Kathy was discovered dead in her Cherokee County home on September 2, 2001, at the age of 42. The key figures in the movie and real-life saga the former security guard Jewell and journalist Scruggs are not around to give their thoughts on it. She frequented precincts and burned up phone lines. In addition, according to her friends, Kathy never really recovered from what happened with Jewell. The word filter was not in her body. She was, like most people, a complex person, who was also highly regarded for her tenaciousness when it came to stories and her charisma. It crushed her like a junebug on the sidewalk., Another friend told AJC: Her soul was gone. Kathy Scruggs was a colorful personality regarded as an intrepid police reporter in Atlanta, Georgia before controversy hit. She was talking to the right people. They had the right information, Salwen said. Her colleagues can vividly describe her short skirts, gaudy stockings, expletive-laden language, hard-charging personality, and knack for being thorough with her reporting. She took all this stuff that interacted with each other.. She was born to her father Lewis Bubber Scruggs Sr. and her mother Nancy Bentley Scruggs. The logo said Scruggs Towing Service or Scruggs Heating and Air, something like that. He was a security guard working a shift at the public park during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. He wrecked a patrol car attempting a prank. Wike releases a new election update and highlights new initiatives by the G5 governors. With that in mind I asked for a Johnnie Walker Red Label, Scruggs regular order, on my way out of Manuels. She was so, so alive.. What was Scruggs cause of death? It was like a vacuum, she said. Mirtazapine Present (not quantified) [9] Scruggs colleagues, at The Atlanta Journal Constitution assert Scruggs was too professional to have ever used her sexuality this way. In 2019 two movies about Jewell were released, with Scruggs portrayed by Carla Gugino and Olivia Wilde. Moreover, the popular personality doesnt seem to be involved in brand endorsement activities. The newsroom she once filled with sometimes manic energy and a sailors vocabulary now houses city offices, the AJC having relocated from downtown Atlanta. Toxicological testing of chest fluid She was found dead in her Cherokee County home, wearing an Atlanta Motor Speedway T-shirt and panties, on 2 September 2001. She would be an easy person to caricature, he said. Poynter.org wrote that There is no evidence that Scruggs slept with anyone to get the story. The hunt for the real killer nagged at Scruggs until the end. According to AJC, Stress over the case contributed to her failing health.. She would say, I will go to jail before I reveal my source. She never did, lifelong friend Lisa Griffin said. One cameraman covering the incident died of a heart attack later. Kathy was a wild child, said friend and former coworker Tony Kiss. However, according to the report, she died of a drug overdose and apparently it was a suicide. She died facing jail time. CBSs miniseries Manhunt: Deadly Games is the action-packed follow-up to its predecessor Manhunt: Unabomber. She put on a happy face for me because wed gone back such a long way. Kathy was indeed an experienced journalist. On Sept. 4, 2001, the AJC ran Scruggs obituary. Family members gathered in 2011 to dedicate the writing center named in her memory at Athens Academy, where photos in old yearbooks show Scruggs as a striking beauty involved in a number of clubs. However, it has never been made public what their relationship status is. Heart failure due to complications from diabetes took him in 2007. It haunted her until her last breath, her former colleague Tony Kiss told theAtlanta Journal-Constitutionin a 2019 feature about her. She often treated cocktail hour at Manuels, the intown spot popular with journalists and people they write about, as an extension of the work day. What Happened To Kathy Scruggs? . Its obvious to me they did not go to any great lengths to find out what the real characters were like.. Kathy Ann Gerdes, age 61, of Tyler went to her heavenly home in the late evening hours of Monday, Dec. 9, 2013, at Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler. If shes being portrayed as some floozy, its just not true., In the book on the case called The Suspect, Scruggs is described as a delightful throwback to the 1930s newspaper wars. One is an alluring beauty striking a determined pose, her blond hair falling around her shoulders in soft waves. Kathy Scruggs Wiki: Kathleen Kathy Scruggswas a reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution who broke the story that the FBI was investigating security guard Richard Jewell as a possible suspect in the1996 Atlanta Summer Olympicsbombing. The Cherokee County Coroners office provided Heavy.com with the official report of the Division of Forensic