Veteran Found Dead in Sweden, Mysterious Amnesia Story Comes to an End

Brad Fox | March 30, 2015
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“Walk in my shoes one day and you’ll experience the nightmare of a lifetime,” said Johan Ek, aka Michael Boatwright.

Police found Michael Boatwright in a Motel 6, unconscious, with U.S. identification cards displaying his name. When he awoke at Desert Regional Medical Center three days later, Boatwright claimed he had never heard of a man by his name, reports The Desert Sun

Boatwright did not recall serving in the Navy, or being from Florida, and could not explain why there were five tennis rackets in his bag, or who the woman was depicted in a photo found in his bag.

He said his name was Johan Ek, and he didn’t speak a word of English.

A social worker at Desert Regional, Lisa Hunt-Vasquez contacted the military and discovered that Boatwright had served as an aviation mechanic in the Navy from 1971 to 1973. 

She found a letter Boatwright wrote for an English school in China where he taught for four years, a letter which mentioned a Japanese wife and son. Boatwright taught English in Japan before moving to China. 

After more digging, Hunt-Vasquez found pictures of the Navy veteran in a European city from when he was younger. 

Everything Boatwright knew about his life, he had learned from doctors or from reading his online activity. He told CNN that he operated a consulting company called Kultur Konsult Nykoping where the Swedish connection likely exists, but he was not aware of what his company did.

The Desert Sun describes Boatwright as in a "fugue state," where an individual loses touch with their personal identity and becomes confused about past events. States like dissociative fugue can be triggered by emotional or physical trauma.

After Swedish media picked up his story, people came forward and claimed they knew Boatwright in the 1980’s, and that he had a sister living in Louisiana.

Last year it was revealed how Boatwright's amnesia was triggered. A friend in China named Gifford Searls told Desert Sun that Boatwright had fallen on hard times after his wife divorced him and remarried. He apparently tried to kill himself by drinking vodka and animal tranquilizers.

Knowing the pain his friend had been experiencing, Searls bought Boatwright a ticket to the U.S. so he could get a fresh start.

The only connection to California Boatwright had was his friend’s connection to a resort in Palm Desert, where Searls hoped Boatwright could land a tennis coaching job. While overseas, Boatwright reportedly taught English and coached tennis.

When the job fell through, it was only two days later that police found Boatwright unconscious at the Motel 6.

In an interview, Mr. Boatwright said he resorted to his Swedish identity because working in Sweden was a time in his life that he felt secure. A psychologist agreed that was most likely the case. 

After five months in the hospital, Boatwright was transferred to a homeless shelter. After just two weeks at the shelter, the Riverside Mental Health Department bought him a plane ticket to Sweden.

His English never returned but after several months in Sweden, Boatwright told a Swedish newspaper he had found happiness in his new life, feeling as if he had been born again. [QUOTE]

Boatwright passed away on April 21st, 2014  in Sweden. 

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