Timothy J. Cunningham

Last updated
Timothy J. Cunningham
Born
Timothy Jerrell Cunningham

(1982-12-21)December 21, 1982
U.S.
Died2018
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Cause of death Suicide by drowning
OccupationEpidemiologist

Timothy Jerrell Cunningham (December 21, 1982 – 2018) [1] was a Harvard-educated doctor with the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention. [2] As an epidemiologist, he was a team leader in the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and was named in 2017 as part of the Atlanta Business Chronicle's 40 Under 40 list. [3] He also was the co-author of 28 publications on topics about sleep deprivation, pulmonary disease and more. [2] Cunningham graduated from Morehouse and earned his S.M. and Sc.D. from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. [4]

Contents

On February 12, Cunningham left work early, [5] complaining of not feeling well. His parents drove from Maryland [6] to his house in Atlanta and found his phone, keys, wallet, car and his beloved dog, Mr. Bojangles. [2] There was a $10,000 reward being offered by his family in partnership with Crime Stoppers Greater Atlanta. [7]

Cunningham's remains were discovered Tuesday, April 3, 2018 in the Chattahoochee River in northwest Atlanta, police spokesman Carlos Campos said. According to Fulton County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jan Gorniak, the preliminary cause of death was drowning. A positive ID of the remains was made using dental records. [8]

Disappearance

On February 7, Cunningham resigned from a special USPHS deployment team tasked with deploying to areas in need by sending an email to Commander Richard Dunville. [9]

“I thought he sounded exasperated,” Dunville told police. “In fact I would have encouraged him to stay on through June, when he would have received a service award, but he sounded too ready to leave.” [9]

His supervisor Janet Croft told police that Cunningham left work quickly saying he felt ill on the morning of Friday February 9, shortly after he learned he had been passed over for a promotion. [9] [8] [10] [11]

On the morning of February 12, 2018, Cunningham's mother received a text message from him at around 5:21 a.m. "Are you awake?" he asked. She did not respond, as her phone was in silent mode. "I wish I had that opportunity to answer that text," she said later. He tried calling again, at 9:12 a.m. that day, but didn't leave a message when she didn't answer. [8]

A day before Cunningham disappeared he told his neighbor's husband that his wife should erase his cellphone number from her phone. [10]

While police interviewed those closest to Cunningham, local parks and cemeteries were searched on foot, and a helicopter scanned the area. There was no sign of Cunningham until the first week of April, over a month since he first went missing. [9]

Sgt. Cortez Stafford, a spokesman for the Atlanta Fire Department, said the department had previously searched the area of the river where the body was found on February 23. At that time, Stafford said, there was no sign of a body. "It could have been there or it could have moved there later. There's just no way to tell due to the rise and fall of the river," he said.

"It was very difficult terrain, very difficult to access the location of where Mr. Cunningham was found," Stafford said. "It was in a remote area that's not easily accessible by walking trails, by vehicle or by people just being around there." [8]

Cunningham's parents had been told that a body had been found four times since Cunningham initially went missing. They felt "heart-wrenching agony" each time, they said, only to learn it wasn't their son. [8]

"It takes you to a place that the light is not shining in," Terrell Cunningham said. "I won't call it a dark place, but they are lows. This is extremely hard." [8]

On April 3, 2018, two fishermen notified police after they spotted a body buried in mud and tangled in debris on the banks of the Chattahoochee River. There were no signs of trauma on the body, such as cuts or bruises, despite its state of advanced decomposition consistent with having been submerged, according to Fulton County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Jan Gorniak. [9]

According to Maj. Michael O'Connor of the Atlanta Police Department, Cunningham was wearing his "favorite jogging shoes" when he was found, and three crystals were in his pocket. He was known to be a crystal enthusiast and avid jogger. [8]

"We may never be able to tell you how he got into the river," O'Connor said. [8]

An autopsy confirmed that Cunningham drowned. The death was later ruled a suicide by drowning after toxicology reports were completed.

Personal struggles

Medical issues

According to investigators, Cunningham's parents informed them that he was taking medication for a chronic disease, but did not provide details about the disease or when he was diagnosed. [9]

Sexuality

Cunningham's best friend, Nell Reed, who lives in Texas, told police that Cunningham had struggled with his sexuality, and had had a “breakdown” back in 2010. [9]

“She said that Tim talked to her about his feelings toward men and that he didn’t consider himself gay,” the case file states. [9] However, Cunningham told Reed that he had recently gotten back in touch with an old classmate from Morehouse College. “She said the person had been coming to Tim’s house and that Tim began to question whether the person was playing with his feelings,” police said. [9] The classmate told investigators that he had subsequently blocked Cunningham's number.