Science, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, into the autopsy and death of Kathleen Scruggs. Ten years after Scruggs death, however, that dismissal was made. She had intestinal surgeryShe was trying to get better. She broke away from the family tradition of attending UGA, like her parents and brother, instead enrolling at Queens University (then Queens College) in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her father, who had trained as a GI reporter during World War 2, was a senior executive in the Insurance Industry. View the profiles of professionals named "Kathy Scruggs" on LinkedIn. In 1953. ewell sued for libel, settling with some news organizations, but not Scruggs, which fought the claims to the end. After some have criticized Olivia Wilde 's portrayal of Atlanta Journal-Constitution journalist Kathy Scruggs, in Richard Jewell, Wilde now defending herself. Scruggs was born in Athens, Georgia. The essence of her, they could never portray in a movie.. Kathy Scruggs, a journalist for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution was the first to publish that the FBI was treating Jewell as a suspect and not a hero. They stopped for a drink after the service, and a truck pulled into the parking lot beside them. However, that dismissal came 10 years after Kathy Scruggs died. She also was known to be a drinker at times. A friend thinks she was slipped a date-rape drug in one of the incidents., After that, wrote Monroe, who worked with Scruggs, Scruggs health declined horribly. We present her as a fully well-rounded character, creator/executive producer Andrew Sodroski remarked at the Television Critics Association winter press tour in 2020. Toward the end, Scruggs had fallen out of regular contact with most people. In the last year of her life, Scruggs was on medical leave from the publication. Likewise, her mother Nancy was a charitable and social force in Athens before her death in 2015. She, on the other hand, accused her of offering her sex in exchange for confidential information about the collapse of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. She always drank a fair amount and smoked a fair amount and took drugs: Prozac for depression, Fen-Phen for weight loss, Lipitor for cholesterol, Xanax for anxiety, Parke said. At first, Jewell was heralded as a hero for his role in thwarting the attack and saving many lives. Today's Guest: We talked with Kathy Scruggs from Cullman Community Concert about Billy Dean, the last and final performer of this season! Her heart gave away. Jewell died in 2007 of heart failure from complications of diabetes. That would be an appalling and misogynistic dismissal of the difficult work she did., However, AJCs editor-in-chief is furious at the Scruggs portrayal. "She was so, so alive." Scruggs was born Sept. 26, 1958 into a prominent Athens family. She was proud the FBI called her about Jewell. In an interview with the Journal-Constitution, longtime friend Lisa Griffin revealed that she had a phone conversation with Scruggs just before her death. It crushed her like a junebug on the sidewalk., Another friend told AJC: Her soul was gone. Scruggs was shown as having slept with sources for scoops in the 2019 Clint Eastwood film on the bombing, which others who knew her took great offense to. However, people who were directly aware of the situation, including many of her AJC colleagues, her friends, her brother, and even Ron Martz who covered the story with her, werent approached by the filmmakers to get a better picture of Kathy Scruggs. She worked as a full-time reporter for the Atlanta-Georgia Constitution as a young professional reporter. The 2003 novel Shikar by the late Jack Warner, a former UPI and AJC reporter, concerns the hunt for an escaped, man-eating Bengal tiger in the hills of north Georgia. In the end, the feisty police reporter was a broken person. Scruggs refused, and appealed the jail term. My father wouldnt go over there because he wouldnt put up with her treating my mother that way.. An autopsy was performed in September 3, 2001. In the event that they had, it might have wrecked their vision of what they wanted the story to be. He is resigned at how Kathy is portrayed in the movie. I was stunned, AJCs current editor-in-chief, Kevin Riley told the Guardian. Colleagues say questions over her role in the demonizing of Jewell troubled her in her final years. Still, they say, its wrong to suggest she relied on illicit assignations to do her job. Former friends described the emotional toll the story took on Scruggs after it was revealed that Jewell was the wrong man. Kathy, Nancy, and Lewis Sr. are survived by Lewis Jr., who continues his fathers legacy in the insurance business, and his wife and kids. Those who knew her were interviewed by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to balance out the Eastwood film portrayal. Longtime friend Lisa Griffin told the Journal-Constitution