Click the play button on the video window to the see the storyA Phoenix death has sparked a nation-wide investigation into assisted suicides.
Federal authorities in at least eight states are executing search warrants surrounding the "
Final Exit Network."
The April 2007 death of Jana Van Voorhis prompted an investigation by the Phoenix Police Department, according to Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas.
Detectives from the County Attorney’s Office investigated further, interviewing witnesses in Maryland and New Jersey. County Attorney detectives reached out to agencies in other jurisdictions and helped to facilitate a broader national investigation into Final Exit, according to a Wednesday news release.
Thomas said that evidence suggested two members of the Final Exit Network may have assisted with the suicide of Van Voorhis in Phoenix. The victim was not terminally ill but suffered from mental illness and depression.
The investigations turned up detailed records of visits so-called Final Exit Guides had with Van Voorhis in preparation for her death.
Van Voorhis had relatives in the Valley who had been caring for her, but those relatives were not contacted by the Final Exit Network prior to her death.
There have been no arrests or charges in the Valley.
"If there are charges or arrests, that will take place in the next 60-days," said Thomas.
During an afternoon news conference, The Maricopa County Attorney urged people who think their friends or relatives have come in contact with the organization to contact authorities.
In the meantime four members of the alleged assisted suicide ring were charged Wednesday with helping a 58-year-old north Georgia man end his life, authorities said.
The Final Exit Network website said it is "dedicated to serving people who are suffering from an intolerable condition."
Group members Claire Blehr, 76, and Thomas E. Goodwin, 63, were both arrested Wednesday at a home in the northern part of the state after a sting operation in which an undercover agent posed as a member of the group, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said.
Maryland authorities arrested Dr. Lawrence D. Egbert, 81, of Baltimore. A fourth suspect, Nicholas Alec Sheridan, also of Baltimore, has been charged but remains at large.
The four group members were charged with assisted suicide, tampering with evidence and a violation of Georgia's anti-racketeering act.
Their charges stem from a man's death in June 2008 after he inhaled helium in an assisted suicide in Cumming, about 35 miles north of Atlanta, GBI spokesman John Bankhead said. The man's name wasn't released.
Meanwhile, authorities were executing search warrants in Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, Colorado, and Montana as part of the investigation, the GBI said.
Bankhead said new members of the group pay a $50 fee and are vetted through an application process. Then each is assigned to an "exit guide" who instructs them to purchase two new helium tanks and a hood, known as an "exit bag."
When they are ready to commit suicide, Bankhead said, the member is visited by the "exit guide" and a "senior exit guide" to lead them through the process.
Jerry Dincin, a clinical psychologist who is the group's vice president, said the network started in 2004 and now counts more than 3,000 dues-paying members. He called the arrests "ridiculous."
"That's the epitome of stupidity, I think. And the epitome of stupidity can extend further. Who knows?"
The organization's Web site doesn't shy from its mission of "self deliverance."
"We applaud the work of organizations that seek legislative action to strengthen our right to die a peaceful and painless death at the time and place of our choosing," reads the site.
"However, we feel that legislative change will not come soon enough for the many people who need help now and in the interim!"