“He said he didn’t want to be confrontational because they moved in the same social circles but it was obvious to him that Mr. Cunningham was making light advances,” police wrote in the investigative file. [9]

On Feb. 9, Cunningham saw his former classmate on a date with a woman, and the two shook hands. Cunningham invited the man to go out for breakfast the next morning, but he declined.

Cunningham's sister stated, however, that she believed Cunningham was interested in two female coworkers. [9]

Impact on family

“I feel like I’m in a horrible ‘Black Mirror’ episode,” his sister, Tiara Cunningham, told the New York Times, referencing the dystopian sci-fi television show. “I’m kind of lost without him, to be quite honest.”

She told the Washington Post that she speaks with her brother often, but their conversation Feb. 12 left her concerned. “He sounded not like himself,” she said. He did not reply to a text message she sent later, and their mother, Tia-Juana Cunningham, was not able reach him either. [11]

Terrell Cunningham also had concerns about recent interactions with his son, whom he described as focused on a host of professional and personal issues.

“The tone and the numerous exchanges gave us reason to be concerned about Tim,” he said. “And I don’t know if it’s an instinct you have because it’s your child, but it was not a normal conversation, and I was not comfortable.” [11]

Remembrances

On April 21, Morehouse College hosted a memorial service for Cunningham, which was attended by approximately 600 people. Cunningham had earned his undergraduate degree at Morehouse in 2004.

The memorial was a celebration of Tim's life, his passion for public service, and his drive to succeed. “It wasn’t just a career or job for him,” Capt. Marcella Law with the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion told the crowd. “Tim felt that it was his calling to use his gift and change lives.” [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</span> United States government public health agency

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wayne Williams</span> American murderer and serial killer

Wayne Bertram Williams is an American convicted murderer and suspected serial killer who is serving life imprisonment for the 1981 killing of two men in Atlanta, Georgia. Although never tried for the additional murders, he is also believed to be responsible for at least 24 of the 30 Atlanta murders of 1979–1981, also known as the Atlanta Child Murders.

The Atlanta murders of 1979–1981, sometimes called the Atlanta child murders, was a series of murders committed in Atlanta, Georgia, between July 1979 and May 1981. Over the two-year period, at least 28 children, adolescents, and adults were killed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Satcher</span> American physician and public health administrator

David Satcher, is an American physician, and public health administrator. He was a four-star admiral in the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and served as the 10th Assistant Secretary for Health, and the 16th Surgeon General of the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Mays</span> American Baptist minister

Benjamin Elijah Mays was an American Baptist minister and American rights leader who is credited with laying the intellectual foundations of the American civil rights movement. Mays taught and mentored many influential activists, including Martin Luther King Jr, Julian Bond, Maynard Jackson, and Donn Clendenon, among others. His rhetoric and intellectual pursuits focused on Black self-determination. Mays' commitment to social justice through nonviolence and civil resistance were cultivated from his youth through the lessons imbibed from his parents and eldest sister. The peak of his public influence coincided with his nearly three-decade tenure as the sixth president of Morehouse College, a historically black institution of higher learning, in Atlanta, Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Johnny Gosch</span> American boy who went missing in 1982

John David Gosch was a paperboy in West Des Moines, Iowa, who disappeared between 6 and 7 a.m. on September 5, 1982. He is presumed to have been kidnapped. As of 2023, there have been no arrests made and the case is now considered cold, but remains open.

Pox parties, also known as flu parties, are social activities in which children are deliberately exposed to infectious diseases such as chickenpox. Such parties originated to "get it over with" before vaccines were available for a particular illness or because childhood infection might be less severe than infection during adulthood, according to proponents. For example, measles is more dangerous to adults than to children over five years old. Deliberately exposing people to diseases has since been discouraged by public health officials in favor of vaccination, which has caused a decline in the practice of pox parties, although flu parties saw a resurgence in the early 2010s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Natalee Holloway</span> Case of an American woman who disappeared in Aruba

Natalee Ann Holloway, was an 18-year-old American girl whose mysterious disappearance made international news after she vanished on May 30, 2005, in Aruba. Holloway lived in Mountain Brook, Alabama, and graduated from Mountain Brook High School on May 24, 2005, days before the trip. Her disappearance resulted in a media sensation in the United States. Her remains have not been found.

