Mary Elizabeth [Altmeyer] Bazzani known to many as Liz was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana on July 12, 1954.
She graduated from Bishop Dwenger High School in Fort Wayne and attended Indiana University in Bloomington. When she was 17, she met J. Michael Shoemaker.
Liz joined him in Bloomington. She went with him to Boston. She followed him to Portland. She followed him for 45 years until her death in 2017.
Liz’s sister, Theresa, also followed the Swami. Teresa’s husband, Salman Khan, also follows the Swami. They went farther than Liz. They followed him to Gold Beach.
Salman, Theresa and Swami
Liz married Michael Bazzani, and he also followed the Swami. They had two daughters, Vanessa, born in 1981, and Pia, born in 1982. The girls grew up in the Ashrams in Boston and Portland. The Swami was the center of their lives.
Liz’s sister and her husband started a business selling rugs from the east. Liz acted as a bookkeeper and helped with marketing. Liz also helped design jewelry for another Swami-inspired businesses.
Liz’s most dedicated work was in the ashram itself, in the kitchen, where she made meals for the Swami. She was a cook and baker.
Rio Hibler wrote:
Wish I could have gotten those baking tips from you…I so appreciate your fabulous skills with food, and will think of your memorable creations often.
As Liz evolved, her marriage to Michael changed from wife to friend. They divorced, but remained friends. For a time, Michael remained with the ashram. Then he decided to leave, as did their daughters.
Liz chose to remain.
The crew with Michael Bazzani on his last day in the kitchen.
Her eldest child, Vanessa, had a child of her own. Liz often cared for her granddaughter Genevieve at the ashram. Genevieve would sometimes stay overnight. She had her own bed in Liz’s apartment.
Liz, Vanessa and Genievive
Kali Ross wrote:
Liz was a ray of sunshine, always brought life into a room. Over the many years of knowing her, I have never seen a sad face she was always happy. She loved to be around people she loved. Liz was caring, loving, hopeful, happy, and just a joy to be around. She was always a great person to talk to. There is no one like her. She was one of a kind…. going into a room and seeing your bright smile. Your smile could make anyone’s bad day go better.
Lois Marie Tallon wrote:
I loved working in the kitchen, sharing each others stories, laughing and tasting the most delicious pastries I’ve ever experienced. Sharing the third floor space, scarf fashion shows in your room and in the hall, laughing till we cried.
Ruth Knight, with the Swami and husband Eddie.
Ruth wrote:
Liz! It’s been a joy to have shared some part of this life with you. Your most excellent cooking and sweetness in all things you’ve touched is missed and will never be forgotten. Wishing you a brilliant journey onward!
And Kristen Francis:
Liz, I appreciated your presence in my life more than words. You always magically showed up knocking at my door when I needed someone the most. Your caring and laughter would fill me up and make me forget my troubles. The care, kindness, fun and generosity that you gave me, will live on in my heart forever…. I will miss your company, friendship and laughter tremendously. I feel blessed to have known such a beautiful soul ~ you taught so much through your actions. Thank you Liz
So we now come to the last 30 days of Liz’s life. She is 62. It is the end of 2016.
We have two views of Liz coming from people who knew her towards the end.
Jayne Lyons saw her in December 2016. Jayne said Liz was robust and healthy. She worked long hours cooking and caring for her 7-year-old grandchild. Liz also worked a steady job downtown.
Marilyn Ritter saw her. “I… enjoyed your company in December, when you stopped by to catch up and we shared a late evening chat.”
Dan Glavin said Liz was carrying heavy pots up the stairs to serve the Swami his meals in December. He did not observe anything wrong with her.
The Swami and Sharon Ward. She often said she would take a bullet for the Swami and possibly deliver one for him too.
At least one person saw things differently. Sharon Ward said Liz lost weight. She had fallen, and was feverish, Sharon said. Possibly not in her right mind.
Ward said Liz was disoriented, depressed, and had medical issues.
But if Liz was sick, how did she care for her 7-year-old grandchild? If she was disoriented, how did she work in the kitchen and keep her work schedule as a bookkeeper?
Liz might have had reason to be depressed. The Swami no longer felt Liz deserved all he had done for her. As the supreme moral judge at the Movement Center – if the guru found cause for criticism, Liz had gone astray. The Swami told one of his female partners about Liz. As she put it, the Swami “talked crap” about Liz.
Why was the Swami angry with her? How serious was it?
It seems Liz disobeyed the Swami. She remained in contact with someone who had left the community. But was that someone a woman or girl the Swami had abused?
Liz Bazzani
On Wednesday, January 18, Liz was at the ashram taking care of Genevieve. Around 7:45 pm, Vanessa came to get her child. At that time, she saw her mother, Liz.
Heather Gail George and the Swami
Heather George also saw Liz that night. Heather was leaving the ashram, moving to another city to pursue her career.
Heather wrote about that last meeting:
Dear sweet Liz, your physical departure still hasn’t settled in. Maybe this is because your presence, for me, was always somewhat ethereal in nature. You truly have been a light in my life, and I know this is true for all those who knew you. As I have told Theresa and Vivi, my door and heart will always be open to them.
It has been such a joy sharing a home with you guys. I will cherish the mala you made me as one of my most precious possessions. Like everything you ever made, you put your whole heart into it and created something that creates awe and wonder at the beauty and talent so few possess.
Our last conversation, just a few hours before you left, we were talking about how much we were going to miss each other, but acknowledged that distance was not going to weaken our connection. You wished me well on my next adventure. And I wished for you to get the rest you needed. We hugged and said goodnight and how much we loved each other. We never know what our last words will be with our loved ones, but I could not be more grateful for ours now. Rest in peace and surrounded by all of our love my friend. Time for your next adventure too it seems. We’ll be ok, go be free to create beauty in new ways. A hui hou ~ Until we meet again.
Wednesday night
At the Movement Center, after evening yoga, the lights dim at 9 pm. People retire to their rooms. If Liz had left before 9 pm, someone might have seen her, but after 9 pm, people were in their rooms. Liz could have left without anyone noticing.
And leave the ashram she did.
Though it was 28 degrees outside, Liz did not take an overcoat. She left her purse, wallet, credit cards, ID, and cash behind.
She wore a gold ring with a large flat, square amethyst on her left ring finger.
We do not know when Liz left.
We know her cell phone left at 10:40 pm, according to AT&T location records. The phone moved southwest for the next 12 minutes. This time and location were consistent, with Liz walking to NE 30th and Glisan and boarding the #19 bus heading downtown.
It could also be consistent with it and her being in a car, concious or not.
Thursday, January 19
The next record of her cell phone from AT&T showed Liz’s phone location was at SW 2nd and Taylor early Thursday at 1:15 am.
This was close to where she worked and close to the Willamette River.
Less than an hour later, something peculiar occurred at the Steele Bridge.
Steele Bridge Portland, OR
TriMet is the public agency that operates the Steele Bridge, which spans the Willamette River. A pedestrian came out of the night to find a TriMet worker. The person said a woman was on the south side of the bridge and went into the water under the grain elevator.
Another pedestrian, possibly known to the first, told a TriMet worker they heard a splash, then a scream on the east side of the river.
At 2:05 am, a TriMet worker called 911. Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office [MCSO] was told an older woman was believed to be in the water near the eastbound Steele Bridge.
The information relayed on the call was hearsay. TriMet workers had not seen the woman or heard her scream.
The witnesses did not give their names or remain on the scene to provide details to the rescue workers.
They disappeared into the night, not leaving a contact number or name on the records.
The county deputies searched the area, but did not find a body.
At the time, no one connected this to Liz. Why would they? No one even knew she was missing.
It was not until six hours later – someone told Vanessa her mother did not show up for work.
Vanessa called her. The phone went straight to voicemail.
She went to Liz’s room and found her mother’s bed had not been slept in. Everything was neat.
Vanessa noticed Liz’s purse was there. Her cell phone was gone.
About 40 people lived in the Movement Center. Nobody said they had seen Liz that morning.
Vanessa reported a missing person to the Portland Police.
Officer Randy A Hauskins came in the afternoon. He knew nothing about the 911 call to MCSO about a woman screaming in the river as told by two anonymous passersby.
Friday, January 20
No word came on Thursday and into Friday. The family feared the worst.
On Friday, Sharon Ward, the Swami’s disciple, lawyer, and K9 search and rescue expert, took over the investigation.
She also served as liaison for the Portland police and family spokesperson.
Ward told police that on Friday evening, her K9 dogs began a track starting at SW 2nd and Taylor where the phone was last known to be.