that she spoke with Scruggs on the phone shortly before she died. All Obituaries - The J.F. Dont Miss:Raymond Santana Wiki,Facts About the Exonerated Central Park Five Member. Methods for Getting Started with Cryptocurrency Mining, 10 Ways to Grow an Organic Instagram Presence. Meanwhile, she found herself gravitating more and more toward the world of media and journalism. She had intestinal surgeryShe was trying to get better. Kathleen Scruggs died as a result of acute morphine toxicity, the report says. The court should not have ruled in her newspapers favor. Mrs. Scruggs has passed in Cherokee County, Georgia. [9] Monroe described her going to the scene of a murder, and arriving before the Police, only to ask them what had taken them so long, to arrive. Toxicological testing of chest fluid According to Coram, all the cops loved Kathy and nobody ever said anything negative about her, even in a drunken state. It was this job and tenacity that landed her at the center of a storm when she was covering the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing. They always trusted her to get the scoop because they knew it would be handled right. But she was also under stress from financial problems as her medical bills mounted. In Cherokee County, Georgia, Mrs. Scruggs has died. Born Kathleen Bentley Scruggs on September 26, 1958, she and her older brother by 10 years, Lewis Scruggs Jr., were the products of a prominent family in Athens, Georgia. His tenure as an officer at a small, private college in north Georgia ended after repeated clashes with the administration. I didnt want to soften [Scruggs], in any way, because I wanted to give people potentially a possibility of empathy, seeing a little bit of the world through her eyes, said Gugino. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. "My heart was pounding and there was an audible gasp in the packed theater.". The same thing haunted her till her last breath. [13][14][14][1][15][16] Those films portrayals of the role Scruggs love-life played in her reporting was a source of controversy. The Cherokee County Coroners office provided Heavy.com with the official report of the Division of Forensic Science, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, into the autopsy and death of Kathleen Scruggs. The report saying investigators were focusing on Jewell days after the bombing was accurate at the time. While her appeal was in process she was found dead of a drug overdose.[9]. When Scruggs started the media firestorm against Jewell in the 1990s, she was recognized for her solid reporting, close ties to local law enforcement, and her hard-partying habits. She died knowing that what she wrote was accurate, and I think that was really important to her. The Clint Eastwood directorial ventureRichard Jewellis set to release on December 13, 2019, and its already stirring a debateparticularly for its portrayal of journalist Kathy Scruggs by Olivia Wilde. Lewis Scruggs added, Her choice of boyfriends was not great. She worked as a professional reporter for the Atlanta-Georgia Constitution newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia. There was a lot of effort put into making sure her story was given as much time as possible, but I think we struggled throughout., She becomes a suspect if you dont spend enough time with her tale. Director/executive producer Michael Dinner remarked, And I think that we spent more time with her [than the movie did]. I think weve got her covered. Similarly, Kathy used to wear shoes of6 inches. Learn more about her cause of death. I thought of stories Parke and Kiss each told me about what happened after Scruggs funeral. After his exoneration, Jewell sued all the news outlets involved for libel, including theAJC. She had a very close relationship with the cops and the FBI helping to tell their story, and yes, by all accounts she had relationships with different people in that field. Critics say that film shows Scruggs being offered a tip-off that the FBI was investigating Jewell as the possible bomber from an FBI agent with whom she was having sexual relations. Her soul was gone. The thing she was always proud of was the newspaper stood by her. The decedent was a 42 year old white female who, according to reports, was found dead at her residence in a state of decomposition, it reads. She was also known as a reporter who loved to play and party hard, but it was a rumor people created after she created the hot headline . She was really tough and hard-nosed, he said. In addition, a film is also made based on this incident. Severe coronary artery atherosclerosis He informed the FBI officials right away. She became popular in the 1990s for breaking the story that the FBI was investigating security guard Richard Jewell as a possible suspect in the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics bombing. She was never at peace or at rest with