Alphabet Google Cannot Sink the Yacht Affair
August 5, 2016
I am not sure why the Google yacht thing continues to make news. One person. One yacht. One death. That’s pretty small potatoes in today’s interesting world. I noticed “Kiss of Death and the Google Exec” and decided to skip it. No, I thought, I may as well skim the “real journalism” and check out what continues to attract the attention of “real journalists.” But the story has one big omission. Spoiler: Google’s people operations and its role in assisting employees.
The write up summarizes the incident, a blip really. A fellow named Forrest Hayes worked at Google. He was involved in the company’s secret projects. He bought a boat. He ended up dead.
The write up reminded me:
On the night of November 22, 2013 … Forrest Hayes was on his yacht … and he didn’t come home that night. And his wife became concerned. She called the captain they retained for this yacht and he went and he got on the boat… Hayes’ body was found lying in the main cabin.
The write up then states:
Hayes had a profile page on a dating website, called SeekingArrangement.com. It would be a critical clue in learning the identity of that mystery tattooed woman.
Yikes.
Then the write up reports that a video camera on the boat recorded drug use. What was the drug for the Google exec? I learned:
As police would learn, the drug of choice that night was heroin.
Interesting.
The video allowed the police to locate the individual recorded on the boat’s video system. The write up explains what the meet up Web site provides its customers.
Using a range of investigative techniques, the police confronted the suspect. The suspect had other relationships and had a “dark” life. The write up explains that
in September of 2013, two months before Forrest Hayes died, Tichelman’s fiancé, Dean Riopelle, died with heroin in his system…
The write up notes:
Alix Tichelman pleads guilty to involuntary manslaughter.
Then the write up jumps back to the family of the Google exec. I learned:
After the hearing, there was another stunning development. Prosecutor Rafael Vasquez says the family of Forrest Hayes told him they never wanted Alix Tichelman charged.
“The family did not want this case to be filed, they would have been very happy if this case had been dismissed,” Vasquez explained. “They were terrified about the prospect of this case going to trial.” The family, he said, did not want that video from Hayes’ boat to ever be made public. “I can only imagine what further pain, what further humiliation they would endure if that video was released out into the public,” said Vasquez.
My reaction to this story is mixed. On one hand, the event is public and is a subject suitable for “real journalism.” On the other, an individual behaved in a manner which seems out of bounds.
Google has people operations. Could the folks involved with this function at Google have implemented programs to assist the Google executive? This question is not addressed in the write up. Also, were co-workers of the Googler aware of the person’s behavior?
Working at companies like Google can be stressful. The write up focuses on the sensational nature of the boat incident. I wonder if the “real journalists” will consider the Google management angle. Searches for information about “Google people operations” return a modest amount of information in my opinion. There may be work to do for the “real journalists” interested in this incident.
Stephen E Arnold, August 5, 2016
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