Sharon Ward with a cadaver sniffing dog.
Ward told police her dogs tracked Liz’s scent down to the river about a mile from the Steele Bridge.
The dogs went to 1510 Harbor Way, Ward said.
Saturday January 21
By Saturday, Portland Police Detective Heidi J. Helwig took over the case. They called local hospitals with no results and put up missing person fliers.
On Facebook Susan Wright Kiley wrote: “The Facebook page set up to aid in the search says that Liz had a fever and had sustained a recent head injury prior to her disappearance.”
Portland Police Bureau Posted on FlashAlert: at 7:37 pm
The Portland Police Bureau’s Missing Persons Unit is asking for the public’s help to locate a 62-year-old woman missing since January 19, 2017.
Liz Bazzani is described as 5’4″ tall, 100 pounds, white hair, and green eyes. She was last seen wearing green Ugg-style boots, flowing light-colored pajama pants, and a blue sweater. Bazzani is familiar with TriMet [municipal buses], but left all personal affects at her residence in Northeast Portland.
Bazzani’s family is concerned for her welfare, as she is normally in regular contact with them. She was reported missing after she did not show up for work in the Pearl District on Thursday morning. There are no indications that her disappearance involves foul play….
Det. Helwig had extra help not normally afforded police in a missing person case. They had Sharon Ward and she must have impressed Det. Helwig.
After all, Ward is a certified K9 handler, the training officer for Pacific Crest Search Dogs, and a senior field coordinator for Cowlitz County Search & Rescue.
Sunday, January 22.
On Sunday, Ward contacted Detective Helwig to update her on her search efforts.
Ward said she ran a HRD [High-Risk Deployment] K9, which showed interest but not a final alert.
Helwig wrote on her police report:
WARD told me they would redo a shoreline search with HRD dogs later that day (1/22/2017), once it was dark and the riverfront cleared of people.
I spoke with WARD about MI. [Liz] She told me that MI has been losing weight recently. Her hair was changing, and she recently fell.
I requested WARD contact me if she obtained any new information.
Det. Helwig’s report continues.
On 1/23/2017, I again spoke with WARD. WARD told me that she worked the river last night with 5 K9s. She told me that they ran the dogs individually up the dock in front of the RiverPlace Hotel.
She told me that 4 of the 5 dogs independently alerted to the smell of human decomposition on the pilings holding the dock. She sent me photos of their track and the GPS locations of the two pilings where the scent was detected.
WARD also told me that the RiverPlace area was a special place to MI, as she had spent a lot of time walking and recreating in the immediate area. It was also not a far walk from where MI’s cell phone was last known to be.
WARD inquired as to whether a dive team could be utilized to check around the surrounding dock. I told her I would contact the MCSO Search and Rescue Coordinator and ask about the possibility.
I asked WARD whether the K9’s had traveled any further south along the waterfront, upriver.
She told me they had only minimally gone further south. I asked if she could check the waterfront southbound, including the dock that holds Newport Bay Restaurant (now closed).
WARD told me she would pull a team together to search that night.
I paged the MCSO Search and Rescue Coordinator, and later heard back from Sgt. Dangler.
I explained my investigation to date and the response to this area by HRD search dogs.
I forwarded him my flier as well as the information and photos I had obtained from WARD. Sgt. Dangler told me their dive team had training planned for the next two days, and may be able to include a search as part of their training. He contacted me later and told me that a search of the dock was scheduled for 1100 hours on 1/25/2017.
Ward controlled the search and the information shared with family. The narrative was Liz made an “irrational decision.”
Monday, January 23
KATU 2 News reported Monday, January 23rd 2017:
PORTLAND, Ore. – The family [Sharon Ward?] of a Portland woman that’s been missing since January 19 said she likely “made an irrational decision that took her life.”
Portland Police asked for the public’s help Saturday in finding Liz Bazzani.
According to her family, there have been clues that she may have become hypothermic while spending time near the river, acted irrationally, and possibly made a fatal decision….
Liz had been missing for five days.
Sharon Ward said she led her K9 team on multiple searches. She directed the police to the river.
Det. Heidi Helwig wrote,
I met with Sgt. Dangler and other MCSO Dive Team members on the north breakwater dock of River Place Marina. Ward was also present and directed searchers to where the K9’s detected human remains. The search did not yield any results.
Later that same evening, I received a call from MCSO Deputy Nuzum, who had heard about the search efforts for MI. [Liz]Deputy Nuzum told me he recalled a SAR [Search and Rescue] callout he had on the morning of 1/19/2017, for a water rescue of a woman in the water near the Steele Bridge.
Deputy Nuzum told me they searched the area, but did not find a body. He told me the caller was no longer on scene and they only had minimal information but thought it was mentioned that the woman in the water was older.I was able to locate the CAD call (CAD#PP17-17703) related to this incident and documented in MCSO Case #17-2209.
The call documents a woman in the water screaming at 0205 hours on 1/19/2017. The location is the Willamette River eastbound at the Steele Bridge. All the information in the call is 2nd hand info to TriMet workers on the bridge from a pedestrian walking by. The woman was first seen at the south side of the bridge, and then the witness thought she went under at the grain elevator.
Another pedestrian reported hearing a splash, then a scream on the east side of the river. The witnesses did not remain on scene and were not able to be interviewed.
January 26
Helwig believed it might all fit.
She wrote in her report: “Given the proximity and time related to MI’s cell phone information, I felt strongly that it could be related.”
Saturday, January 28.
On Saturdays, the ashram holds an open-eyes meditation. Ten days after Liz went missing, Sharon Ward came to the hall, and before meditation class, she announced she was confident Liz was in the river.
Monday, January 30
At around 12:54 pm, a call for a body floating in the Multnomah Channel near the Sauvie Island Bridge came to MCSO.
A boater – unnamed in the report – had spotted a body floating in the water. Multnomah County’s river patrol pulled a body of an older female with white hair.
MCSO River Patrol Deputy Todd Shanks and Detective Yandell sent Det. Helwig a photo of the ring on the left ring finger of the deceased. It was a gold ring with a large amethyst stone.
Helwig sent the photo to Ward, who confirmed the ring belongs to Liz.
At 3 pm, Helwig made the official notification that Liz had been recovered.
The county medical examiner’s office took the body. DME Chappelle decided Liz’s death was asphyxia by drowning. The manner undetermined.
Helwig obtained the video from the pedestrian walkway under the Steele Bridge at the time of the 9-1-1. The video was dark and grainy. It did not show anyone falling in the water.
Helwig wrote:
I can observe a subject walk onto the ped walkway from the west side of the river and stop. I can see the subject wait and pace, occasionally look over the side rail into the river, then wave to unknown people off camera. The subject then walked back to the west side of the river. The subject appeared alone. I am unable to determine if the subject is MI [Liz], or even if they are male or female.
Shortly after the subject walks off camera, I can see hurried flashlights searching on the east side of the river. An estimation based upon the CAD call is these may be Trimet workers or police, looking for the woman or responding to the witness accounts.
Relying on Ward’s view of Liz, Det. Helwig concluded there was no criminal conduct.
During my investigation, I did not find any evidence to support the possibility of foul play in the death of MI BAZZANI. Her behavior was described by unusual by family and friends in the weeks leading up to her death.
Additionally, her physical and mental state seemed to be declining, from an unknown cause.
The information provided in cell phone records show that MI likely left her residence between 2240 and 2252 hours on 1/18/2017, and spent some time walking downtown. I did not find any information that she met with anyone, and it appears she spent her last few hours alone.
I did not find any notes or other information to suggest that MI was suicidal, however her erratic behavior and physical/mental decline may have contributed.
This missing person case is exceptionally cleared.
Sharon Ward with Swami Chetanananda
After her death, Sharon Ward wrote,
Farewell sweet Liz. You live on in my heart and mind. Every day, I remember all the small things you did on a regular basis to make my life, and the lives of those around you, colorful and full of beauty and kindness. Rest with the angels, dear Liz. Love you always, Sadhvi
FR will seek the Medical Examiner’s Report, autopsy photos, Ward’s final search report to the police, the January 19th 9-1-1 call, the January 30, MCSO #17-4060 and the video from the Steele Bridge.
According to others in this report: Liz wanted to leave. Liz had an appointment with him that night. SC was angry that Liz was still in touch with his ex and her mother/ex. Liz ends up missing a few hours later.
1+1+1 = ?
Was she still in touch with Leiko and her mother, Janie Coyle? How do you know she had an appointment with him that night?
