Mystery of FL man who awoke speaking Swedish, claims no memory of documented past

[Donjeta]

http://voices.mydesert.com/2013/07/...twright-the-back-story-of-a-man-with-no-past/
Coming Sunday: More about Michael Boatwright, the back-story of a man with no past

And what does a samurai sword have to do with all of this?

The story includes new interviews with friends who knew Boatwright over the past year of his life, and a local source who spoke to Boatwright – in English – shortly before his memory disappeared.

 

[Abigail]

http://voices.mydesert.com/2013/07/...twright-the-back-story-of-a-man-with-no-past/
Coming Sunday: More about Michael Boatwright, the back-story of a man with no past

OK, good. It sounds like the expat teachers in China connected with the journalist. One of them said he was going to contact the hospital. Looking forward to the new story.

 

[Donjeta]

http://www.mydesert.com/article/201...Boatwright-Some-question-story-details-emerge

Michael Boatwright: Some question story as details emerge
Boatwright sought job as tennis coach after being sent to valley by pal in China

Searls said he met Boatwright in Zhuhai, a Chinese city on the border with Macau, during the first half of 2012. Searls works for the Zhuhai campus of United International College, and Boatwright taught English for TPR English School, another campus in the same city. Both ex-pats shared an interest in tennis and coached university students, so they inevitably crossed paths on the tennis court and soon played on weekends, Searls said.

.
...
Searls said Boatwright spoke flawless English, and appeared to be in perfect health. To everyone who knew him, Boatwright was an “affable, energetic guy” who kept his weekday life private but showed no hints of a troubled past. Everything seemed normal until January.

“There was no inkling of any deep personal issues. He never talked about money. He didn’t talk much about his past life,” Searls said. “And then there was this one Friday night where I get a phone call.”

The faint, mumbling voice on the other end of the phone was Boatwright. His only decipherable words were whispers of help, Searls said.

He rushed over to Boatwright’s home with his wife and two other tennis friends. They had never been there before, and they were stunned to find a “hovel” — a single-room basement apartment with no bathroom. Inside, Boatwright was unconscious. At the bedside was a half-consumed vial of animal tranquilizers — a drug-of-choice in Zhuhai — and a tall glass of vodka, Searls said.
....
For a reason that still isn’t entirely clear, Boatwright said he couldn’t go back to work at the English school, Gifford Searls said. TPR English School confirmed that Boatwright worked there for several years, but then left work abruptly in January.

 

[Abigail]

http://www.mydesert.com/article/201...Boatwright-Some-question-story-details-emerge

Michael Boatwright: Some question story as details emerge
Boatwright sought job as tennis coach after being sent to valley by pal in China

Searls said he met Boatwright in Zhuhai, a Chinese city on the border with Macau, during the first half of 2012. Searls works for the Zhuhai campus of United International College, and Boatwright taught English for TPR English School, another campus in the same city. Both ex-pats shared an interest in tennis and coached university students, so they inevitably crossed paths on the tennis court and soon played on weekends, Searls said.

.
...
Searls said Boatwright spoke flawless English, and appeared to be in perfect health. To everyone who knew him, Boatwright was an “affable, energetic guy” who kept his weekday life private but showed no hints of a troubled past. Everything seemed normal until January.

“There was no inkling of any deep personal issues. He never talked about money. He didn’t talk much about his past life,” Searls said. “And then there was this one Friday night where I get a phone call.”

The faint, mumbling voice on the other end of the phone was Boatwright. His only decipherable words were whispers of help, Searls said.

He rushed over to Boatwright’s home with his wife and two other tennis friends. They had never been there before, and they were stunned to find a “hovel” — a single-room basement apartment with no bathroom. Inside, Boatwright was unconscious. At the bedside was a half-consumed vial of animal tranquilizers — a drug-of-choice in Zhuhai — and a tall glass of vodka, Searls said.
....
For a reason that still isn’t entirely clear, Boatwright said he couldn’t go back to work at the English school, Gifford Searls said. TPR English School confirmed that Boatwright worked there for several years, but then left work abruptly in January.

