David Wilcock, a well-known influencer who studied aliens and the paranormal, had health problems and was mired in debt when he died by suicide on Monday, according to Colorado police and his family.
He was 53.
Wilcock’s family said in a statement released by police that he had taken his own life after “a long struggle with depression and overwhelming financial debt.”
Wilcock was known for his dozens of appearances and contributions to the History Channel series “Ancient Aliens” and appeared in 164 episodes of “Cosmic Disclosures,” a show featuring whistleblowers and purported Secret Space Program insiders discussing extraterrestrial life, according to IMDb. He was a prolific author as well, with several books to his name, at least two of them New York Times bestsellers, and made two documentaries that delved into paranormal conspiracy theories.
Born March 8, 1973 in Schenectady, N.Y., Wilcock was interested in such things even as a child, his family said. The adult Wilcock specialized in exploring “the boundary where science and spirituality become one,” according to the description on his YouTube channel, where he had more than half a million followers.
The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said Monday that Wilcock had shot himself in the head in deputies’ presence as they were trying to approach him outside his home in Nederland, Colo. They were responding to a 10:44 a.m. 911 call and knew the emergency dispatcher “suspected the caller was experiencing a mental health crisis,” police said in a statement. Deputies arrived at 11:02 a.m. to find a man outside a house, holding a weapon.
“Within minutes of deputies’ arrival, he used the weapon on himself,” the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said. “He was pronounced deceased at the scene.”
The Boulder County Coroner’s office identified him Wednesday as Wilcock. On Thursday the sheriff’s office updated its report with a detailed timeline of what happened when, down to the second. A deputy arrived at 10:53 a.m. and waited for backup, unsure whether there was a weapon. When a second deputy got there at 11:01a.m., they drove toward the residence as the caller stated, “I’m sorry to put you through this,” and hung up.
Twenty-five seconds later they saw a man sitting outside with a gun to his head, and “sought cover.” At 11:04:32 they heard the gun go off, but at 11:05 a deputy saw the man, still aiming the gun at himself. The rest happened in less than 30 seconds, the sheriff’s office said. A deputy ordered him to put down the gun at 11:05:24. A mere three seconds later, at 11:05:27, “a deputy witnessed the man shooting himself.” the office said.
Wilcock was prominent in the disclosure movement, whose adherents believe the U.S. government is hiding from the public information about UFOs and extraterrestrial life. In his last livestream, about two days before his death, he said scientists have been disappearing or dying, which he found “a little bit scary.”
On Monday, the House Oversight Committee opened an inquiry into reports that at least 10 scientists who worked at NASA, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and others involved in nuclear research have “died or mysteriously vanished” since 2023. People close to the investigations insist the incidents are not linked.