Lingering

I read this story a few years ago and for some reason, it really stuck with me. If you don't have time to read it all, a super quick summary is that a couple of super attractive people - Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake - were creative, successful in their arts and very much in love. They suddenly became paranoid, thinking that Scientologists were plotting against them. Theresa overdosed on Tylenol PM and alcohol. Within the week, Jeremy was observed walking into the Atlantic Ocean, never to be seen again.

Maybe this story lingers with me because really, at the very core, it's an extremely sad love story. Jeremy couldn't live without Theresa. And maybe it's intriguing because it is mysterious: what happened to make them think that Scientologists were after them? Was someone after them? Or were they just so intelligent, creative and introspective that they'd become paranoid, with the fears of one feeding the fears of the other?

More, this tale stays with me because here were two interesting, talented, loving people with lots of potential and then they're just gone. Literally here one day and then poof! It's so strange.

I read the article right after it happened. There are a few "stories" that I check on ever so often. The Caylee Anthony murder. The West Memphis Three tragedy. And this one. I always wondered if anyone would follow up on this or if Jeremy and Theresa would just fade away...a concept that has always disturbed me. I wondered if, out of all those lives they'd touched with their friendship and art, someone would follow up and try to find out why this happened and what the two were so distraught about.

Apparently, I am not the only soul who thinks this story is worth pursuing. Gus Van Sant and Brett Easton Ellis are teaming up to produce a film based on one perspective (scripted from a Vanity Fair article) of what happened to this couple. I will want to see it, but I hope it is not exploitative. And I hope it doesn't upset their families. But I doubt it will reveal any answers as to what really happened...