The person(s) writing anonymously, revealing identities, are doing Shoemaker’s work here…shaming and gaslighting other commenters trying to provide information.
Don’t be intimidated by these acrid flying monkeys still attached at Shoemaker’s groin.
Yes. She was. Have no idea about the appointment
I can only imagine what that bastard said to her.
Heather George is an idiot
No farewell from the Abbott
http://www.cremation-salem-oregon.com/obituaries/obituary/14273_Mary_Elizabeth_Bazzani_aka_Liz_Bazzani
“Special Deal” recipients: Krystyn Wong: who is that? Had a stupid dog, was told she didn’t have to go to class.
Jon Shanker: groomed for a teaching position for years, then did an acupulco cliff dive over the course of a weekend. Karla. Leiko. Many many others.
The much vaunted special deal went south for everyone.
How stupid. The game is rigged. Sadhvi? What are your thoughts on the special deal?
Why would kw go to class? lol. She was never a student. Moved in because her mother did, had no interest in spirituality, then happened to get sick while there. As usual, Sleazebag-ananda starts fucking any young woman that moves in and creates a stupid and unsustainable situation for himself, for her, and for the people that watch it. Unless of course, youre one of his braindead cold blooded reptiles who feed these young woman to him, like meat to feed their pet beast, or stand by and watch it for decades turning your back on the women discarded. Which one were you, prah?
Hah ha ha ha ha. I am one who speaks the truth. How did Swami’s special deals work out for anyone? They didn’t.
Well I agree with you there.
But the question you should be asking yourself is why is a person not remotely interested in spiritual practice getting fawned over, while others who dedicated decades of selfless service perpetually ignored.
Prah, How long did you live in the ashram? I was told a few months. Yet you are omniscient consider yourself above all others.
And now for a deeper dive into darkness;
https://www.routledge.com/An-Indian-Tantric-Tradition-and-Its-Modern-Global-Revival-Contemporary/Osto/p/book/9781032400471
An Indian Tantric Tradition and Its Modern Global Revival: Contemporary Nondual Saivism by D. E. Osto
For about $50, you can read an award winning academic investigation of teachers accused of sexual abuse and illegal financial activities in relation to unique features of Nondual Saivism’s theosophy. Included in the investigation are: Muktananda and his successor, Gurumay, and the off shoot movements that trace back to Muktananda, such as Rudrananda’s (Rudi’s) “western Kashmir Śaivism,”Chetanananda’s Movement Center and Shankarananda’s Shiva Yoga.
This book analyzes the contemporary global revival of Nondual Saivism, a thousand-year-old medieval Hindu religious philosophy. Providing a historical overview of the seminal people and groups responsible for the revival, the book compares the tradition’s medieval Indian origins to modern forms, which are situated within distinctively contemporary religious, economic and technological contexts.
The author bridges the current gap in the literature between “insider” (emic) and “outsider” (etic) perspectives by examining modern Nondual Saivism from multiple standpoints as both a critical scholar of religion and an empathetic participant-observer. The book explores modern Nondual Saivism in relation to recent scholarly debates concerning the legitimacy of New Age consumptive spirituality, the global spiritual marketplace and the contemporary culture of narcissism. It also analyzes the dark side of the revived tradition, and investigates contemporary teachers accused of sexual abuse and illegal financial activities in relation to unique features of Nondual Saivism’s theosophy and modern scholarship on new religious movements (NRMs) and cults.
Nice coffe table book? Or something to put under the Christmas tree? Frank isn’t the only one who has Shoemaker’s number.
Translated into plain English “nondual Saivism” is fuzzy mysticism with roots in the Middle Ages. Religious mysticism that awes the gullible, fools them into thinking there’s some deep concept there that’s beyond their puny minds to comprehend and requires year of obedient study to grasp.
It’s one of those “mysteries” that religious people find so handy in explaining their nonsense and employ when they’re cornered by evidence and logic.
In New Age terms, it’s the dumbass idea that everything is everything, or “oneness”.
It is, in a word, bullshit.
https://darik.news/california/swami-who-separated-from-chetnanand-comes-to-california-time-to-ask-what-went-wrong/749648.html
Another website has asked the question, What went wrong between Steve Ott and J. Michael Shoemaker.
What went wrong between Scott Hanley and Shoemaker? It couldn’t have been because Shoemaker was sexing Scott’s wife Karen because she did that willingly and he was fine with it.
What went wrong between Jim Putorti and Shoemaker?
Every major teacher Shoemaker had ditched him.
SCOTT and RAH are IDIOTS in a certain way!!!!! Let me explain: Scott thought he was a “cut above”, and Rah had a special deal. Special deals go south. SCOTT is a bozo. This makes me laugh so hard it hurts.
Scott Hanley = sexual predator. Partner Robin Mesch enables him.
Most of sc’s besties were sexual predators themselves, scoping the place for sc’s cast-offs hoping to get some action with one of his heartbroken exes. It was a fucking creep-a-thon, a gauntlet of dirty old men.
It’s amazing Scott thinks he is a family counselor now. Both his sons are damaged by exposure to The Swami
Who are you to judge?
How is it any different from others who survive cultic abuse and then become therapists to help cult survivors?
Who is RAH?
Rah is Scott Hanley’s long-time life partner, Robin Mesch.
What about Kerry Kaplan? He was Shoemakers friend for decades, they were thick as thieves, sharing women, wine and food. The rumor mill has it Kerry left and is following Steve Ott. What’s the story there?
YEA what about KK?
Good Point. And Kerry Smith? I mean neither of them went to Gold Beach. I heard Swami screwed them over too! His very best friends in the world. Chet left behind both Kerry’s and Howard to go retire with his millions that he made at everyone else’s expense!! This is just so wrong, he should not have been able to just walk away with the entire place!! How did that even happen? How could those guys let him just walk away with everything so many people spent their lives building?
The 11 ex-members who wrote the Leaving Nityananda letter included a statement about their daughters, “Most of us left the ashram after discovering the truth about Swami Chetanananda: his lying, cheating, and manipulation; his rampant sexual misconduct with female students – including adultery, and, having sex with the daughters of his students; his secret use of alcohol, cocaine, and prostitutes; his behind-the-scenes displays of violence and anger; the egregious fundraising manipulations by him and his staff; his luxurious life-style attained at the expense of devotees; his terrifying threats to students who spoke openly about his private life; and the endless cover up of all the above abusive behaviors.”
Did something go amiss with Liz requiring the Swami’s sudden intervention?
Shoemaker calls himself the “abbot” of the Movement Center. As abbot of a residential spiritual community, he is responsible for the safety and well being of the community. What would be his role and his responsibilities when a member is found dead, like Liz and Ayaz or when a student jumps off a bridge or a student is taken by ambulance to the hospital? Both Shoemaker and Sharon Ward held administrative positions in the Movement Center and as such, they had responsibilities towards the “duty to care” for the residents. Shoemaker’s name is not even mentioned in the police report on Liz Bazzani’s death. Shoemaker did not offer condolences on her obituary page. He lived with her for over 40 years.
Sharon was placed in a privileged position as a ‘close friend’ of Liz and her family, as a lawyer and as a search & rescue volunteer to direct the narrative of the investigation. So, the starting point is, none of us can trust a thing they say or do as they’ve spent their entire lives lying about and camouflaging every aspect of their lives. Anything she told the police and the community should be questioned.
I doubt many think it’s murder. But how many stories of asphyxiation and reckless drug use does a person need? One of his sex partners was rushed to hospital in the middle of the night. He’s spent his entire life engaging in dangerous sex acts with wildly inappropriate sex partners. How many times has it gone wrong? How many stories don’t we know? Could this have been one of them?
What we all can agree on is that none of it makes any sense. Was there coercion? Was she seeing someone? It sounds to me like she walked out of the ashram to speak to someone, maybe jumped into someone’s car, they went for a drive, then she ended up in the river. Nothing else makes sense. Has anyone seen this supposed bus footage?
Reply to “Has anyone seen this supposed bus footage?”
Liz Bazzani
Police Report GO 42 2017-18178, quoted from the report
“On 1/21/2017 at 2130 hours, I contacted Trimet to request datapacks that included buses along Sandy Blvd, beginning between
the hours of 2000 and 0100. At the time of my request I was not able to narrow down a more exact bus or time, so I was
refered to Linda Segraves with Transit Police. I emailed her my request. Ultimately, Trimet was not able to recover any of the
datapacks because the rail and buses have a window of 72 hours and they weren?t able to pull the data within that timeframe.”
