TRAGIC: Clearwater OT 8 Scientologist, 40, set fire to herself before shooting herself dead

[Whitney Mills]

After we reported on the death of Kirstie Alley, an OT 8 Scientologist who had died of cancer in Tampa, we heard from a reader who wanted us to know about another OT 8 Scientologist who had died in the same area this past May.

The reader told us this was not only a Scientologist, but that Scientology had been involved in some way with her death. We began looking into this matter, making some calls, and learned that the Clearwater Police Department had investigated this woman’s death. Yesterday, the department sent us its report of that investigation.

Whitney Mills was 40 when she shot herself on May 12 and then died days later at Morton Plant hospital. We want to warn you that the details are very disturbing, and they do bring up questions about her involvement in Scientology.

Mills was not only a deeply involved Scientologist, she was a real estate agent in Clearwater, and you can still find her agent pages online, as well as photos such as the one you see above.

In 2019, Mills reached the highest point on Scientology’s “Bridge to Total Freedom” when she completed “Operating Thetan Level Eight” or “OT 8” on Scientology’s cruise ship, the Freewinds.

[Whitney’s OT 8 completion, announced in a 2019 ‘Freewinds’ magazine]

As we discussed after Kirstie Alley’s death, when Scientologists achieve OT 8, they believe they will be granted “cause over matter, energy, space, and time.” In other words, the gamut of superhuman abilities that they have been pursuing for years and after parting with large amounts of money. Finally, they will have raised IQ, total recall, perfect eyesight, the ability to leave their bodies and travel as incorporeal spirits called “thetans” with full perception. And, of course, they believe they will be impervious to disease.

Cancer in particular is supposed to have been “handled” at OT 5, and not an issue after a Scientologist reaches OT 8. For that reason, Mike Rinder and Leah Remini explained after Alley’s death, high-ranking Scientologists will often turn to Scientology answers and delay seeing a doctor about serious matters so that something that might be caught early and treated, like Alley’s colon cancer, will be dealt with only after it has become very serious.

In 2022, Whitney Mills was facing some serious health issues of her own, according to the people who knew her and were interviewed by the Clearwater Police Department. One woman who had recently gotten to know Whitney told police that she had been diagnosed with Lyme disease as well as a mass on one of her ovaries, which “she was refusing to remove,” the friend said.

A family member said Whitney had been diagnosed with depression along with the Lyme disease. And there were at least three women who said they were caretakers for Whitney, helping her with shopping and cooking as she dealt with her health issues.

One of the caretakers told police that Whitney “was supposed to have surgery in a couple of weeks to determine what the mass was, but it was looking like she has cancer, but it was still unconfirmed.”

On the afternoon of May 12, one of the caretakers said that Whitney had gone to see a friend. Later that evening, her brother and mother asked Whitney if she wanted to go to a restaurant with them, but she said she wasn’t feeling well. She also turned down an offer to bring her food from the restaurant.

Later in the evening, Mills wasn’t answering her phone. A welfare check was requested from police, but a female officer had not been able to get inside the apartment. The brother then arrived, obtained some tools from a neighbor, and damaged the electronic lock on the door to get inside. He then found his sister with a gunshot wound to her head. She was still breathing.

Other officers who responded to the scene reported a burning smell and seeing burnt hair around the apartment. It became clear that Whitney had initially set herself on fire before shooting herself. After being taken to Morton Plant hospital, she died about a day and a half later.

Following up on the investigation, a Clearwater detective named Selena Hyppolite contacted family members trying to find Whitney’s phone. It turned out Whitney’s mother had it, and she agreed to meet the detective to give it to her. According to Det. Hyppolite, Whitney’s mother then told her something odd.

The mother said she had looked through the phone, and “Whitney advised she was going to ask the ‘D of P’ for an assist reference suicide,” the detective wrote in her report.

Det. Hyppolite then took the phone to have its data extracted, and reported that it showed…

Whitney reaches out to several friends over the prior month advising that she is in so much pain and wanting to end it all. She also texts her mom how sorry she is for all the trouble. From the month of April until her death, Mills researches ways to commit suicide to include lighting herself on fire and different ways to shoot herself. On the evening of the incident Mills was researching how to set herself on fire and proper way to shoot herself and not feel it. That was googled at approximately 2030 hours, which is right after she last spoke with her mother.