this story. It might be a rose, or a quarter, Lewis Scruggs said. Mild rigor mortis was present. Scruggs was born in Atlanta, Georgia, in the year 1958. They didnt go to tremendous efforts to find out what the genuine characters were like, I believe. AJC slammed the film in a piece published on November 26, 2019. That sparked a media frenzy around Jewell that lasted for weeks before he was exonerated, and its now the subject of a new Clint Eastwood movie. This page was last modified on 19 October 2021, at 15:57. Richard Jewell was indeed the lead suspect.. [9][10][11] Jewell was a security guard at an Olympic event and initial reports describe him noticing a suspicious package and taking key steps to clearing potential victims from the area, saving lives. The film Richard Jewell has been made by Clint Eastwood and his team in the meantime. My mother would go over there. Serial bomber Eric Robert Rudolph would eventually confess and draw four life sentences, but she didnt live to see it. Other than this, not much information is available regarding her education. She is buried in Oconee Hill Cemetery in Athens, Georgia. READ NEXT: Richard Jewells Cause of Death. She spent all the money she had and more and would go into the depths of depression. She worked as a full-time reporter for the Atlanta-Georgia Constitution as a young professional reporter. After reporting on the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics bombing, Kathleen Scruggs, an Atlanta Journal-Constitution writer, first reported on the FBIs investigation of security officer Richard Jewell. The real bad guy turned out to be someone else, caught 7 years after the bombing. Kathy Scruggs was popular for her solid reporting, her tight relationship with local law enforcement, and also her hard-partying ways, something that was exacerbated after she set off the media firestorm directed at Jewell in the 1990s. The first thing I thought about was calling Kathy, he said. A colostomy site was present on the body. The book does note the time police responded at 3 a.m. when Scruggs refused to get out of a taxi outside a Buckhead hotel. December 13, 2019 is the date of the US release of the film. I loved Kathy, but she was crazy.. The movie captures the messy AJC newsroom well enough and managed a spot-on recreation of Centennial Olympic Park circa 1996. We just looked at each other and said, Kathys here and she wants to drink, too, Parke recalled. Also, she was arrested twice in Buckhead on charges involving intoxication. The last time I saw her was one of the times she came back to visit when she was on leave, said AJC retiree Joey Ledford, one of her former editors. Deadly Games, the second season in the riveting series, follows one of the biggest FBI manhunts on US soil, chronicling the search for the terrorist responsible for the Centennial Olympic Park bombing which occurred during the 1996 Summer Olympics. Jewell was initially hailed as a hero for preventing a mass casualty in this domestic terror attack. Start where you are. As a reader, we can see why she was attempting to succeed in her own world, and I think shes a well-rounded character.. She was one of the better reporters I ever worked with. Scruggs was wearing a gray short-sleeved tee shirt with the green inscription ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY' and a pair of panties. Shame on Olivia Wilde and Clint Eastwood, way to lie about someone that isnt alive to defend herself. The medical examiner also stated that severe coronary artery atherosclerosis might have been a contributing factor in her death. When the entirely circumstantial case against Jewell fizzled, Alexander delivered a letter to Jewells lawyers stating he had been cleared. She was so empty.. A crowd gathers on July 30, 1996, in . Her choice of boyfriends was not great, he said. "The Suspect," a recently published nonfiction book about the 1996 bombing, is unsparing but not unfair. Newspaper hits out at 'Richard Jewell' movie over portrayal of reporter. She came into the news after she broke the story that the FBI was investigating security guard Richard Jewell as a possible suspect in the bomb case. She was so empty.. When it turned out that Jewell (played on screen by Paul Walter Hauser) was innocent, her reporting and that of the national media were criticized as a rush to judgment. Dont Miss:Complete Story of Rodney Reed: Wiki and Details on Stacey Stites Alleged Murderer. She was never at peace or at rest with this story. Her friends have always assumed that her health deteriorated as a result of her stress about the topic. She was born on April 11, 1952, in Tyler to Cecil and Sue Scruggs. When it turned out that Jewell was innocent, he sued the AJC and they fought, not choosing to settle. Scruggs was wearing a gray short-sleeved tee shirt with the green inscription ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY' and a pair of