If Sharon Ward told “loved ones” at the Movement Center that there was Trimet video of Liz on a bus, that contradicts what is in the police report.
So it’s bullshit. If Sharon was circulating a rumor that the police saw her on the bus, then why would should she do that? If this is true then she’s caught right smack bang in the middle of a lie with the only purpose being misdirection.
Sharon Ward is a liar
Truth
Between 10:45 and 1:15 is a 2 hour and 35 minute window. What happened here? Why didn’t her phone ping closer to the river, if that is where she walked to and fell or jumped in? Its a significant walk from 2nd and Taylor (near the Morrison Bridge) to the Steele bridge.
In that level of cold weather, would Liz even have been able to walk without a coat after being exposed to the elements for that amount of time?
Yes Ruth, you keep repeating what’s already been said
Thanks for letting me know, Anonymous, you clearly care a lot about this!
Must be hard to exist in a world where everyone is an idiot but you. Do you live for the moments you can berate and condescend to other commenters? You definitely need therapy.
Your hidden agenda is obvious.
It’s not hard. It’s fun! Swami presents himself and this community as something fantastic. But when one looks beneath the hood, one sees nothing but bullshit. It should be pointed out. And, yes, idiots should be identified.
You clearly have a personal agenda against Ruth. It’s ugly.
Must be frustrating when you are so short sighted you are looking at this story through your single NXIVM lens, picking the “characters” in your “narrative” for whatever network you hope to sell us to.
Good luck with that. No not the same. Do you know how many actual victims you have insulted by sticking up for Ruth whenever someone flips her a little shit? NXIVM did not live, eat, pray, breathe, and die in the same space as each other for YEARS some decades. Would also like to point out, Frank that Ruth is not in fact a victim of the main villain in this story and since dropping her rape and child molestation bombs about two other people which NONE that has brought you ANY more people coming forward… she stands as the lone accuser.
Nothing more on that, just her ever running commentary on others. I guess we all wonder how she had time to know so much about all this other when according to her she was worked like a slave outside for 12-14 with no time for even sleep. If I were her i would be working a lot harder to find other people that can even semi vouch for her rape and child molestation allegations against people who unlike Shoemaker have NONE currently BUT hers.
So you go ahead Frank and attack anyone who questions her. We would be all eating popcorn and laughing at the “show” you make her a star of if she wasn’t such a cock block to the actual victims you need to make anything resembling justice come from all of this. You get it? WE ARE NOT NXIVM. You made some extreme claims, Ruth. Show us something besides your arrogance and hiding behind Frank to back them.
Genuine question: “Do you know how many actual victims you have insulted by sticking up for Ruth.” Why do you feel this way?
And think she’s cock-blocking other victims. I don’t see how? The only one cock-blocking was Becker who sucked all the oxygen out of the room with her lies. Kind of the way SC does, actually.
Hold on? What? Whuuuuuuut? This is a weirdly sexual term to talk about rape victims and their stories being heard? WTH? How am I a cock block? Frank’s number is right there on the sidebar. You have something to say to him? Do you have anything to add to help bring this all down? Please!
There are other outlets too besides this place. Good luck! Please spread this far and wide!?
Also how can I be hiding behind Frank but ALSO being a literal cock block? I….wut? If this is from an ashram flying monkey, just lol. Coward.
If this is from another victim, god please you need to log off. This doesn’t seem stable.
This comment actually hurts me to some degree btw. Good job?
I know there are other people hiding out there, not willing to put their names forward. And it sucks. I can’t force anyone. I can only ask them to come forward. I don’t want this to die out. Weird how I can sit with it though, and let it go, and not attack people for it.
Why aren’t YOU putting the work in to bring them out if you hate me so much for existing in the spotlight? You’re clearly very, very angry. What that says to me is you feel you’ve lost control.
FYI, There’s more that I’ve given that isn’t about me that hasn’t been made into an article yet, it’s Frank’s discretion, I can’t control it. There is also more direct evidence too but again, Frank’s discretion.
I honestly don’t know why you think I am some kind of miracle worker btw, that I can’t both solve everything on my own and satisfy whatever qualifications you have, (but won’t share in a coherent manner?), it’s a weird kind of flattery, do you understand?
Another point to be made, SC wouldn’t be a main villain if there weren’t other villains backing him up and covering for him well, gaslighting for him, threatening others, tearing them down, trying to control the narrative, exist under his wing and avoid blame at the same time. Like maybe doing some of what you’re doing here now as well. That place is a rat’s nest of drug abusers and narcissists.
I was kept away from SC for god knows what reason, but I experienced his abuse through his minions, allies and chosen ones.
A dictator isn’t directly the one one pressing the buttons to send missiles to kill children with bombs, but those children are still dead and maimed. He might not personally ever say “its okay to rape your conquests” but tacitly allow it and reward it. Get it now? I made it really really low level simple so you can understand through the whatever nonsense you’re experiencing right now about me, that I’m telling the absolute truth. It’s how cults work. It’s a criminal organization. I wouldn’t have shared what I know either if it wasn’t confirmed also by at least one other person.
Sadly people seem to me these days, to be more willing to live in a comfortable lie than exist in truth, and will viciously attack others if they can no longer control the narrative they feel safe with. I think this applies to you. You’re probably trying to salvage some aspect of my truth that hurts you or someone you care about. For that I’m genuinely sorry. Truth hurts but it’s also freeing. I suffered under so many lies for so long. That was one of the worst parts of it for me, was the fraud, the betrayal via lies. The duplicity at it’s root had a whole lot of resentment to it, don’t you think? If you carry that much hate, envy and distrust….it has to hurt you in the end, right?
If my hunch is right, this personal narrative you feel you lost control of, is why you’re not likely going to come forward with your name. Because if you did, the spot light would be on you next, and/or the person you’re protecting by association. Not on me anymore. And spotlights aren’t in your control. You can’t photoshop or wish away all realities.
But if my hunch is wrong, then please come forward and prove me wrong. Even anonymously to Frank. I’m not blocking him. I’m also not hiding behind him. (lol)
How do YOU know no one else has come forward? You are wrong.
Not everyone comments on the Frank Report. They talk to the police and the attorneys.
Jessica Becker does not own a car or a firearm. The one commonality she and Ruth surely DO share is spewing an inexhaustible amount of venom when rejected or scorned. How long did these two wait around for JS to “text them back”? Her story was written just after returning home empty handed after 12 hour rt drive to “save her lost love” armed with the gun of choice for school shooters? Didn’t he have a rabbit they could have boiled instead? Hello? Cuckoo! Cuckoo! Oh yes, we know, “wild animals” which is why I’m sure is the exact reason she selected that particular firearm living in downtown Portland because you know one can’t leave the house fighting off a bear or cougar. That’s why a semi automatic is necessary. Give me a fucking break. Really makes you wonder about a “journalist” so air light on actual facts. And good I hope if this IS true someone is actually reporting it to the police for the sake of CHILDREN! If they aren’t then they officially qualify as human garbage and f them. So here the question iof the hour. Ready? Is there anyone out there in the past 20 years in either time of her living there that Ruth warned them to keep their children safe from him? There better be because if not Ruth is either lying or she protected a pedophile for 20 years. Both is shit and requires a response.
You talk big and condemn everyone; So why don’t you use your real name, Miss Know-All.
You obviously have a hard-on for JS and a revenge fantasy about Ruth. Obsessed much?
So I can live in fear and wonder if an angry former cult member is going to show up at my house uninvited with an AR-15? Not on my to do list, Frank. Not sure why you are throwing your ring in this hat and what your lack of impartiality is all about. If truth and safety isn’t acceptable on this forum what is the point of being here?
Me thinks hats are thrown in rings, not rings thrown in hats.
To the “rambo” commentor. Sounds like you are choosing to live in fear actually, it’s quite a pearl clutching comment. FYI despite what the MSM has told you the vast majority of mass shootings (including of children) are done with handguns, not ARs, and in fact, if you own an AR you are more likely to be law abiding than those who possess pistols. But I see that logic and math are not your strong suit. AR was recommended to me by a 5 tour veteran friend as the ideal “first purchase” gun, because rifles and rifle-style guns like the AR, are easier to store safely, less likely to misfire, have lower recoil (good for women to use) and easier to practice shooting with.
And yes, you can’t do math. 20 years? I wasn’t even in the cult that long. You can’t even call it 20 years when you take the earliest possible move in date and no 2 year break in between. . .
