Selbstmord in Lavatory

[N5528P]

Fri, Feb. 10, 2006
Irate car buyer kills himself on plane
An angry Gerry Georgettis drove his SUV through the window of a car dealership, then torched the business. Four days later, he hung himself aboard a plane bound for Los Angeles.

He was a mild-mannered former rock band crew member who spent the past four years happily running a performing arts center in North Miami Beach. Then last week, Gerry Georgettis became to some a consumer hero when he plowed his new Ford Escape into a dealership Saturday, then torched about a dozen cars -- all, police said, because he felt he got a bad deal.

His sudden notoriety turned tragic when police reported Thursday that Georgettis had committed suicide the day before, hanging himself inside a bathroom aboard a flight bound from a Virginia suburb of Washington to Los Angeles. Friends said they were baffled about his death and the event last weekend that put Georgettis into headlines across the country.

''In all honesty, I don't know anyone more stable than Gerry. He was not depressed,'' said his best friend, musician Billy Yeager. ``I was at his house for Christmas. We played golf the next day.''

His body was discovered inside the lavatory about 4:20 p.m. aboard United Flight 209 after people noticed he had been in there too long, police said. Attendants asked an off-duty Secret Service agent to break down the door. Georgettis' five-foot-nine-inch body dangled from a piece of his own clothing, police said. The flight was diverted to Denver International Airport, where Georgettis was taken to a local hospital and pronounced dead.

After the dealership incident, Georgettis was something of a momentary folk legend. A Spanish-language newspaper columnist praised him for sticking it to the man. He became a hero on AM talk radio. He told his best friend a cop on the scene even jokingly said he wished he could do the same thing. Yet Georgettis came to regret what he had done, calling his actions ''stupid,'' friends said.

Georgettis, 56, hailed from Melbourne, Australia. As a young man in the 1980s, he was a roadie for Australian bands like Cold Chisel. He drove trucks and mixed sound, said Julius Grafton, an old friend who now publishes an entertainment industry news magazine in Australia. ''Everything he did, he did in a really level way,'' Grafton told The Miami Herald.

In the United States, he worked as a manager for Pink Floyd and Jane's Addiction. He managed Yeager, a local musician famous for fooling reporters into thinking he was Jimi Hendrix's illegitimate son. Georgettis' only brush with the law came in 1994, when Miami-Dade police were called to his house after a disturbance with his wife. He lost his temper and was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer, said Mel Black, his attorney at the time.

He was convicted and sentenced to three years. But the sentence was overturned on appeal and he received probation, Black said. ''Gerry struck me as a very pleasant, intelligent man,'' Black said. Georgettis and his wife divorced in 2000. Soon, he got a job at the city-run performing arts center in North Miami Beach, where he booked everything from folk music shows to ballets.

He was known for his distinct Aussie drawl. He was fond of telling community reporters about his travels with the bands. ''He never had a bad thing in his personnel record,'' said his boss, Harriet Orr. ``He's only got commendations.''

His final days began last week when he decided to buy a new SUV. He spent nearly four hours last Friday at Metro Ford in North Dade. He was excited about the six-cylinder Escape, which he hoped would cut down on gas costs. The president of the dealership, Lombardo Pérez, told The Miami Herald there were no problems during the transaction. Georgettis had twice bought vehicles from the dealership. He was an educated consumer, Pérez said.

Police said Georgettis told them that after reviewing the purchase contract, he decided he was going to have to pay thousands more than he originally thought. On Saturday morning, a tense Georgettis went back to the dealership and said he wanted to know more about the contract. Pérez said his managers explained the terms. Then, Pérez said, Georgettis grew visibly angry, claiming the car had several mechanical problems and threatening to drive the Escape through the showroom glass windows. ''And he did -- he came back later and drove the vehicle through the glass,'' Miami-Dade Detective Joey Giordano said.

He didn't stop there. Georgettis doused the cars inside with gasoline, lit them on fire and walked away as if nothing had happened, witnesses said. A surveillance video shows Georgettis calmly leaving the dealership, then coming back and staring at the flames for several more moments, said Pérez, a Ford dealer for more than two decades.

Officers arrested Georgettis without incident a few blocks away. He was charged with first-degree arson and criminal mischief. An expensive Ford GT Heritage was charred, and there was nearly $1 million in damage.

He posted $1,500 bail on Sunday and the next day resigned his job with North Miami Beach. Two days later, he was at Dulles International Airport outside of Washington. He boarded the cross-country flight and was found dead hours into the flight. Yeager can't understand why his best friend snapped over the SUV. 'He kept saying how stupid it was, `What a stupid thing I did,' '' Yeager said. Yeager believes Georgettis didn't want the attention, noting he even phoned a radio station to dissuade listeners from calling him a hero.

Nonetheless, Georgettis grew despondent, Yeager said. Georgettis phoned Yeager Tuesday night. He was in Orlando and talked about his fear of legal bills and about his girlfriend having to suffer through his troubles. ''I'm not going to put her through that. She's always been there for me,'' he told Yeager. That was the last time Yeager heard from him.

Originalartikel zu finden unter: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/breaking_news/13835923.htm