from the final chapter of GONZO

Juan Thompson:
p.412 "I never had any doubt that at some point he was going to commit suicide. That's how he was going to die, baring some strange illness or a car crash or something like that. As long as it was in his control, I knew that he was going to kill himself."

p.413 "When he finally did choose to kill himself, he was very careful not to let on. I think he'd made a decision and he didn't want to put me or anyone in a position of trying to stop him. It would have put a horrible burden on somebody."

Doug Brinkley:
p.416 "Hunter had always talked about suicide, but it was very, very low in his playing deck."


Laila Nabulsi:
p.420 "Hunter started saying good-bye to people differently when they'd visit him or when he talked to them on the phone. I talked to Hunter a week before he died. There was definitely a good-bye about it."

Juan Thompson:
p.423 "He told me to take some family mementos - some silver julep cups that are traditional in Kentucky, engraved with his name and some names of his family members; a clock that had belonged to his mother. He also pointed to the medallion that Oscar Acosta had given him and told me, "When I die, I want you to have this."
He was wearing the emerald pendant that he wore pretty much all the time, and he told me that when he died, if he and Anita were on good terms he wanted her to have the emerald."

p.425 "He very deliberately did not have a final good-bye. He didn't want to let on. It was a really nice afternoon. He was reading the paper and me and Jen were reading, and I was taking a picture of something for Jen, and I think he just decided that that was the moment. I think he'd been hanging in there for a long time and just got tired of it.
I was in the back office when he pulled the trigger. Jennifer and Will were in the living room. I ran into the living room to get Jennifer, and left Will in the living room. We were trying to find the sheriff's phone number. It was terrifying."

Bob Braudis:
p.426 "After Hunter died, Anita found a page from his spiral notebook where Hunter used to start his writing. This was titled "Football season is over." It read, "No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun - for anybody. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax - This won't hurt."
It was dated the last night I was with him, four night prior."

Deborah Fuller:
p.432 "Hunter shooting himself did not surprise me. I always felt that he was in charge of his life and knew that he would be in charge of his death and when he chose that path."