Police in multiple jurisdictions were notified btw. That was a main goal of going to gold beach btw, to talk to the police. We probably waited no longer than 15 minutes to meet Jesse, no one was staked out or stalked. Went there once and never returned. Stayed there for a few days just to recover from the drive, and we spoke to many people in town, just exploring and hanging out.
And again, I was asked to bring my gun by Becker multiple times after I joked about it, after she told me repeatedly about guns owned by Jesse and SC which she claimed she saw. It was her idea to go down there. As someone who has many times brought it to go camping myself, it was a normal ask for me. I wasn’t even that keen on meeting Jesse, Jessica literally begged me to in multiple ways. I wanted most of all to talk to the police, which I did.
Not like you’re an owed an explanation when you’re so clearly vile that you suggest every victim of a pedophile or rape who doesn’t come forward (the vast majority of victims never do) are protecting pedophiles. Sounds pretty unrealistic to me. It also sounds like you think I somehow had a hard on for Jesse after 9 years? Again a common and very obvious trope used against any female victim of male violence, no matter who she is or how she behaves. Vile behavior. And you say I’m cuckoo. Listen to yourself? Lol.
My biggest mistake at all was to believe anyone at the cult about Jesse. I was being told by people I thought I could trust (rather early on too after we broke up) that Jesse had changed and he’s a good one. I recall stating on here already that he moved out not long after and got a “real job” as a manager at Applebees, leaving the ashram premises and rarely showing up, at least when I was there between 2010-2014. I don’t think I saw him more than twice in that period. I specifically asked Andrew Bonner before moving back in too, that if Jesse was still living at the ashram, I would not come back, even though I myself was homeless at the time.
Again, people (the few I thought I could trust) were told, but they, like you, are part of the cult and so it fell on deaf ears. Worst of all (and part of what makes this so difficult) is I never saw or knew an actual child victim so what is there to report to police? I was not aware for a long time that you can make a report even if there is not a clear victim. Who would believe my hearsay? I only came forward now, in this year, because I had one other person (now in hiding or lawyered up I’m not sure which) who confirmed to me she saw the same things I saw, that he had not changed and he had gotten worse. It made me angry, because it was proof to me of the depths of lies and gaslighting that I was subject to.
Now for the interesting part. I recognize the “cuckoo!” comment as an ashram specific dialect word and it reminds me of [drumroll] Sharon. For some reason it reminds me of a caught crab bubbling foam out of it’s mouthparts. It makes me feel kind of sad actually.
The exclamation point with capslocked “CHILDREN!” seems particularly unhinged.
Whoever you are, you should ask yourself why you are part of an organization that not only failed to report not just on Jesse, but multiple others, and actively covered up and defended such abusers, included against it’s own members (me) speaking out, leading to the culture of terror and retributive harassment; even violence; that kept victims like me afraid to even speak for fear of abuse.
And if this is Sharon, I know it’s because you use extreme cynicism and nihilism to justify your behavior…you know you’ve done dirty deeds but think of yourself as a member of the “chosen” above the muck of humanity in an endless and unchanging cycle of “karma”. It’s called creeping determinism btw. It’s one frequently used by the guilty to assuage culpability.
And being a member of the elite as I know you see yourself, even your victims owe you for being part of your energy field (or rather the energy field of your guru). It’s how you justify yourself and your behavior, including (or especially) the secrets, fraud and lies, because us lowly people wouldn’t understand, right? Abuse from a chosen one is in fact a gift right? Only the initiated get it. Up is down, freedom is slavery, war is peace?
Do you not understand yet that it is in fact, proof that you are in a cult? And do you not see that the light of day is coming your way, inevitably? Again the comments written here by the cult members are the proof of cult behavior. It’s the Lewis’s Law of cults.
You’re not afraid of me and my AR, you’re afraid of the truth. You don’t have to be. Truth is truth. You can tell your own version to Frank as well. Why hide?
Thank you Ruth for staying grounded and on point.
Regarding the egg puja: Here is story, Swami was hunting all over India, and Nepal, for tantric practitioners to ostensibly learn from, and further his own growth, and then share that with all of his students. Reality: He was looking for recognition for his accomplishments spiritually. Because he is an out of control egomaniac, and narcissist. It was ALL about HIM. 100% of it. This is part and parcel of the deceitful ways in which this guy operates. Everything is presented one way, but there is always a hidden agenda.
He failed to garner the recognition he was seeking, and his frustration, and anger come through in so many (unfortunate) ways. Drug abuse, sexual abuse, spiritual abuse (of power), manipulation of students, cultivating those with money.
Sadhvi, what kind person are you? Michelle–you weasel. You tattled on your friends to get attention from Swami. How sad. Have you people ever looked in the mirror and asked who, and what you have become?
Fuck all of you.
PPL
tattled on friends… what did the friends do that was worth reporting to your guru?
All I got out of that toothy, mouse maze, gassy response is you are blaming Jessica Becker for “making” you take your gun to drive the 6 hours you apparently needed two days to recover from and insinuating there is something shameful about restaurant work. If your writing came with a sound effect it would be that crude noise people make when they are imitating a vigorous jerk off.
Reach harder pleaae If this is from an ashram member the funniest thing is it’s complete projection you do look down on the menial workers, including myself when I was tahrre. You must do so, in order to justify your exploitation and two-tiered system within your cult organization, and especially to victim blame.
I literally am just quoting what I was told about it from a 3rd party, that’s all. It’s only your insane desperation to imply whatever millimeter thin character defects as you can upon me to avoid the burden of guilt.you feel, and to sexualize (read: objectify) and degrade me … because the need is that great in you to deflect. You are oh so spiritual, yet your brain is in the gutter about masturbating? Explain that one to me?
Your constant abuse of Ruth is so foul and discredits everything you say. Who are you exactly? Jessie? Mary Grace? Someone else close to Jessie obviously who can’t handle the information without resorting to personal insults and sad attacks. Have you done any work on yourself at all? Deal with you shit dude. It’s ugly as hell.
Or always was.
Some of you need to educate yourselves better on psychopathy and malignant narcissism. You have no clue how many psychological murders get swept under the umbrella of “suicide”. You should, might keep it from being one of the leading causes of death in this country.
People are sick.
https://owlcation.com/social-sciences/Psychological-Murder
Frank
If it’s NOT MY sister missing, you don’t care.! If it’s a brand new case, for the second time – YOU act as though you care, we all know it’s an act.
Kris is important too- YOU have lied & neglected her & us. We all know it – shame on you monster !!!!!!!
No one at the ashram makes any moderate or major life decision without either discussing it with Michael directly, or Michael knowing about it through his human surveillance team.
Even if it were to be ruled a suicide from the outside looking in, there’s complexity because of the stronghold Michael has on the minds of every person there. It wouldn’t be the first time he nudged someone in that direction or was cruel and indifferent rather than taking the legally and morally appropriate steps of intervening with some type of specialist care as a spiritual leader. Especially if it’s someone like Liz who was around for so long with her immediate family directly involved.
ShadowState get the fuck off of this forum. No one cares about your political ideas.
Frank:
Start telling the truth about Joe Biden
Every single member of the U.S. Congress — both House & Senate — has just received a report chronicling a total of 459 documented violations of state and federal law, which were found on the laptop of President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden.
The file was sent to all 535 members of Congress on Oct. 20 and includes “140 alleged business-related crimes, 191 sex-related offenses and 128 drug-related crimes,” according to The Sun. It was also sent to District Attorneys and U.S. Attorneys for the jurisdictions in which the alleged crimes occurred.
https://timcast.com/news/evidence-implicating-hunter-biden-in-459-crimes-was-just-sent-to-every-member-of-congress/
What do you want me to tell them?
Building a mystery where there is none. Just like with Kristin Snyder’s suicide.
Just like Chakravorty’s fanciful theory of evidence tampering.
No thanks. I prefer staying grounded in reality. I’ll take a simple explanation over a convoluted one any day. I believe in facts and reason, not a shadow world of conspiracies and cover-ups.
Probably one reason why I never joined a cult.
No one asked you, Sausage Gallery.
How is it simple? It makes no sense. To me the simplest is at minimum some kind of medical neglect occured for which they were culpable, if Sharon’s story is true that she had a bump on her head and was feverish…why weren’t they monitoring her?
How the hell was Sharon not considered suspect for inserting herself in the investigation and spinning stories?
