We still don't have any answers
Journalist Michael Hastings was a high-profile figure, and when he died in a fiery car crash last June a lot of people immediately assumed he had been killed to keep him quiet. Personally I thought that it was probably just an everyday tragedy, and that it would soon come to light that he had been drinking, or someone had cut him off, or he had simply made one of the mistakes that millions of drivers make every year that end in death.
But it's been nearly two months since Hastings' death, and we don't have any more answers than we did then. In fact, we have even more questions.
Last night when Hastings' widow was interviewed on CNN by Piers Morgan, she dismissed conspiracy theories. On the topic of the hot story he had been following, she brushed this aside with the statement that "He always had at least five hot stories going." She mentioned that the LAPD investigation is ongoing, but stated that "my gut here is that it was just a really tragic accident."
Tragic, certainly. Accident? Even the LAPD doesn't think so, which is why the investigation has been open for the last six weeks, with few details being released to the public.
What we do know is that Hastings, who had not had any alcohol in the last five years, crashed his Mercedes into a tree hard enough to eject the engine, which was found over 100 feet away. Unlike most real-life auto crashes, Hastings' car burst into a fireball upon impact.
Less than 24 hours earlier, he sent out an email to his fellow staff members and a friend. In it, he expressed concern for his own safety based on the story he was pursuing. Hastings, an award-winning journalist who had previously investigated the Benghazi attacks and published the scathing article that forced General Stanley McChrystal to resign, had evidently been investigating the FBI and NSA.
Hastings had frequently spoken out against the "surveillance state" in the past. Many people have speculated that Hastings was working on the PRISM story, although there is also a rumor that he was working on a story about a high-profile Tampa Bay socialite.
While the LAPD remains close-mouthed about the Hastings investigation, surveillance video has surfaced which seems to show the vehicle catching fire before it crashed. And a group of "digital carjackers" have come forward to explain how Hastings' vehicle could have been hacked and remote controlled to drive into a tree at high speed.
Frankly, if we don't have the answers by now, I suspect we may never get them. Regardless of the cause, the world has lost a valuable talent in Michael Hastings.