The 2007 tuberculosis scare occurred when Atlanta personal-injury lawyer Andrew "Drew" Speaker flew from Atlanta, Georgia to Paris, France and on to Greece and then Italy before returning on a flight from Prague, Czech Republic to Montreal, Canada, where he crossed over the border and back into the United States while infected with multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believed at the time that Speaker was suffering from extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), but failed to inform Speaker of this worsened sickness before his travels abroad. The incident sparked a debate in Congress on the failure of federal customs agents to stop him. Upon Speaker's return to the United States, the CDC placed him under involuntary isolation using a provision of the Public Health Service Act. With this action, Speaker became the first individual subjected to a CDC isolation order since 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Morehouse</span> American fencer

Timothy Frank Morehouse is an American fencer who won a Silver Medal competing in the men's sabre as a member of the United States fencing team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Morehouse is coached by Yury Gelman. He is the founder of the Fencing in the Schools program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert R. Redfield</span> American medical researcher and CDC director

Robert Ray Redfield Jr. is an American virologist who served as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry from 2018 to 2021.

Victoria Elizabeth Marie"Tori"Stafford was a Canadian girl who was abducted, raped, and murdered by Michael Rafferty and Terri-Lynne McClintic. Her body was found three months later in a wooded area in rural Ontario. The subsequent investigation and search were the subject of massive media coverage across Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Shieff</span> English freerunner

TimothyShieff is an English freerunner. He won the Barclaycard World Freerun Championship in 2009 and participated on the television programme MTV's Ultimate Parkour Challenge. He has also competed on American Ninja Warrior and Ninja Warrior UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tara Grinstead murder case</span> Missing person case in Georgia (U.S. state)

Tara Faye Grinstead was an American high school history teacher from Ocilla, Georgia, who went missing on October 22, 2005, and was declared dead in 2010.

Larissa Schuster is an American convicted murderer who was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2008 for committing the July 2003 murder of her estranged husband Timothy Schuster by submerging his body in hydrochloric acid. Due to the unusual manner in which she committed the murder, Larissa's case made national headlines. She has been dubbed "the Acid Lady" by various media outlets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ariel Castro kidnappings</span> 2002–2004 kidnappings in Cleveland, Ohio, US

Between 2002 and 2004, Ariel Castro abducted Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus from the streets of Cleveland, Ohio and later held them captive in his home of 2207 Seymour Avenue in the city's Tremont neighborhood. All three girls were imprisoned at Castro's home until 2013, when Berry successfully escaped with her six-year-old daughter, to whom she had given birth while imprisoned, and contacted the police. Police rescued Knight and DeJesus, and arrested Castro hours later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaun King</span> American writer and civil-rights activist

Jeffery Shaun King is an American writer and activist. King uses social media to promote social justice causes, including the Black Lives Matter movement.

<i>Hidden Figures</i> 2016 American biographical drama film by Theodore Melfi

Hidden Figures is a 2016 American biographical drama film directed by Theodore Melfi and written by Melfi and Allison Schroeder. It is loosely based on the 2016 non-fiction book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly about three female African-American mathematicians: Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, who worked at NASA during the Space Race. Other stars include Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali, Aldis Hodge, and Glen Powell.

Timothy Andrew MacColl was a Royal Navy leading seaman who disappeared early on the morning of 27 May 2012 in the Port Rashid area of Dubai.

References

  1. ↑ CDR Timothy J. Cunningham
  2. 1 2 3 Drash, Wayne (26 February 2018). "Parents' 'agonizing' wait for news of missing CDC doctor". CNN. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  3. ↑ "40 under 40 Awards: CDC's Timothy Cunningham". Biz Journals. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  4. ↑ Dwilson, Stephanie Dube (24 February 2018). "Timothy Cunningham: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know". Heavy. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  5. ↑ "Search for CDC missing employee enters second week". CBS News. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  6. ↑ Guarnieri, Grace (25 February 2018). "WHO IS TIMOTHY CUNNINGHAM? MISSING CDC WORKER VANISHED ALMOST TWO WEEKS AGO, FAMILY OFFERS $10K REWARD". Newsweek. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  7. ↑ Horton, Alex. "A CDC researcher left work sick two weeks ago — then vanished". Washington Post. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Dakin Andone; Wayne Drash; Michelle Krupa. "No signs of foul play in death of CDC scientist". CNN. Retrieved 2018-10-10.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "EXCLUSIVE: CDC researcher had personal struggles before suicide". ajc. Retrieved 2018-10-10.
  10. 1 2 "Was missing scientist passed over for a promotion before his disappearance? CDC, police disagree". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2018-10-10.
  11. 1 2 3 "A CDC researcher left work sick two weeks ago — then vanished". Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-10-10.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.