The detective also referred to a conversation in the phone (in texts, apparently) with Whitney telling a caretaker, Albertina, that she wanted to commit suicide, and the caretaker…

…advised her to call the ‘D of P.’ I called and spoke with Albertina, who filled in as a caregiver whenever Nieves (the original caregiver) was out of town. She confirmed that she took care of Mills but appeared that she did not understand any other question, due to the language barrier.

Det. Hyppolite then contacted the Church of Scientology (she didn’t indicate which facility), which explained that “D of P” referred to “Director of Processing,” that an “assist” was a Scientology method of healing that was “not physical,” and when the detective asked if Scientology would assist with a suicide, was told “absolutely not.”

Sunny Pereira, an expert on Scientology’s “technology” and former Sea Org official at the Hollywood Celebrity Centre, tells us that a Director of Processing is a “mid-level position” in each Scientology org, senior to all auditors, running their schedules and the day to day production. “Their main statistic relies on the number of total hours the auditors spend in (counseling) session,” Sunny says.

“The D of P is the go-to person for anyone who is getting auditing sessions,” Sunny added. “In this case, it looks like they were asking what type of ‘assist’ they could do for someone with suicidal intentions.”

Sunny says that when she was working at the Flag Land Base in Clearwater, no Scientologist with suicidal thoughts would be allowed on the premises. She suggests that the references to calling the D of P would be Whitney asking for some kind of instruction about how to deal with her feelings at home.

Sunny suggests that one kind of “assist” that might be recommended by the D of P would have been known as a “locational.”

“It would be having someone walk around with her to point out items in the area and to draw attention away from her thoughts. ‘Look at that tree, look at that car,’ etcetera,” Sunny says.

Another “assist” the D of P might suggest would be something called the “PAB 6.”

“It was written around 1954. It’s the prequel to Introspection Rundown,” Sunny says, referring to the infamous handling for psychotics that L. Ron Hubbard developed in the 1970s that was used on Lisa McPherson, a parishioner who died after being subjected to the Introspection Rundown for 17 days at the Fort Harrison Hotel in 1995.

The PAB 6 is a less harrowing handling, Sunny says. “Basically anyone feeling overwhelmed, especially highly upset, is advised to do the steps covered there.
We call it PAB 6 for ‘Professional Auditors Bulletin,’ but the real title is ‘Case Opening.’ It gives steps such as getting proper food and sleep, daily walks, listing out all of your incomplete situations and then methodically completing them. It includes a vitamin regimen too.”

Sunny says it was clear that Det. Hyppolite, hearing the words “assist” and “suicide” in close proximity from Whitney’s mother, wondered if this was a reference to “assisted suicide,” which is a very different concept and not one that the church would engage in.

“To be clear, Scientology wouldn’t assist a suicide,” Sunny says.

Depressed about her Lyme disease diagnosis and the pain she was feeling from the mass on her ovary, Whitney was apparently looking to a Scientology official for help.

As an OT 8 Scientologist, the last thing Whitney could do was to turn to actual mental health professionals for help: Scientology demonizes the mental health field, and considers psychiatry to be the most evil force in the universe.

Without the option of proper mental health care, Whitney turned instead to heartbreaking suicidal plans, researching how to set herself on fire and shoot herself.

After she died, an autopsy was performed on May 14.

It found that the mass on her ovary was benign.

Whitney Mills did not have cancer.

We left a message for Whitney’s mother, hoping to ask her about the reference to the ‘D of P’ that she told Det. Hyppolite, and about what her daughter had been going through before her suicide. The next time we tried to call, we received a notification that our number had been blocked.

The Clearwater Police Department noted that it had also given a copy of the investigative report to the Tampa Bay Times, and we are looking forward to what that publication can do on this story to give us more answers about what Whitney Mills faced, and why she didn’t get the treatment that might have lessened her physical and mental pain.

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Continuing our year in review: The stories of August 2022

While Scientology was trying to stop a major new labor trafficking lawsuit in Tampa, the plaintiffs doubled down with an amended complaint with many more horrific details about what it was like to be Sea Org workers on the cruise ship Freewinds.

A big exclusive for us: We learned that the reason Danny Masterson’s attorney Shawn Holley was asking for a delay in the case was that she was involved with secret proceedings involving an appeal by Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer in Washington DC. Jane Doe 1, one of Masterson’s accusers, made a rare public statement, asking the court not to allow a baseball player’s arbitration to take precedent over allegations of violent, serial rape. Judge Charlaine Olmedo denied the request for a delay.

