occasional
death threats and taunting calls from his prey, among whom he is known as the
"hacker tracker," and answers the phone warily.
And although he has received no personal harassment, William Tener, head of
data security for the information services division of TRW, Inc., has found it
necessary to call in experts in artificial intelligence from the aerospace
industry in an effort to protect his company's computer files. TRW is a juicy
target for hackers because the firm stores personal credit information on
about 130 million Americans and 11 million businesses -- data many people
would love to get hold of.
Maxfield estimates that the hacker problem has increased by a factor of 10 in
the last four years, and now seems to be doubling every year. "Nearly every