In any event, Fr. Frank Stroud, S.J., Tony's fan and host in the Jesuit community at Fordham University in the Bronx found Tony dead on the floor of his room on the morning of June 1, 1987. Tony's body was curled up in a fetal position. His official death certificate lists the immediate cause of his death as "Atherosclerotic coronary artery disease with recent thrombosis of left circumflex branch." But how many people who are dying of a heart attack curl up on the floor in a fetal position?
Moreover, Tony had no known history of heart disease. Furthermore, within a year of his death, he had been examined by a physician in the United States, who also served as President Jimmy Carter's doctor, who had told Tony that he was quite healthy. But perhaps the doctor had missed something important in his examination, eh?
By coincidence, Tony's younger brother Bill de Mello had been visiting Manhattan at the time when Tony had arrived in New York City for his upcoming spirituality conference at Fordham University in the Bronx, which was scheduled to be televised via satellite to a number of Catholic campuses. Bill de Mello was able to visit with Tony in the Jesuit residence at Fordham on the evening of May 31, 1987. But as mentioned, Tony was found dead in his room the next morning by Fr. Stroud.
Bill de Mello recounts that after they had had dinner at the Jesuit residence Tony had complained of some kind of stomach trouble. If Tony had ingested some kind of poison at dinner, how did the real culprit behind his murder manage to poison him, when Bill and others who had dinner in the Jesuit residence that evening were not poisoned?
Tony's complaints after dinner about his stomach trouble had seemed to Bill to sound similar to his own recent trouble with an upset stomach and indigestion after he had arrived in New York City. Bill's colleagues at work in Manhattan had advised him to take Pepto-Bismol. It had worked for Bill, so he advised Tony to take Pepto-Bismol. But when Tony inquired about this at the Jesuit residence, he was told that there was no Pepto-Bismol there. As a result, Bill left the Jesuit residence and went in search of a pharmacy where he could buy some. He then returned to the Jesuit residence with some Pepto-Bismol. Tony then took some. It evidently provided him with a certain measure of relief at the time, because he was able to continue his visit with Bill. When Bill left Tony that evening, Tony was obviously alive.
It is not hard to imagine how disconcerted Bill felt the next day when Fr. Stroud called him at work in Manhattan to tell him that he (Fr. Stroud) had found Tony dead in his room that morning curled up on the floor in a fetal position.
Got that -- in a fetal position? Had somebody somehow killed Tony and then arranged his body on the floor in a fetal position, and then slipped out of Tony's room? Or did Fr. Stroud just make up this fantastic detail about Tony's corpse? But for what reason would the rector have made up this detail when Fr. Stroud told Bill about his brother's death? But if Fr. Stroud did not make up this fantastic detail, why would Tony himself have curled up in a fetal position on the floor as he was dying?
Questions about Tony's death abound.
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