First it was she had a head injury, then it was ill health with a fever, then it was early dementia (?) Then it was suicidality? I knew Liz, it doesnt fit. It makes me feel sick that Sharon described Liz’s actions as “an irrational decision” If Liz was mentally compromised by a head injury and a fever that’s not a decision that’s literally a medical emergency and someone being unable to make decisions due to it. Sharon should know this, at least she poses as she is someone who knows it all with regards to how people get themselves lost. I remember Sharon telling me stories of old people with dementia getting lost in the forest. Its almost like she went through the checklist of things to claim to make it seem it “couldnt be helped.” And this was before Liz’s body was even found?
It stinks.
How is it simple? Elderly woman wanders off one night, ends up in the river, body is found days later, examined, no evidence of foul play. Conclusion: death by drowning, probably suicide.
This was the determination made by a big-city medical examiner’s office that sees a lot of suicides and a lot of murders and presumably can tell the difference.
As opposed to what alternative theory? Some convoluted murder mystery like we see on TV? The perfect murder (perfectly improbable) that goes undetected, fools the cops and the medical examiner but is solved by the amateur sleuth?
I’d love to hear your theory of how this was a murder. Let’s see how it compares with simple suicide by drowning.
A lot of people get their notion of reality from TV shows. TV land is full of clever murders disguised as suicides, planes that crash, and secret government agencies up to nefarious ends. Which helps explain why so many people readily believe in conspiracy theories, are afraid of flying, and refuse to believe someone can jump without being pushed.
Elderly how? Aristotle you act as if you knew her. Did you? Other people besides me have mentioned she was sharp up til the moment of her disappearance, working, making plans, talking deeply with others. She was not mentally unwell.
Same with suicide. I think you’re not reading the comments here or the article. Nothing ads up. She didn’t act impulsively, if so she would have jumped straight into the river. You really believe that she “impulsively” wandered alone around downtown in the middle of the night for hours in 28 degree weather and Ugg boots? Do you even know what Ugg boots are? I do. They’re useless for walking.
If she wanted to kill herself why not leave her beloved children and grandchildren and community any note? She was not that kind of person.
I don’t appreciate your condescension either. It shows to me there is some other motive behind your comments. Yes, actually, it shows you’re pretty twisted to suggest people who knew Liz, and survived this cult, as equivalent to tv-dinner recreational conspiracy nuts. Aren’t you projecting? You’re the one who doesn’t have any personal connection with this. Right?
Did Shoemaker’s name show up on the police report? Was he interviewed? He was the Abbot of the Movement Center where Liz lived for decades. Like a school principal or head of any residential / teaching institute, I would think Shoemaker should have been interviewed.
Even if he was out of the country, he could have been asked about the well-being of his longtime student. Shoemaker’s name doesn’t show up in the newspaper coverage either. Why wasn’t he contacted? Shoemaker did not write a remembrance for Liz on her obituary page. Why didn’t he honor her in that way?
Shoemaker was in town. Liz was upset her daughter was late to pick up her granddaughter because Liz had an appointment with him. Her sister unfortunately was out of town.
Liz had an appointment with Shoemaker the night she disappeared?
This is certainly a twist in the plot.. what happened in that meeting? It’s scary to imagine what he said to her.. what prompted her disappearance and death?
January 18th, the night Liz disappeared, is also Sharon’s birthday. Was there a birthday party for Sharon (Sahdvi) at Swami’s apartment that night?
I’m on the edge of my seat Frank. I can’t wait to read the medical examination report.
Reminds me of Kristen Snyder. All the people around her acted like they cared. Sharon Ward, Kenny powers and Hiedi “The Wifey” all associated in rescue ops and apart of the government.
Sharon Ward will destroy anyone who may intentionally or unintentionally threaten her Swami – and their enormously lucrative lifestyle.
If Liz was still in contact with those who had left, that could have been cause enough for Sharon Ward to shut down any information from getting out.
Aaaaannnnddd…. No! Not even close.
I heard Liz was very close to her daughters and adored and cared for her granddaughter Vivi.
Did Shoemaker ever attempt anything with Vanessa or Pia? What about Vivi?
Keep in mind that Marc Gafni, an alleged pedophile lived in the Movement Center from about 2017 through the closing in late 2019 or early 2020. What did any of the “loved ones” know about his activities within the Center? Many bedroom and bathroom doors in the Center did not have functional locks.
Not sure what’s alleged about it. He admitted it to Dr Phil and The New York Times. He was quoted in a 2015 New York Times profile as saying about the claims: “She was 14 going on 35, and I never forced her.” She is currently suing him thanks to a look back window offered in NY.
Absolutely not. Liz told SC, “if you ever touch my daughters, I will kill you”. She was not suicidal. I had plans with her two days before. We cancelled due to the weather. Yes, she helped a young woman who was SC’s escape and stayed in touch with her and the family. She was one of SCs GF
Was she sick then – as Sharon Ward said? If you can contact me privately, I have a few questions to ask. I will safeguard your anonymity.
This same point of Shoemaker taking sexual advantage of young women at the Movement Center keeps coming up, over and over again. It was in the Leaving Nityananda Institute letter and here are a couple of comments taken from the Frank Report article: Natasha: 7 Harsh Points About Brutal Blame Shifter Swami
July 23, 2022
We’re all family
July 30, 2022 at 12:08 am
More than a few mothers fucked him then gave him their daughters…
REPLY
Ashram Kids
October 27, 2022 at 5:40 am
Liz B did not give her daughters to SC. She fiercely protected them. Other second generation students, however, did have ongoing sexual relationships with MS. Many disappeared quietly, never to be heard from again
Please consider calling and talking to Carol Merchasin.
https://mcolaw.com/team/carol-merchasin/
Carol Merchasin brings her deep legal experience to McAllister Olivarius, heading up cases involving sexual misconduct in religious, faith-based and spiritual communities. As an investigator, she has worked to uncover sexual misconduct within the Shambhala International lineage of Buddhism, the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers, and is currently assisting other spiritual communities in bringing allegations of sexual misconduct to light. She has worked with survivors of abuse and misconduct across a number of global spiritual and religious movements and has extensive experience as both a litigator and an investigator.
Two separate witnesses and neither provides a name or a number?
Neither one contacts the police?
They both, separately make a minimal report – just enough to get something on the record of a possible woman screaming- and in the water.
But neither makes a call to 911??
The witness reported it to a transit worker who called 911.
Not everyone carries a cell phone all the time. Not everyone has a cell phone. A lot of 911 calls are anonymous because not everyone wants to get involved. It was 2am.
One witness heard, or thought they heard, a splash and then a scream. That’s not much to go on.
The police investigated anyway. Nothing was found.
This may or may not have been Liz Bazzani going into the river. No witnesses saw anything definite. Surveillance camera records didn’t reveal anything definite.
Now we can fill in the blanks with whatever speculation we like. Make this as alarming and nefarious as we like.
What we do know is that this poor woman went out into the night, wandered around for hours, never came back and was found drowned 10 days later. The police had conducted at least two water searches, and when the body was recovered it showed no signs of foul play.
Sure looks to me like suicide by drowning.
How many members of the ashram were there at that time?
You would think there would be a coordinated, very public, manhunt/search led by Swami Chetananda if a loved one was suddenly missing.
Did the police investigate the ashram? Did they take evidence from anywhere in the ashram?
What “family” was making reports to the police?
Who was the grainy figure “waving to” off camera?
Lots of unanswered questions. Please keep investigating this. So many bizarre deaths all under the guise of a spiritual leader.
There was a huge organized manhunt for days from the Union Station to the River with posters to hand out
There are no video cameras at the ashram? Did anyone bother to get footage to see how Liz supposedly left the ashram?
Not a chance, with zero history, Liz is going to leave- bringing only her cell phone and nothing else? No suicide note, no calls to her daughters… no giving away of her belongings… not one of the signs of someone preparing to end their life.
So was it suicide because if depression or sudden disorientation? With no medical history or anecdotes to support that bs claim either.
She talked to people day and night. There’s no evidence Liz was deteriorating. None.
This was an execution. Carefully planned by Ward and Chet. Liz knew too much.
She left her ID and money and did not wear a coat — but she took her cell phone?
How did she get on a bus then? You need money to pay a fare, or a monthy/yearly pass, you can’t just walk onto it, they won’t let you. Did she even own a bus pass? Liz didnt strike me as a person who would take nothing with her when she went out and I have no idea if she had a bus pass.
It is also a significant walk from Sandy (ashram) to Glisan on 33rd for an older lady to do in the cold in a short time. I mean its not terribly far, but its more than half a km and slightly uphill. If she went on the 19 bus, she would have probably walked at least 15 minutes to get to the 19 stop, and then waited for it, if that’s what she did.