OK, thanks Donjeta -- I need to go over and read the article for myself, and also, I wanted to check out the TPR school a little more closely. But...I'm getting a kind of hinky feeling about the school. If a school hires expat teachers in China, they're supposed to provide decent housing -- which includes not only a bathroom, but a working kitchen. The housing is preferably meant to be on campus. There are exceptions, of course, but China's Public Security Bureau frowns on foreigners living just anywhere because of "safety" issues. I find it wierd that MB would have stayed at a school for 4 years that provided crappy housing.

Also...wasn't it mentioned in an article somewhere that the school was saying MB hadn't been teaching at TPR for the past year? But the other expats are saying he was there until January. And...late January would have been about the time that Chinese Spring Festival holiday started (need to go and check the date for 2013, but EVERYBODY takes holiday then except for hospital workers and those sorts of folks) so, it wouldn't have necessarily been "leaving abruptly"...It would have been leaving for holiday.

ETA: I just looked it up and Spring Festival 2013 official holiday in China started on February 9. Most schools stop classes about a week or so before the holiday, but even so, it looks like MB would have been working until at least the end of January.

With regard to drug use...there was a media link to an arrest back when MB was a teen -- and that was just for marijuana, I think. No one's mentioned drug use any other time...

I'm getting the feeling that something happened with the school, and they're trying to cover stuff up...

 

[Abigail]

1) Expat friend pays for airline ticket to CA, and gives him about $400 in cash, and MB gives expat friend his sword and computer in return. But another expat (on Dave's ESL Cafe) is saying that when Michael didn't show up for class, the school admin went over to check his apartment and found the laptop and sword. Maybe that was during the interim period, when MB was staying at expat's place?

2) I don't get why MB couldn't return to his job at TPR. Sounds like they liked his work (he got that award), and were expecting him to show up for class. They're making it sound like MB just suddenly stopped coming to work, with no explanation, but MB's story to his friends sounds like leaving wasn't his choice. Just seems like something hinky there with the school's story. Maybe...because it was working with little kids...and his wife had apparently just remarried and he'd been cut off from his own son...maybe it was too painful for him to be around kids?

3) Well, at least, thanks to this article, we know that MB was in his right mind (speaking English, at least, although obviously depressed and a bit desperate) when he arrived in CA. So glad the paper kept following through on this story. Desert Sun and Brett Kelman -- you rock!! :rockon:

 

[Abigail]

I went over to TPR's website, and it appears that, even though they have teaching branches around the city, that they do provide housing for their teachers in two apartment buildings located close to the main office -- and that the housing is "excellent" according to one teacher (Of course, that's propoganda for teacher recruitment, but unlikely that the teacher writing this would be living in a squalid basement apartment without a bathroom).
http://www.tprenglish.com/english/TeachersSto/html/?20.html

Another teacher was slightly less than glowing about accommodations provided, but mentioned that if you don't like what the school provides you can find your own housing and the school will give you a housing allowance.
http://www.tprenglish.com/english/TeachersSto/html/?28.html

One thing I noted reading through the various teacher's stories is that several of them are long-term teachers (3 years or more), which speaks well about the school. If a school has crappy admin, most expat teachers move on to another school (or back home) at the end of their one-year contract. Teachers who are a bit older might hang around, because it's harder (but not impossible) for someone over 50 to find work in China, so if they find a job, unless it's especially horrible, they'll stick with it.

 

[songline]

I have no doubt he has a wide range of skills...but I do question why this man would tell people in Asia that he was from Sweden, when, in fact, he was American. And why he would claim to hold degrees in various disciplines, but never apparently work in any of the fields for which he says he was educated (except probably graphic arts).

My vote: con man

I am just not clear on whom he is coning and for waht?

 

[Abigail]

I am just not clear on whom he is coning and for waht?

Well, with regard to pretending to have advanced degrees when he was teaching in China, it would make it easier for him to get a job, and to get a higher pay scale. The Chinese schools rarely ask for transcripts -- only a diploma -- and often they are satisfied with just a photocopy of a diploma rather than the original, which makes it easy to fake.

I have no idea why he would pretend to be from Sweden rather than America when he was living in China, except, maybe there's occasionally some anti-American sentiment on the part of some Chinese, and no one hates someone from Sweden.

