Filmed suicide of Ricardo López, aka Björk stalker (short ver)

Video Source:

http://robert-lindsay.blogspot.com/2010/11/ricardo-lopez-live-internet-suicide.html?m=1

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricardo_L%C3%B3pez_(stalker)

Ricardo López (January 14, 1975 – September 12, 1996), also known as the "Björk stalker", was an American man who attempted to murder the Icelandic singer Björk.

López was born in Uruguay and moved to Lawrenceville, Georgia with his family, and began working as a pest exterminator. He had poor self-esteem, was socially reclusive, and he eventually developed an obsession with Björk in 1993, hoping to be engaged with her; he was particularly angry over her brief relationship with the English musician Goldie. Over the course of nearly nine months in 1996, he made video diaries about her and other topics at his apartment in Hollywood, Florida.

On September 12, 1996, López mailed a letter bomb rigged with sulfuric acid to Björk's residence in London, then returned home, recorded a final video diary explaining his motivations, and ended it filming his suicide by gunshot. Hollywood police found his body and the videos four days after his death; they contacted the London Metropolitan Police about the package, who intercepted its delivery, and Björk was unharmed.

On the morning of September 12, 1996, López began filming his final video diary entry. The final tape, titled "Last Day – Ricardo López", begins with López preparing to go to the post office to mail the letter bomb. He said that he was "very, very nervous", but that he would kill himself rather than be arrested if he aroused suspicion. After returning from the post office, he resumed filming. As Björk's music plays in the background, a naked López shaves his head and eyebrows and paints his face red and green. He examines himself in a mirror and tells the camera that he is "a little nervous now". He then states, "I'm definitely not drunk. I am not depressed. I know exactly what I am doing. [The gun] is cocked back. It's ready to roll." As Björk's song "I Remember You" finishes playing, López shouts "This is for you" and shoots himself in the mouth with a revolver. He groans and his body falls out of view; at this point, the camera stopped filming. A hand-painted sign bearing the handwritten words "The best of me. Sept. 12" hung on the wall behind him. Police theorized that López intended to cover the sign with his blood and brain matter with the gunshot.

On September 16, a foul odor and blood were noticed coming from López's apartment. The Hollywood Police Department entered and discovered López's decomposing corpse. Written on the wall was a message: "The 8mm videos are documentation of a crime, terrorist matter, they are for the FBI." The Broward County Sheriff's Office evacuated the building while the bomb squad searched for further explosives, and found none. After viewing López's final tape, police contacted Scotland Yard to warn them that the potentially explosive package was en route to Björk's residence in London. The package had yet to be delivered; the Metropolitan Police intercepted it from a south London post office and it was safely detonated. There had been little danger of Björk receiving the bomb, as her mail was vetted through her management's office. Unbeknownst to López, Björk and Goldie had ended their relationship a few days before he killed himself.