The Words of the Fefferman Family

Timeline of Young Jin Moon's Death

Dan Fefferman
November 3, 1999

Rev. Lee gave the following timeline in church this evening:

October 27 10 pm. This was the time of Young Jin Nim's death

October 28 8 pm. Father gets call from Reno informing him of Young Jin's death

October 28 midnight Rev. Yang informs regional directors meeting he can't attend, but he can't say why. They know something serious is up.

October 29 Rev. Yang and Peter Kim in Reno dealing with authorities.

October 30 Rev. Yang and Peter Kim conduct Seung Hwa for Young Jin Nim with one other member. Burial also takes place in Reno. Probably he will be reburied somewhere else (Korea) later.

October 31. Dr. Yang returns to NY. In DC church service Rev. Lee mentions that "something serious has happened." He still doesn't know what though.

November 1. Reports start to filter in from news media in Japan and western US.

November 2. Father explains significance of the death at Hoon Dok Hae. He says "don't cry at all" about this because it is an offering for the 400 million blessing. Rev. Yang suggests he may also have been an offering to protect Father's life, since many spiritualists predicted Father might die this year.

Also on November 2, MS-NBC breaks the story internationally.

Rev. Lee and also Philip Shancker explained that the official position is that this was probably not a suicide but an accident. Young Jin was not despondent or depressed. It is true that his marriage had foundered, but everyone who knew him believed him to be in good spirits. He had gone to Nevada to study Hotel Management and was strongly motivated in his studies. While in Reno, he had contacted his secretary to inform her of his travel plans to another city the next day. He had ordered room service and seems to have already packed his bags to go move on. There was no suicide note (as in the case of 80 percent of presumed suicides). The police had treated it as an "apparent suicide." However, Philip is now informed by a Nevada reporter that the police are opening an investigation. An autopsy revealed no drugs or alcohol in the victim's system.

So that's about it in terms of what Rev Lee said in church tonight. Hope this is helpful. As I say, I would have preferred more information, and sooner... but I don't blame the leadership since they were only following Father's desire, and it was hardly the time to press the issue with him.

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