Colleen Conaway: twelve years since her death at a James Arthur Ray event

Another year has gone by... and we've reached yet another sad anniversary.

On July 25, 2009, 46-year-old Colleen Conaway died during a San Diego event held by New-Wage/McSpirituality guru James Arthur "Death" Ray, of whom Colleen was a devoted follower. She plummeted to her death from an upper-level balcony of a San Diego mall during one of Ray's weekend "wealth creation" seminars, and when Ray and his top people discovered she was missing, and later learned of her death, they kept it under wraps and partied on.

Ray was later convicted of negligent homicide, not for Colleen's death but for the October 2009 deaths of three other people -- Kirby Brown, James Shore, and Liz Neuman -- in a phony and dangerous sweat lodge in Sedona, Arizona. He served less than two years in an Arizona state prison, and has been spending the time since he got out of prison trying desperately to make a comeback in Scamworld.

Today marks the 12th anniversary of Colleen's death. If you want more information, start with the post I published in 2019, on the 10th anniversary. I included a number of external links, including to content by bloggers who have told Colleen's story much more comprehensively than I have.

In that 2019 post I wrote about the connection between Ray and the Transformational Leadership Council, or TLC, aka the Trained Liars Cartel, a group of "elite" New-Wage/McSpirituality "thought leaders" who meet semi-annually, in late January and late July, at some desirable resort location. (Well, except for the past two meetings anyway, due most likely to the pandemic: the location for the July 2020 and the January 2021 gathering was listed simply as "Earth," so it was probably a Zoom meeting.) The most recent meeting began July 21 and wraps up today, according to the TLC schedule page, though the location has yet to be revealed on the TLC web site. I'm guessing... um... Earth again.

It was at a 2005 TLC meeting in Aspen, Colorado, Aussie film that producer Rhonda Byrne shot most of her infamous moviemercial, The Secret... and the rest is Scamworld History. At that time, Ray was a TLC member and so he became a "star" of The Secret, which shot him to new heights of fame and infamy, ultimately leading to the deaths of four people and the injuries of many more. I'm wondering if the TLC will have a tribute to Colleen during their wrap-up meeting today... but I'm guessing not.

As for Ray, these days he is (still) branding himself as "One of the World's Foremost Leadership and Redemption Advisors," explaining his qualifications thusly:

Because of his experience in building from humble beginnings and scratch, as well as rebuilding after hitting rock bottom post terrible crises, James has the unique experience and ability to help those at the top, those on the climb, and those who must put their life back together to get up and climb again.

It's too bad that Colleen Conaway -- and Kirby Brown, James Shore, and Liz Neuman -- won't have the opportunity to put their lives back together.

Never forget.