This is the story of an attack levied upon the person of Alexis McBride on the evening of March 18, 2019. It had all of the earmarks of a murder planned and executed by a multibillionaire except at the end there was a dramatic rescue by City and County of San Francisco paramedics.
The decision to write about the night of my attack came three days ago. But now, as I write, there is news of another California school shooting. My experience pales beside this horrendous continuing tragedy of gun violence in the United States. It leaves a trail of trauma, just read that 230,000 students have been traumatized by school shootings since Columbine. Mine is a story of trauma as well, but I have ben able to adjust (somewhat) to what happened. Many students will be unable to overcome their trauma – it is not just the deaths that are hoit is the continuing trauma felt. But onto my story.
Some background is necessary to the telling of this tale. I left London to live in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in March of 2017. Whilst there I was introduced to Joo Kim Tiah, a young multibillionaire, in the lobby of his hotel, The Trump International Hotel and Tower. Days later he invited me to email him, it was apparently, for him, an unheard of gesture. I did hesitate but decided that I would not put on airs but be myself, then there would be nothing to lose. – We had an intense email relationship – more than 600 in the space of five months. Despite a horrendously busy schedule he would respond, sometimes immediately. We did meet for lunch on two occasions and did see one another casually at the Trump. But our intense relationship was our email correspondence which was interesting considering the fact that we both lived in Vancouver until the end of August when he left for China and then Malaysia for what was to be a brief visit.
The termination of email correspondence was initiated by me. Joo Kim was in Malaysia at that time. Throughout our friendship people would tell lies about me and he would believe them. The incident at the end of October was the third time that my veracity (which I value highly) was questioned. Veracity is what I stand for, its synonyms are truthfulness. truth, accuracy, accurateness, correctness, exactness, precision, preciseness, realism, authenticity, faithfulness, fidelity; reputability, honesty, sincerity, trustworthiness, reliability, dependability, scrupulousness, ethics, morality, righteousness, decency, goodness, probity. ANTONYMS falsity. I emailed Joo Kim with a copy to Philippe Posch, (a liar) – saying F*** you and the horse you rode in on. Joo Kim did not take that very well to this informed myself that he would send all of my emails to junk mail and he terminated any direct contact with me. He has maintained that stance to this day but there have been indirect ways, through Instagram and other media.
Soon after our ‘breakup’ people began speaking to me, telling me various ‘secrets’ about Joo Kim, his business operations, practises and personal life. I did believe what was told, also having independent research done confirming some of the facts. But also undertook was cautionary research into the practices of multibillionaires when they are ‘crossed’. The people that cross them are killed under mysterious circumstances. “Goons” are hired from other countries , flown in for the assassinations and promptly flown out – then probably killed so there is no trace of the responsible party. My blog had extensive public exposure but the determination was made that exposing any information would not be a safe. So I kept my mouth shut but in a teasing way, and to divert attention I began to fictionalize a happy ending for two fictional characters Kim Me Poo and Alicia McTwit – they would be wed in a huge charity driven wedding. But at the peak of the fabricated drama, blog master Chris informed that we were hacked by the Chinese. He stealthily avoided intrusion, I wrote that it was better to be hacked then killed but gave up the marriage between Kim Me Poo and Alicia McTwit. .
My misery in Vancouver continued but I broke free, moving to San Francisco at the end of March. It was about that time that, for some reason, I began to look more closely at events and decided essentially forgive Joo Kim – seeing that I had believed lies that were told about him as he had about me. I was also made aware of the indirect messages that he was sending me – I had been to stupid to understand the complex social media world. . But despite apologizes made to his email – there was no direct contact from him. The blog does contain my thinking on his forgiveness and may be read by essentially typing Joo Kim Tiah in the search engine of the blog.
Then on the first of August I accidentally discovered that Joo Kim and his mother announced the planned development of Alix Residences, which is clearly named for me. One Wise Man looked at the photographs of the announcement saying the caption should read: “I am going to name these Residences what I want to mother,”
At that point extensive research was undertaken and it seemed clear that Joo Kim and his mother were involved in a power struggle over the control of TA Global, the Malaysian company which controls most of the Tiah wealth. That is an assumption on my part but many facts support this conclusion.
But I had a lot on my plate. Good news was an apartment suited to me needs but my knee replacement surgery had been postponed by an incompetent doctor and I was in a state of limbo and pain. However, and blessedly, a referral to Dr, Elizabeth Dailey and everything went right with she and her team and surgery was scheduled for August 20, 2019. There was a hiccup as I suffered what was diagnosed as a TIA at the end of July was hospitalized briefly at Davies Hospital but all seemed well if I took the proper medication, which I faithfully continue to do.
I essentially had no one to help me and live alone so decided that I would ask a Vancouver friend who intended to go into the health field to come and aid in my recovery immediately after surgery. She was not working, I volunteered to pay her airfare and she, Tracey Nimmo, arrived on August 17, 2019. The anesthesiologist at Novato General Hospital refused to pass gas based on the TIA but Dr, Dailey arranged for a visit with another neurologist and changed the location of the surgery to Marin General Hospital. But this was a last minute development so I made the decision that Tracey and I would just spend the week together before the newly arranged surgery of August 27, 2019, She arrived, but seemed different somehow and It was not an easy time, with her being quite irrational and very moody, constantly blaming me and constantly texting her husband Mike, complaining I think.
