http://fuel-efficient-vehicles.org/energy-news/?page_id=787
Tom Ogle invented a “vapor engine” that would achieve extraordinarily gas mileage: far beyond what was available on the market at that time, and far beyond what seemed to logical given the scientific and technical knowledge at the time. For reasons never clearly explained, although Ogle was able to convince investors to purchase the rights to his invention and pay him royalties for a set period of time, this deal apparently collapsed, and Ogle’s financial state started to grow dire.
At/around the same time, his personal life disintegrated. His wife left him, he began to drink heavily, and he was shot in what was either a street robbery or a dispute (it was never made clear) outside a local tavern he frequented. His drinking increased, and he was apparently taking pain medication for his earlier injury. Additionally, he was arrested for several petty crimes, and he was under investigation for possible tax evasion.
He went to a friend’s home one night in 1981 and then collapsed. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died the next day, An autopsy revealed that in addition to alcohol, Ogle had a large quantity of a painkiller in his system, enough to have resulted in an overdose. Apparently no signs of foul play were discovered and the matter was judged to have been a suicide or an accidental overdose. No one at the time considered it to be a murder; speculation about that allegation only began several years after Ogle’s death.
My point: A depressed man, who was facing potential legal troubles and whose personal life was in shambles, dying really isn’t “suspicious.” Ogle, from reports, seemed to be unable to deal with his immediate financial windfall, as well as the pressures it created. Getting injured in a shooting, and having his family leave him, had to create a number of mental stressors which he chose to deal with by drinking.
That he died seems to have been the result of a life cut tragically short by poor decision making and a lack of self-restraint. While that is unfortunate, it was hardly “suspicious.”
References:
Library Research Guides: Borderlands: Mysterious Deaths: Tom Ogle, Inventor 32(2014/15)
Tom Ogle’s investors
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