Could a missing rock star presumed dead for 25 years actually have staged his disappearance and be living here in Israel? A new book thinks so!
Richie Edwards, the star of the rock band Manic Street Preachers, who has been missing for 25 years and a decade ago was officially declared dead, actually lives in a Kibbutz in Israel, according to a new book.
Edwards, who was the guitarist and one of the writers of the Welsh band, disappeared on February 1, 1995, before the band toured the United States.
The co-authors Sara Hawys Roberts and Leon Noakes told the media in Wales that they believed Richey Edwards suffered from Asperger’s syndrome, which was never diagnosed, “a form of autism that caused him to block the world around him.”
According to Roberts, in the 1990s Asperger was not diagnosed as he is diagnosed today, “But we do one and another, read books about it, and it seems very appropriate to Richie,” she added.
She also said that in the weeks before his disappearance, Richie spoke at length about Israel and even made a tattoo of Israel in his body.
The Mirror has more:
If Richey had decided to start life anew, where would he have fled?
One of the most surprising aspects of the book is the recurring nature of one place in particular: Israel.
During his stay at Whitchurch Hospital, Richey made one friend during his time on the ward – a woman in her early twenties who was an artist and an academic.
She later moved to Israel. It’s telling that before the American trip Richey never made in 1995, he told Rachel that he would much rather visit Israel.
“We don#t know much about her at all,” says Sara. “We’ve tried to trace her, but she disappeared and not much is known about her.”
By coincidence, the link came up again when co-author Leon went for a haircut in Cardiff and started talking about Richey.
“The lady cutting his hair said, ‘he’s actually living in a kibbutz in Israel, everybody knows’,” Sara says. “As you can imagine it took him aback.
“We gave this theory no particular credence until Rachel raised the same idea – yes, Richey had been going on about heading to that part of the world just before he vanished.”
There is further supporting evidence in Richey’s late 1994 tattoo – a diagram of the entry to Hell, below Jerusalem, based on an illustration from a 1949 version of Dante’s The Divine Comedy. Many photographs taken of him in those last few months show him deliberately sporting his new inkings for the camera.
