The Mind Box

Whittsedge Wire, Peggy Spreck Reporting from Los Angeles
Murder Echoes Mogul's Real and Storied Violence

High-powered and hot-tempered entertainment executive Eddie Ealing has been killed in exactly the fashion he lived loudly, violently, and as the center of attention. A hundred people attended the Fourth of July party thrown by Ealing last night here at his estate. While no cameras were allowed inside, News Six caught the mogul smiling as he returned home in his car yesterday. But this morning, Ealing was found dead in what's certainly the strangest murder the Southland has seen in years.

Sources in the investigation say Ealing was brutally murdered like the victim in his own, award-winning movie from 1996.

News Six interviewed the victim's father, Dr. Reece Ealing, last weekend as he joined senate frontrunner Paul Tidell in Los Angeles to speak at the summit meeting of the National Organization for Better Literature and Entertainment - NOBLE as they're more commonly known. In his speech, Dr. Ealing addressed the psychological merit of what he called, "The moral corruption all too prevalent in books, music and movies being fed to young minds today."

Entertainment Industry Gets a Conscience?

NEW YORK -- Always the first to plead freedom of expression when it threatens their bottom lines, a host of entertainment and media executives are suddenly shunning violence in the wake of the strange Mind Box murder in Los Angeles. Tuesday morning entertainment mogul Eddie Ealing was found dead, butchered like the victim in one of his own award-winning movies.

While there have been copycat murders in the past, none has involved the actual creator or producer. Perhaps most alarming to other executives was the disturbing message Ealing received two weeks ago via e-mail. In it, the image of a gift box opened to show a blood-spattered photograph of an unidentified young Latina woman and a beating heart. The victim's estate manager says a card in the e-mail read "Mike's Gifts."

"Mike's Gifts" means nothing to the public, but a few high-level industry sources say the virtual service offers the worst kind of revenge - the gift of one's most unsettling secrets. Why this e-mail gift troubled Ealing is a mystery that may die with him.

One associate of Ealing's who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, "No one knows Mike. Mike's isn't a storefront or a shop you can look up in the Yellow Pages. The phone number's a secret, the password's hard to get. But no one delivers revenge quite like Mike. You live in dread of getting something from Mike's Gifts." If the homicide ties to the message, it would be the first time Mike's has delivered murder.

Several insider web sites are filling with rumors of other disturbing online gifts from the strange service, while other postings express concern that the purveyor of mental revenge has now escalated to homicide.

Because of the nature of Ealing's heinous killing, productions of several thrillers and crime films have halted on a number of fronts; similar ramifications appear to be killing key television productions. In the music business, one band has already cancelled its death metal tour for this fall and more than five top news directors at network affiliates have instructed their producers to dial back the graphic violence that airs during their broadcasts. (The Sun)

News 6 Noon Report, V.T. Gozman, Ph.D.

Psychologist Claims Mind Box Murderer is Spurned Young Male

"My profiling experience says the killer in the Mind Box murder is likely a young male, eighteen to twenty-four years of age, with neo-Nazi leanings, who may have tried to break into movies or the entertainment business and been rejected."

Competitive Psychologist Counters, "Too Early to Tell"

In a clear retort to other TV news projections of the Mind Box killer, Dr. Paulette Sohl of News Ten went on the air today to say, "It's far too early to tell, no psychologist worth his salt should be throwing out half-baked theories or profiles at this point."

Mind Box Murder Task Force Unravels Web of Leads

Two weeks before he died, the victim of the so-called "Mind Box Murder," Eddie Ealing, received a disturbing message via e-mail. In it, a gift box opened to show a blood-spattered photograph of an unidentified young Latina woman and a beating heart. A card in the e-mail read "Mike's Gifts."

No one but the dead man knows what the e-mail gift or the images mean, but they deeply upset the tough-skinned mogul, typically the last person to show emotion, the victim's estate manager told police.

LAPD Lieutenant Theodore Powell says a computer forensics team is attempting to track the sender of the message through deleted files on the victim's PC. And while the police were unfamiliar with the name "Mike's Gifts," one executive who asked to remain unnamed is all-too-familiar with the service, which he called, "The worst kind of revenge." The executive said that people in his circle refer to the service as "The Mind Box."

In response to questions of motive, Lt. Powell said, "It's no secret that Eddie Ealing had a lot of enemies, but in a case like this, we need to move quickly to separate the real leads from fiction. There were over a hundred guests at the party he hosted the night before. He had aggressive competitors in business. I've been cleared to launch a task force based out of the Hollywood station, as Robbery-Homicide at Parker Center is currently working around the clock on another high-profile case with rather daunting demands of its own."

LAPD Detective II Lane Daily, the head of the new task force, has already traveled to the Temperel Institute in Goleta, a scientific research facility known for its work in diseases of the brain (Alzheimer's, Parkinson's) and restoring memory function to those with brain damage. Eddie Ealing and members of his family served on the board of the Institute and its charitable foundation, which were founded by the victim's mother, who died from complications of Alzheimer's disease.

Members of the Temperel board, including the victim's father, noted author and conservative political advocate Dr. Reece Ealing, would not return calls at press time.

Murder of Media Mogul May Have Grave and Far Reaching Implications

LOS ANGELES - In what may be the most unusual homicide in recent Hollywood history, hot-tempered media executive Eddie Ealing was violently murdered like the victim in one of the movies he produced. Found dead Tuesday morning in the pool house of his Mulholland estate, Ealing was maimed, his body brutally filled with parts of himself, a direct echo of his 1996 award-winning movie, which an ad campaign called, "The ultimate death for a narcissist."

The victim's estate manager, Helmy Ulgrod, told police that Ealing received a disturbing message two weeks ago via e-mail showing a gift box that opened to show a blood-spattered photograph of an unidentified young Latina woman and a beating heart. A card in the e-mail read "Mike's Gifts."

No one but the dead man knows what the e-mail gift or the images mean, but they deeply upset the tough-skinned mogul, typically the last person to show emotion, Ulgrod told police.

LAPD Lieutenant Theodore Powell says a computer forensics team is attempting to track the sender of the message through deleted files on the victim's PC. And while the police were unfamiliar with the name "Mike's Gifts," one executive who asked to remain unnamed is all-too-familiar with the service, which he called, "The worst kind of revenge. My boss received a 'gift' from Mike's two months ago, and it wrecked him. He took a leave of absence and never returned, he was so shaken." The executive said that people in his circle refer to the service as "The Mind Box."

"You live in dread of getting one," he added.

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