I agree Richard, it does sounds suspicious. It doesn't strike me that it would be worth it to Boeing to arrange this, but others have pointed out, it could be some political thing. OTOH, lot's of people who say things like that who do end up actually committing suicide. I don't know.
Extralegal entities like the Mafia are one thing...a (nominal) legitimate business is entirely another. Not saying they COULDN'T find a pro, but they're far more likely to come up with someone who botches the job or spills the beans as soon as the cops start questioning them. Way, WAY more risk if everything doesn't go perfectly. If you're (for instance) a VP at Boeing, how would you go about finding a reliable pro to do a job like that? How much are you, personally, risking? What if the guy your friend-of-a-friend finds is actually a cop?
If you committed some sort of civil malfeasance that the whistleblower may potentially uncover, your company will handle your legal defense. They AIN'T going to do that if you try to hire a hit man. Do it yourself? Man, the CSI folks are *really* good these days, and cops know what a legitimate suicide looks like.
Personally, I blame Hollywood. By the time someone reaches their 20s, they've seen dozens, if not hundreds, of TV shows and movies where the baddies tell their Persons of Hench to "Make it look like suicide," or "Make it look like an accident." So to them, if a real-world incident happens, they're all too willing to believe some sort of malicious outside entity was at fault.
Doubt it's that common. And, in a case like this, counter-productive...better to leave one person complaining on Twitter, than to generate hundreds who believe you had him silenced.
If the man was sufficiently PO'd at Boeing, I can see him telling folks that he WASN'T going to kill himself, just to cause a furor to erupt if he does so.
Big fan of Occams Razor. If you're sitting at a McDonalds in Tucson late at night and hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras.....
Ron Wanttaja