But then why? If it was an impulse decision, and she was a regular bus rider at all (imho even non-bus riders at the ashram had familiarity with the lines, most people lived there for so long they knew the area very well), this still wouldn’t make sense. A pure raw impulse to go downtown, even while under some kind of influence, would have taken her to the 12 bus, right on the corner of the ashram, on sandy. Its literally got a stop right there!
If downtown was her goal (to commit suicide as they claim) the 12 bus literally goes to the same place, a big bus terminal in the middle of downtown, which is where she got off (along 2nd street). Why would she walk in the cold to the 19 stop, further away? Without her wallet or ID? Similarly you can get off the bus literally right by the river bridge itself (burnside) if your goal is death by jumping, then you can get off right there.
Now we can get into the speculation. Maybe someone took her phone and took her phone for a ride to produce these results for a cover “story.”
But also.
A car ride down glisan would make as much sense as a car ride down sandy. Maybe more sense because a left turn onto sandy from either 31st or 33rd (the two vehicle egress points from the ashram) is notoriously annoying (due to the diagonal of the road, and other things its better explained by seeing it) so lots of times you’d just go south towards glisan, turn right onto glisan and head downtown (both glisan and sandy merge into burnside), even late at night with no traffic. Just out of habit.
Bus drivers in PDX are very generous and allow those without fare, or those who seem homeless or emotionally unstable, on the buses all the time.
How would she know that? She wasn’t a riding the bus at night kind of woman. She would assume she needed fare. Rule conscious. Either she had fare or she wasn’t on the bus. Was her fare in her hand with her phone? We were specifically TOLD that Trimet had footage that put her ON the bus. So why isn’t that mentioned in the report? Also your comment might be on account of a kind bus driver you have experienced but that is certainly not the rule. https://www.oregonlive.com/commuting/2022/10/she-skipped-a-250-trimet-fare-she-spent-183-days-in-custody.html?outputType=amp
That is complete bullshit. If you don’t pay they won’t let you on
I rode the bus for years I’ve never seen that to be the case. Aren’t you assuming this was even the case with Liz?
The whole downtown used to be a fareless area, but I never saw this be the case outside of downtown.
I wouldn’t expect someone about to commit suicide to behave entirely rationally.
I’m curious, what is the murder scenario you envision for this case? Because all the facts seem consistent with an elderly woman, possibly with dementia, wandering off and ending up drowned in the river.
I do not have a murder scenario. I only think the official story needs a little scrutiny.
I dont know about murder. All i know is the story doesn’t make sense. This is only one of the ways it doesn’t make sense.
I also knew liz personally.
If you were a local you also would know just how far away they found her body from the alleged jump off point. In a tributary as well that is not where the main flow of the river goes. Even jet ski-ing the distance at full speed on the river takes a while too (which ive done multiple times). We can claim okay….it was 10 days later maybe it floated that far…but how was the body even identifiable at that point? The river is full of animals. Fish, birds, crabs, sea lions even come up from the ocean through the Columbia to eat..? How did she even have fingers left to identify her ring?
If she took the 19 downtown to 2nd and Taylor and walked to the Steele bridge thats also a significant walk in the cold without a coat. Over a mile probably 2 mi if you count also the story is she jumped from the opposite side of the steele bridge (opposite the downtown side.) Why didn’t her phone ping again somewhere else downtown? It pinged after only 12 minutes from glisan to downtown then not again? Did she throw it away, was it mugged from her? Did she have no battery?
She had businesses that she was affiliated with downtown. They were a restaurant and a rug company (show room) both of them were on other stops though if I recall. She didn’t get off on a place you would if you were unconsciously (like you were high or altered) going somewhere you’re familiar with.
How Sharon inserted herself in the investigation is all ways of wrong. Notice how she primed the detectives to not only believe a certain narrative but it disputes what others said about her. I find it weird she claims liz had fallen on her head…okay who was looking out for her then? And if she was medically unwell due to a fever or early dementia then why the condescending statement “she made an irrational decision” as if someone physically unwell due to a head injury is to blame….they cant make a decision thats the point….
The location her dogs supposedly sniffed out initially btw, is not close to the steele bridge and also is on the opposite bank, upriver from the steele bridge, why did the dogs alert there? Its upriver from where a body would float.
Its also weird she had to also tell everyone about it, gloating that she knows where she is, 2 days before she is found. Maybe she was in fact nervous this story wouldnt stick. Sharon doesn’t do anything without careful plans and “not assuming” things especially around what is supposedly her passion…body recovery. She was obsessed with legal liability and not giving false info to people especially victims. Yet here in this instance she is behaving in a different manner, like she already knows all the answers and its her job to insert her bias.
Everything about this story is wrong, not just from the standpoint of Liz herself but from sharon in her behavior as well. Unless u think it was sharons “assignment” to create a certain narrative.
I agree Ruth. Nothing adds up. Liz did not have dementia and she was not suicidal. She would never have gone out on a 28 degree snowy night alone in the dark and without her coat and purse. She would never try to walk that far alone at night, period, and especially not in ugg boots either. Those boots are not made for distance walking.
In the witness accounts by the bridge it didn’t sound like either witness said they saw the woman but only heard a scream so how did trimet agent determine it was an older woman who went off the bridge in his 911 report?
Sharon says her dogs alerted to the scent of decomposing bodies near Harborside docks/waterfront not necessarily to the scent of Liz so maybe Liz was never actually in the area of that harbor.
And then no autopsy.
Also Liz wasn’t that old. Is 62 old? She was working until the very end. How would that show she was mentally failing? I knew her. She was sharp enough to remember complex recipes and organize large meals. How old are you Aristotle?
These facts are in absolutely no way consistent with Liz Bazzani. If you knew her then you know she was not suicidal
You sound like Sharon. She made an “irrational” choice. Silly woman, right? Irrational would be cramming a bunch of pills in your mouth, or blowing your head off, or even going straight to the river which would have taken her 20 minutes at most? People don’t stand there for four hours with a gun pressed to their temple before they pull the trigger, or with the rope around their neck before they jump. The time would make them lose their nerve. The irrational decision” suicide wouldn’t lolly gag like that. That’s why the “irrational decision suicides” don’t leave notes. They don’t have time. She had time. That’s why it’s so suspect she was wandering around for hours in the freezing ass cold. Clearly she hadn’t made up her mind to take her own life or she would have done it immediately upon leaving the Ashram or even before. Do you know how cold that water is? NOT a nice way to go.
AS
No i don’t think Liz committed suicide.
However for YOUR info there is a documentary out about the Golden Gate Bridge called “The Bridge”. The film crew shot almost 10,000 hours of footage, recording 23 of the known 24 suicides off the bridge in 2004. The suicidal jumpers often paced back and forth along the walkway for agonizing minutes before finally climbing over and throwing themselves in the water.
I’ll never get that imagery out of my head.
That is actually not true. They make an detailed plan. This is why you always ask first thing of a person threatening suicide, “do you have a plan?.” I’ve had friends commit suicide. They give their things away, one wrote notes to coworkers (he was a cop), some make phone calls, but all were extremely well planned out. Liz was not suicidal and was working very hard. Her energy was incredible. The thinning hair is post menopause and lie that since she took the chemotherapy
Me thinks the Sausage doth protest too much, repeatedly. Why would this be?
Because it’s Shoemaker himself
Sausage, you are constantly phishing. Involved much?
well if SAUSAGE is Shoemaker, then that name needs to be changed to Cocktail Weiner
There’s no way Liz committed suicide. This is a case of high powered Sharon Ward controlling a false narrative. Sadly, she hoodwinked the investigators, but I’m sure had “highly credentialed inner circle members” to support her story to the authorities.
Liz was fit, and no history of head injury or mental decline. She had two daughters and a granddaughter who adored her and whom she loved and was connected to.
Ruling out foul play was a costly error but not one that can’t be undone. And since when is Sharon Ward the primary investigator in the sudden death of anyone?
It makes no sense whatsoever. And if they were concerned about Liz’s health, where are the medical records? Why was she still given full time work on every front?
Where’s the evidence to support wards claims of thinning hair and a head injury? It’s total BS. Another dead to protect their abuse and financial and personal exploitation of so many.
Is a swami’s sidekick really a “high powered” woman? To an outsider, she’s a nobody.
I cant understand why her family (not including Theresa) has not been involved. Do they believe she committed suicide?
