It was Monday the 12th of February when Dr Tim Cunningham was told by his supervisor that he would not be granted the promotion he was hoping for.
The Harvard-educated scientist, who works for the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Georgia, was disappointed.
Shortly after the meeting, Cunningham told his supervisor that he was feeling unwell, and would be going home.
Police have referred to Dr Cunningham’s disappearance as occurring under an “extremely unusual set of circumstances,” with a number of strange events taking place in the weeks prior.
The 35-year-old had called in sick to work on Thursday, February 8th, and Friday, February 9th – the two work days preceding his Monday meeting.
Terrell Cunningham, the epidemiologist’s father, told police that on Sunday the 11th,: “Tim had been in communication with us extensively… there were some exchanges via phone as well as text that alerted me to be concerned about our son.”
Dr Cunningham sent a text message to his mother, Tia-Juana Cunningham at 5:21am on Monday with the question: “Are you awake?”
Her phone was on silent – a decision she is now berating herself for.
There was also an unusual conversation with a neighbour, Chris Torry, that police are trying to make sense of.
Torry told Fox 5 Atlanta that his wife and Dr Cunningham had swapped numbers at some point. On Saturday, Dr Cunningham requested that his wife “take the number out of her phone.
“It seemed a little strange,” Torry remarked.
When Dr Cunningham’s parents could not get in contact with him on Monday evening, or the days following, they grew worried.
His father told NBC it was out of character for him not to respond to calls from family members.
Top Comments
While I’m not some whack-job who goes around thinking everything is a conspiracy theory, something definitely seems amiss in this case. I’ve read up on several theories... they basically all come down to some type of blackmail from the government or terrorists, where the lives of his family and friends would be at risk if he didn’t comply. He sounds like the type of person who would put his loved ones at top priority, and act selflessly. His actions the day before his disappearance hint that he knew something was up.
The saddest theory I’ve heard revolves around him being infected with a deadly virus and then kidnapped and/or terminated to protect the reputation and continuity of the CDC, or other agencies. Then there’s the ever popular “whistle blower on the flu vaccine” theory. Though reports state that he didn’t work directly with influenza related viruses, that doesn’t mean he was oblivious to information that may have been circulating around him – so it’s a possibility.
To think that the government has the nation’s best interest at heart, and offers full transparency to the public is painfully naïve.
So what do you guys think? Any other theories? Since government officials are experts at sweeping things under the rug and creating scenarios to push their own agenda, we may never discover the truth behind his disappearance.