With regard to his current situation (if he doesn't really have amnesia) -- he was in a desperate situation. He couldn't find a job, and the $400 his buddy gave him would have run through in a few days with paying the hotel bill and food and transportation to job interviews. By pretending to have amnesia and be from Sweden and not speak English (if he is, indeed, pretending), he has scored 5 months of free room and board (and the use of a nice fitness room) and the attention of some nice Swedish people, who he's probably hoping will give him a place to stay and maybe help him find a job when the hospital eventually discharges him. I suppose finding a job will require him to "learn" English.

 

[Donjeta]

http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/searchadthe.jsf

No hits for his name in a portal where you can search for theses and publications in Swedish Universities.

 

[Abigail]

I was also thinking, if he really had a degree, he could have easily gotten a job at a Chinese university or an international school, if, for whatever reason, he had to leave the TPR school. Or, for that matter, instead of working at the TPR school (although it seemed like a nice enough place to work). Plus, he'd have certainly had more job options than tennis coach when coming back to the U.S.

The salary for working at a Chinese university is about the same as working at a kindergarten, but one usually only has to teach about 14 to 18 hours a week, versus the more rigorous schedule for teaching kindie. That would be for teaching English. If he was teaching in his own discipline, he could have been making a high salary. He could have probably conned the university admin with a fake diploma, but he may not have known that.

The international schools (those run by foreigners, not the Chinese run ones) usually have the best salary and housing, but for that you generally have to be a certified teacher, and the foreigner admin would ask for transcripts (which are much harder to fake).

 

[Donjeta]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...h-speaking-navy-vet-homless-article-1.1420267

From August 7th:

The amnesia-stricken Vietnam vet who was discovered unconscious in a California motel and woke up speaking only Swedish has been moved from a hospital to a homeless shelter after relatives in the U.S. declined to take him in.

Michael Boatwright, an American who spent the last 14 years living aboard, packed his belongings in a duffel bag and a backpack and took a cab to the Palm Springs shelter, Roy's Desert Resource Center, from Desert Regional Medical Center on Tuesday, the Desert Sun newspaper reported.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...y-vet-homless-article-1.1420267#ixzz2caApcdVD

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/21/health/amnesia-swedish/

Michael Boatwright, Navy vet with amnesia, arrives in Sweden to rebuild lifeBy Elizabeth Landau. Per Nyberg and William Hudson, CNN
August 21, 2013 -- Updated 0513 GMT (1313 HKT)

Boatwright has been diagnosed with dissociative amnesia, a rare psychiatric condition typically associated with a traumatic event. He says he has no memory of his past.
...
The Riverside County Department of Mental Health bought him a one-way ticket to Gothenburg after Boatwright made it clear that he wants to live in Sweden.
...
Before Tuesday, Espling and Boatwright hadn't seen each other since 1984.

Espling has arranged for a place for Boatwright to live in Sweden. She said she will try to assist as much as she can while he works through rebuilding his life.

 

[legalmania]

What a sad and strange story. His family doesn't want anything to do with him? Wonder why? Wonder why his lost his memory. I closed on my house on Aug 7 and have no idea what is going on. Didn't have cable for a couple of days, but was able to catch a few stories here and there. Well try to catch up on things.

 

[mikkismom]

Patient who awoke year ago with amnesia dies in Sweden

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/24/amnesia-victim-dies-sweden/8088943/

Inspector Peter Algersson, a spokesman for the Swedish police, said authorities believe the death was a suicide, and are not investigating it as a crime.

 

[atm9533]

wow, I have never heard this story before and was reading from the begginning to the post from today. I did not expect that. how sad.

 

[Tulessa]

Patient who awoke year ago with amnesia dies in Sweden

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/24/amnesia-victim-dies-sweden/8088943/

Wow!

 

[Linda7NJ]

How sad


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mayqueen]

What a sad (and strange) story. Per the USA Today link, he never regained the ability to speak English!

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/04/24/amnesia-victim-dies-sweden/8088943/

Boatwright spent five months at the hospital before he was transferred to Roy's Desert Resource Center, a homeless shelter in North Palm Springs. After two weeks at the shelter, the Riverside County Department of Mental Health bought Boatwright a ticket to Sweden, believing he would have a better chance of recovery in a place where he spoke the language.

He arrived Aug. 20 in Sweden, then vanished from the media spotlight. He moved to Uddevalla, a port city on the southwest coast of Sweden, and began working as a tennis coach. Although his ability to speak English never returned, Swedish speakers surrounded him.