In a podcast episode, Geoff Levin went over some of our Scientology celebrity predictions for who would defect and who would stay.

Also in August, we started a special limited podcast series about a TV show about Scientology that never aired, and we interviewed Phil Jones to kick it off, and Derek Bloch, Carol Nyburg, Katrina Reyes, and in September, Jamie DeWolf, who would have been the show’s presenter.

Bruce Hines told us about the time he got to visit the super-secret Scientology compound that, years later, would become the place where Shelly Miscavige would be stashed away.

Scientology claimed that Elisabeth Moss had turned down the request by Valerie Haney to be an arbitrator in her case. (Sure, sure.) She then nominated Tom Cruise and, if he was busy, Shelly Miscavige!

Andreas Heldal-Lund, founder of Operation Clambake and an old friend, learned that he has an aggressive cancer, and he was preparing for an end to his life with equanimity and integrity.

A LOOK BACK AT AUGUST 2021: We count down Tom Cruise’s Scientology superpowers. Our attorneys got a subpoena quashed that had tried to haul us into Danny Masterson’s case. Laura Prepon told People she’d been out of Scientology for five years. The apologist journal CESNUR slimes Gerry Armstrong.

A LOOK BACK AT AUGUST 2020: We started a new list, Top 25 People Enabling Scientology. Judge Burdge denied Valerie Haney’s motion for reconsideration. New Clearwater city councilman Mark Bunker suggested making Scientology a tourist attraction. And episode one or Bryan Seymour’s spiked ‘Black Ops’ series leaks here at the Bunker.

A LOOK BACK AT AUGUST 2019: Chris Owen detailed Scientology’s 1970s attempt to take over the UK’s National Association of Mental Health. Rod Keller looked at Scientology attempts to make inroads with the Trump administration. Victoria Locke describes her abuse in Scientology. Danny Masterson’s accusers sue him and the Church of Scientology. Leah Remini and Mike Rinder finished their A&E series ‘Scientology and the Aftermath’ with a powerful final episode.

A LOOK BACK AT AUGUST 2018: David Miscavige’s “transparency medal” blew up into a major press story in Colombia as senators there call for an investigation. R.M. Seibert delivered again with a government document showing the US was fully aware of Scientology’s essential scam 50 years ago. Scientology scrambled to throw money at Efrem Logreira after realizing how much trouble it was in. The mid-year Maiden Voyage whales surfaced. Sea Org was now expected to salute donors. Scientology had to remove a kiosk from an LAPD station.

A LOOK BACK AT AUGUST 2017: Carol Nyburg told us about her part in an unaired TV series. Leah’s second season started off with a bombshell about child molestation. Michael Peña’s wife Brie Shaffer backed her former employer, Danny Masterson. Pastor Willy Rice got the Scientology smear treatment. We made the full 2009-2010 FBI file about Scientology trafficking public (and on the same day we took in the solar eclipse with Jefferson Hawkins). We attended a San Antonio court hearing about Marty Rathbun.

A LOOK BACK AT AUGUST 2016: Scientology didn’t make us feel very welcome at its Harlem grand opening. Life in retirement looks pretty good for Scientology’s notorious dirty trickster, Eugene Ingram. In the presidential campaign, a lot of comparisons between Donald Trump and L. Ron Hubbard were being made, but we pointed out that it was the Clinton White House that had serious Scientology baggage.

A LOOK BACK AT AUGUST 2015: Steve Fishman, of the famous Fishman Papers, is doing serious time for a bizarre crime. Tom Cruise gave a speech in Spanish, and turned up at a Scientology org in Colombia. And Paulette Cooper had an amazing encounter in Europe.

A LOOK BACK AT AUGUST 2014: We remembered Denise Brennan on the occasion of her passing. Mary Sue Hubbard’s house finally went up for sale, as we had predicted. And Kim Poff and Michael DeLong filed lawsuits over the troubling behavior of Oklahoma state officials who were too afraid to take on Scientology.

A LOOK BACK AT AUGUST 2013: Leah Remini filed a missing-person report on Shelly Miscavige, PZ Myers read A History of Man with us, Gerry Armstrong helped us tell his tale, and Monique Rathbun filed her harassment lawsuit.

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Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history

Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea

Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time

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