The night of August 18, 2019 began with dinner at my favourite Italian Restaurant but Tracey got upset over something and went back to the apartment. I returned after finishing my dinner. At approximately 11pm there was a pounding on the door of my apartment, Tracey opened the door. Standing there were two or three large Chinese men in police uniforms. But they did not act like policemen, no indication of who they were or showing identification but instead throwing me to the floor of the hallway, placing me in handcuffs and continuing to wrestle me to the ground. I looked down the hallway to see three more of these men approaching me. I knew what was going on – it is called defenestration – they were going to throw me from the roof of my apartment building. The term originates from two incidents in history, both occurring in Prague. In 1419, seven town officials were thrown from the Town Hall, precipitating the Hussite War. In 1618, two Imperial governors and their secretary were tossed from Prague Castle, sparking the Thirty Years War. These incidents, particularly in 1618, were referred to as the Defenestrations of Prague and gave rise to the term and the concept.
I continued to scream and struggle. Tracey was utterly useless, she obediently stayed in the apartment telling them I was a lawyer (or something0. I ordered her to use her phone to record the event – she did not.
But then an amazing thing happened. Paramedics arrived on the scene – real ones. Upon their arrival the goons disappeared. The paramedics must have taken off my handcuffs – they got Tracey to find my medications (she never could have done that on her own) and I was placed in an ambulance. I soon relaxed. For an unknown reason Tracey was allowed to be in the ambulance, in the front seat. They asked me what hospital I wanted to go to.
Me: Davies, please. It is the closest and I was there a few weeks ago.
They: Good choice.
We arrived at the hospital – everyone remembered me from my prior visit. We laughed and joked and within an hour I was released, they called a taxi, Tracey and I went back to my apartment. I was given a discharge summary with the diagnosis of alcoholism and alcoholism with delirium. I was not drunk and was perfectly rational.but I was free and safe.
The next morning I had an appointment with an neurologist. I knew I HAD to get the knee replacement surgery done and I was determined that nothing would interfere. Personal Driver arrived on time and off we went to Marin, where I met with the doctor and was cleared for surgery on August 27, 2019. Tracey was even more strangely moody and although she was supposed to accompany me she decided to stay in the San Francisco apartment.
The next day brought more medical appointments in Marin. I saw my beloved Internist who looked at my bruises and injuries with total alarm. He saw the discharge summary from the hospital.
He: I cannot understand this! They did not do any blood work whatsoever and released you immediately. Clearly they did not think you were drunk.
He said that the bruising would not interfere with the scheduled surgery and promised to alert Dr. Dailey with his findings. We decided that if asked about my injuries I would merely say that I was attacked an not explain the very bizarre details. I told one other person and showed him my bruises. I will never forget the look of alarm on his face – he tried to offer advice but it was pointless to call the police, there was nothing they could do I determined. I was terrified but kept clear of Tracey who returned to the apartment. I turned off my phone so I could not be traced, staying in an Inn, not my usual Marin haunts. Personal Driver on Saturday afternoon came and collected me and we drove back to my San Francisco apartment. Personal Driver was to pick Tracey up at 6 on the Saturday morning at the apartment and transport her to SFO – she was not there.
She had tried to reach me sporadically but my phone had been turned off. Her email messages were increasingly incoherent and angry. I did not know what to expect when I got to my apartment. Personal Driver went in with me and things looked in order. There was a note from her – one I scarcely read.
All of my energies were upon the surgery – I stayed in Marin the night before – woke up and was the most cheerful of all patients on the surgery floor that early morning. It was a confidential hospital admission – no one knew where I was.
Things continued to fall into place. I was unable to care for myself but I hired a caregiver through an agency recommended by the hospital. She was an amazing woman from Nepal and just what I needed. I was a mess, a baby. Not only the surgery but my ‘near death’ experience had to be dealt with. I did nothing for myself – she was with me eight hours a day, feeding me, buying my groceries, cleaning, cooking. I wrote at the time that this was a childhood I never had. Someone who reliably and constantly caring cared for me. I slowly grew up and when I reaches “adolescence” she went on to give her massive caring to another.
My recovery amazed everyone. One man likened me to a professional athlete who when injured only concentrate on getting better and getting better fast. Great physical therapy from Presidio Sports Medicine and I joined Presidio YMCA for their water aerobics programme.
But how did I deal with the events of the 18th and what do I make of them now? I will probably never know – but I know only two multibillionaires who might be capable of such a deed. One is Joo Kim Tiah and the other is his mother Alicia Tiah. She had the motive, the means and the opportunity. He the means and the opportunity but, I do not think the motive. It is impossible for anyone to imagine what it is like to consider the fact that a person you once cared for arranged for your death.
I slowly began to tell people of this strange and awful experience. Their comments so helpful, allowing me to piece things together. Their questions caused me to think. I realized that I did not open the door, Tracey did – that was a relief because I value my skills of self protection. Then someone asked about the goons and I realized they were Chinese, even Tracey said that they looked like robots. But the most incisive question by CPI
She: Why did the paramedics arrive without the police?
So it was not my screams that attracted attention, otherwise the police would have been there. There must have been a report that there was an injured woman in the hallway. There is no doubt that these were legitimate men, the ones who rescued me. Someone with a great deal of authority must have done that. So someone saved me – I know not who.
I feel reasonably safe at the moment. I write from London, from a hotel in which I feel incredibly safe. I texted Wise Man for advice about the writing and publication of this. His response brought tears to my eyes and I am again in tears.
He: I strongly feel that one of the main ways we work through trauma is to turn it into stories and you are an excellent storyteller.
Me: I love you!! I will do it in a couple of days surrounded by my support system which is rather huge. How did those people DARE they do that to me. Who is they? We may never know. But never ever to know unless the story is told. How interesting that it took place on August 18 = perhaps to tell on November 18. Three a rather magic number.
He: I like it.
Actually meeting the Sultan (aka the Crown Prince of Dubai) at this hotel played a large role in my ability to confront the situation. Thanks a lot Sultan, you are such a good man.
The photograph is a moody piece I took from a window in this hotel. All this and I can photograph too. Also the picture of Joo Kim and his mother making the Alix Residences announcements.