panties. Clint Eastwood and the team made the movie entitled Richard Jewell. Kathy supported the publications decision to not settle because she believed what she had written was true at the time. She was riding shotgun when Scruggs nearly wrecked her Miata, and once helped her deal with a wardrobe malfunction in a cemetery. Theres nothing I would have changed about Richard Jewell being a suspect, he said. She was the real deal when it came to being a dedicated reporter, said attorney and family friend Edward Tolley. But theAJC,at Scruggs insistence, refused to settle and fought the lawsuit. A reporter who worked with her spoke about her network of police officers, fearlessness at crime scenes, and tendency to arrive at the scene even before the cops. Kathy was the inspiration behind another fictional character in another novel she appeared as Kathleen Bentley in Jack Warners Shikar. (You can also read more about Scruggs life and background here. In 1953. Kathy had a really successful career and she loved her life to the fullest. Earl's siblings, older brothers Junie and Horace and older sisters Eula Mae and Ruby, all played banjo and guitar. She was a little bit rebellious.. Argos daughter Marty Kemp is now Georgias first lady. A rucksack containing three pipe bombs was found by Jewell while walking through the park. Kathy was American by nationality. A guy at the bar with a beard and bowtie heard the odd request and handed over a business card, explaining that he represents the label. In addition, as of the GBI medical examiner, the examination team was unable to identify whether the overdose was intentional or accidental. Those who knew her were interviewed by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to balance out the film portrayal. It was just hard living, her brother said to the publication. Many people knew her as the reporter who covered much important news and a great relationship with the local authorities back in the 1990s. However, he was exonerated of all charges and hailed as a hero once more. What Can 50 Naira Do For You In Nigeria Today? It was just hard living, her brother said. As adults, his little sister leaned on him as a confidante. It was Scruggs who first publicly pinpointed security guard Richard Jewell as an FBI suspect in the bombing, leading to the one-time heros shattered reputation and media hounding. Her friends always believed stress over that story contributed to her failing health. An injury early in her career left her with chronic back pain for which she took prescribed pain relievers. Dont Miss:Antron McCray Wiki,Central Park Five Member Who Was Exonerated. Use what you have. Lewis Scruggs and several of his sister's close friends and former colleagues shared their thoughts in "The Ballad of Kathy Scruggs," a recent AJC piece about the journalist who died in 2001. She was hospitalized and was briefly unable to move her legs. Kitty flirts with the young detective assigned to a sensational homicide, shows up to a crime scene with whats left of a six-pack and finds a clue by drunkenly stumbling onto it. According to Tony Kiss, a former coworker of hers at a newspaper in South Carolina, the reason of her death was a heart attack. The man, Richard Jewell, went from being hailed a hero to the most hated villain when Kathy Scruggs, a journalist with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, broke the news about Jewell being looked at as the main suspect by the FBI. Other reporters had built on her story and had later published more accusatory, slanderous, and factually incorrect articles that hurt Jewells reputation. Kathy Scruggs (born 1958 in Atlanta, Georgia) was a journalist who worked in the United States. He came to terms with it. Scruggs died of a drug overdose, specifically acute morphine toxicity. Contrary to some other news reports, the coroner could not determine whether it was an accidental one or suicide. As the name of Eric Robert Rudolph fades from the lips and minds of the people in Western North Carolina, law enforcement remain convinced the accused bomber still is hiding under their noses, even as federal investigators all but end their presence in the area, Scruggs wrote in a piece published on July 1, 2000. Her work was about her only anchor. She was the real deal when it came to being a dedicated reporter, said attorney and family friend Edward Tolley to AJC. No one has ever said Kathy did anything like that. He threatened a lawsuit and called the way Scruggs was portrayed in the movie extraordinarily reckless., In the book on the case called The Suspect, Scruggs is described as a delightful throwback to the 1930s newspaper wars. An autopsy was performed in September 3, 2001. But the CBS show Manhunt: Deadly Games is a more realistic and respectful portrayal of Kathys character. She was very determined.. The Real Housewives of Atlanta The Bachelor Sister Wives 90 Day Fiance