The Riverside and the Steele Bridge are a ridiculously long walk on foot in the middle of the night straight through the slum of downtown Portland in January.
So this Detective thinks Liz was up around Riverside where Ward was certain she went into the water/ yet the detective is certain that the report of a woman going off the Steele Bridge was Liz? That sounds so far fetched I just can’t accept it and don’t know why her family has.
The Steele Bridge is near Lapchi where she worked as bookkeeper.
The Glisan bus drops off downtown on Burnside then turns left onto Broadway/. It does not travel across the Steele Bridge. It would however take her up near the vicinity of the Riverside.
I can’t even get through this report because my brain is already screaming: Every Single TriMet bus has CAMERAS
Has that #19 bus at that time slot ever had their fucking cameras checked?
She didn’t kill herself
Insinuating that Swami Chetanananda had anything whatsoever to do with Liz Bazzani’s untimely passing is nothing short of ridiculous. Let’s stick to the main story, Frank. You are getting way off base here with these kinds of accusations. There was no “foul play” here. Not even remotely. Let’s bring it back to the main story which is that this guy (Swami) is a major league snake when it comes to duping women, and manipulating people.
Howz about that fake, phony astrologer, Kapil? And that sham involving things coming out of eggs? The egg puja. How come no one has brought these fraudulent issues up?
Another fake: a person who is involved in search and rescue missions, but who turns their back on so called loved ones. A phoney spiritual person named Sadhvi.
The egg puja comes from the Kaula tradition. The egg is a replacement for an animal sacrifice which is a replacement for a human sacrifice.
regardless of its origins, the premise behind the egg puja was ridiculous. And, it was 100% egomaniacal behavior by Swami
Well, there’s the egg puja that you’re talking about that he did for people where the egg was an offering, and then there’s the egg puja he was trying to do, which the nepali tantrics did, with rice, water and other things coming out of eggs, which I believe Horsetail is referring to. Trying to use magic and sleight of hand to make students believe in fairy tales and mystical phenomenon so everyone is perpetually confused, overwhelmed and open to manipulation.
why dont you Hindu wannabes just move to Shoemakers property in India?
Where is his property in India?
Oh didn’t he tell you?
There’s a big wide world out there bud. Maybe you should open your mind. And get a passport.
Oh is Swami going to join Bob & KJ in India? Wild how Bob up and moved to India right before these articles began to be published
Kapil is Swami’s “Chela” as he calls him
These issues were brought up and are part of the discussion of the Kaula traditional ritual practices. You will find many rituals that have been “toned down” over thousands of years to become more acceptable and effectively hiding the truth of the law rituals; such as replacing an egg for an animal sacrifice/ blood ritual.
People use the term Black Magic but this is what Chetananada and Sadhvi Parananda were initiated into in Assam, India (under Ram Dayal Shastri). At the Kamakhya Temple.
They sorta snuck it into the biography of the Movement Center and didn’t really tell the old-timers what they were up to. They fed off our trust as much as our labor, food, and devotion.
The Kaula tradition hosts the Aghori sect whom Chetananada has decided suits him better than the teachings of Nityananda.
Exactly. No rules. Anything goes. Drugs, alcohol, vile sexual acts. Betrayal and abuse is transcendence of pleasure and pain. A blank cheque to cause untold injury, pain and misery to scores of people.
Aghori, demon-possessed, psychopath, sadist, and violently insane. This is the fruit born of Chet’s so called spiritual practices. Rotten fruit. Poisonous. Deadly.
This.
Add to that: drug-addicted, alcoholic, sex-addict, torturer of women, std-spreading, liar, scammer, fraud.
Why sneak it into the biography of the Movement Center without informing the old timers you ask?
Well the entire place is structured as a school of religious learning. An Institute. Therefore, anyone who comes for classes or enrolls is the responsible party (just the same as if you attend a University).
It serves to protect the Institutes liability, I think: I’m no lawyer.
However, if the biography of the Institute states that Swami Chetananada practices and teaches Kaula tradition; well then anything that falls under that is somehow protected by this Religious Institute legal-standing.
So hopefully a lawyer will pick that apart. And everyone who came in after 2007/8 when he began practicing the Kaula tradition is inherently responsible for “getting what they signed up for.”
Which is a huge nasty pill no one is going to want to swallow and the administration should be held accountable for not being more upfront about what was being introduced and that Chetananada was taking a dramatic change of course in his teachings.
That’s where all the lying, coercion and deceit, this is just terrible perversion and abuse of power
to Horsetail;
This IS the story. The whole scenario REEKS of lies and a cover up.
That phony spiritual person named Sharon Ward covers for the main phony spiritual person Michael Shoemaker.
He harms and abuses people. Together they are demon tag team extraordinaire who will stop at nothing for their own personal gains. I’ve read the police report.
You need to open your eyes and face the truth.
No arguments there. I agree with you.
Taken from Natacha Tormey’s statement about being raised in the Children of God Cult:
Children raised in cults have a very unique challenge in their post cult recovery, as kids born in to these environments never have a chance to form their own identity separate from the ideology. Abuse is normalized and ordinary parental attachments are often not supported, but rather discouraged so that the cult can create deployable “soldiers for their cause”.
@natachatormey wrote her memoir titled “𝘽𝙤𝙧𝙣 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝘾𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙂𝙤𝙙” in 2016 and has recently launched a petition which is linked on the bio of @cogtfisurvivors. Although the cult is widely recognized as one of the most destructive and traumatic groups out there, the leadership has not been held accountable for the many crimes that have been committed by both leaders and members…AND is actually still operating unchecked.
Natacha Tormey shares this about her recovery…“Breaking free is only the beginning. Then begins the painful process of reversing the indoctrination. The longer someone stays in a cult the harder it is for them to remember who they were before the cult took control of their mind. Or in the case of someone like me, a cult-born child, my entire personality was made and created by them. When I left I had no idea who I was. My whole existence, everything I thought I knew, had been a lie. But it is the psychological aftermath of life in a cult that is all too often the silent killer.”
Since her memoir was published, the world is finally starting to wake up to the dangers of cultic involvement and many abusers are being held to account. Things are changing…amplifying the voices and stories of survivors is making a difference. The Frank Report is exposing and amplifying the harm and abuse that J. Michael Shomaker and his inner circle have inflicted on people for over 50 years.
The recent passing of ‘‘Eliminating Limits to Justice for Child Sex Abuse Victims Act of 2022’’ and to the trial of Keith Raniere and his henchwomen which used human trafficking as criminal charges, shows the shift of understanding that is taking place.
As difficult and uncomfortable as it may be – both for those of us sharing our stories and for those listening – it is essential for true freedom and healing
Sharon Ward is probably the killer.
what if she was accidentally strangled to death? we need the autopsy report to see if she was alive when she ended up in the river.
There wasn’t an autopsy.
That is the most troubling fact to me. No autopsy? I believe she was cremated right away, though I may be wrong. I would really really want to know more about what happened to her if I were her family and would expect an autopsy under all these mysterious circumstances. And, my feeling is that probably got vetoed by SC.
She set it up to glorify herself and her dogs
Was the 1:15 am the last record of her phone?
If so then this death looks far less suspicious then previously reported on and thank you for clearing up.
Why? That means she was wandering around without a coat in the freezing cold for 2 1/2 hours. Then walked herself to the River from 2nd and Taylor?
Im actually deeply curious as to how that makes sense.
Because there was post floating around, on a board from when she was missing. It stated the last ping on her phone was 7:30 am the next day which would had her wandering around for close to 12 hours. It also said she had been caught on camera waiting for a bus at 8:30
PM. Curiously all the posts that were still hanging around from that time are now gone. The article does not mention if 1-ish am was the last post. Could have been the poster was misinformed. All of this is suspicious obviously but would be much more a WTF if she had been out there close to 12 hours. It was on a Portland type of Reddit board. Interesting it’s gone now.
Thanks this was way more in depth than I expected. Appreciate it.
That 1:15am ping doesn’t prove her phone was in her possession or whether or not she was dead or alive at that time.
True
Ok so very important point to make here: this 1:15am ping on 2nd & Taylor is where the cell tower that her phone used is located. NOT where her physical phone was.
So the real question is: what was down in that 2nd & Taylor neighborhood that Liz would go to?
Oh, Lapchi. Where she worked.
I can’t even read the story (yet). My heart broke looking at the photo of Liz smiling. This whole story is so heartbreaking, but this rips me apart. Surrounded by people and family and yet forsaken.
And yet the beat goes on…