Wife Swap The Amazing Race Australia Married at First Sight The Real Housewives of Dallas My 600-lb Life Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Tipsters told authorities Jewell seemed to crave attention and was obsessed with the show Cops., Investigators also drew on an incident with seeming parallels. The coronary arteries exhibited moderate to severe atherosclerosis., Under findings and diagnoses, the following were listed: Ill go out there periodically and there will be something on her headstone. She was never at peace or at rest with this story. Catrina Jasmine Judge: Facts About Christopher Judges Daughter, Who Is Margaret Judge? READ ALSO: Nick Gereffi cause of death, characters in You, wikipedia, how did he died, date of birth explored. Were excited youre showcasing our brand, he said. Jewell had been arrested for impersonating an officer while on duty as an apartment complex courtesy guard. She never told him who her source was, and didnt discuss the lawsuit in detail. Mirtazapine Present (not quantified) Share on twitter. I am Kathy Scruggs brother and only remaining member of our immediate family. There are no scenes of romance. Kathy Scruggs wiki. Mild rigor mortis was present. While the biopic hails Jewell as the hero he is, Scruggs is shown in a poor light, which some journalists are not happy about. Shed zoom to crime scenes in her Mazda Miata, sometimes arriving before authorities got there, and wouldnt leave until her notebook was full. AJC Editor: Film tries to fix one reputation, attacks another, Richard Jewells ordeal detailed in new book on Olympic bombing, OPINION: AJC wronged Richard Jewell? Kathleen Scruggs died as a result of acute morphine toxicity, the report says. Only Scruggs dog, Sadie, was with her when she died. Griffin talked to Scruggs on the phone shortly before she died. Later, a heart attack claimed the life of a cameraman who had been covering the tragedy. An appellate court later sided with the newspaper, finding that Scruggs stories correctly reported what was known at the time that, at that time, Jewell was under FBI investigation in the attack. It crushed her like a junebug on the sidewalk.. She was the real deal when it came to being a dedicated reporter, said attorney and family friend Edward Tolley to AJC. Friends who talked to her old newspaper in an attempt to resuscitate her reputation in the wake of the Eastwood movie said they didnt think she ever got over the media infamy. Caption: A scene from the movie Richard Jewell (Source: vanityfair.com). It turned out, of course, that Jewell wasnt the bomber. She was drunk, naked and sitting in the drivers seat. Furthermore, Scruggs cant defend herself. Later in life she had Crohns disease, anxiety and other issues and with them, more prescriptions. The other is out of focus and abstract. She is buried in Oconee Hill Cemetery in Athens, Georgia. If shes being portrayed as some floozy, its just not true., To Deadline, the actress playing Scruggs, Olivia Wilde, defended the portrayal, saying, She was incredibly successful as a cop reporter. The movie makes it appear that Scruggs was willing to trade sex with an FBI agent for the story, but theres no evidence thats true. Warner Bros and Olivia Wilde have defended the movie. The husky-voiced Kathleen Bentley (Scruggs real first and middle names) stays ahead of other reporters, swears liberally and banters with the lawmen on the tigers trail. She had an enormous personality, said Kiss, whod worked with her elsewhere and remained a close friend. In addition, Katy had dark brown hair and eyes of the same color. Updated Jan 16, 2023 at 6:02am. She spent all the money she had and more and would go into the depths of depression. She was born in Atlanta, Georgia to Alfred Wallace and Doris Fillingim Waldrop. Heavy.com obtained the coroners report. It also started her downward spiral. My father knew better. Findings at autopsy included severe coronary artery atherosclerosis (blockage of blood vessels that supply blood to the heart), which may have contributed to deathno acute traumatic injuries were identified., The report concludes: It is unclear whether the drug overdose leading to the acute morphine toxicity was suicidal or accidental, and thus the manner of death is listed as undetermined.. Due to the stress of the Jewell case, her health had declined over the years and she had been taking a lot of medication. In Kathy Scruggs' case, acute morphine poisoning . Other sources say the drugs were opiates, or, explicitly, morphine. Atlanta Councilman proposes refund program for overpaid water bills, Clayton County sets qualifying fee for election to replace Victor Hill, State hellbent on ending hotel placements for foster children, Greenlight Financial slashes one-fifth of its workers, Atlanta City Council could vote on new mayors office of policy Tuesday.
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