Most believe it's the latter two. And by most, we mean everyone except Dog the Bounty Hunter (and we seriously doubt he believes their story, either—more on that in a bit).
The older brother of actor Dennis Quaid was arrested last Thursday in Vancouver by several Canada Border Service Agency officials and police officers on outstanding warrants from the United States. Randy Quaid's 47 year-old wife, Evi, was arrested, too.
The couple appeared to be living out of a 10 year-old Toyota.
The couple reportedly failed to show up for a court hearing in Santa Barbara, Calif., on allegations they were squatting in the guest house of a Montecito home they once owned in the 1990s. Evi was also charged with resisting arrest.
After their arrest the Quaids made an appearance before the Immigration and Refugee Board for a detention hearing on Friday where they filed for refugee status. Quaid alleges that a shadowy group he calls 'Star Whackers' is responsible for killing a number of his Hollywood friends, and is now after he and his wife.
Quaid cited the deaths of Dark Knight star Heath Ledger and David Carradine of Kung Fu and the Kill Billfranchise as examples.
In a handwritten note, shown to media by their Vancouver-based lawyer, Brian Tsuji, the couple said: "Yes we are requesting asylum from Hollywood 'STAR WHACKERS.'"
When the issue was raised about his reported problems with substance abuse, 66 year-old Randy Quaid denied the couple had drug or alcohol problems.
Evi Quaid told reporters that "Hollywood is murdering its movie stars for ad sales."
A secret group of international assassins targeting celebrities, you say? Hollywood studios offing its stars to raise ticket revenue? Or how about disgruntled moviegoers?
If all this sounds a bit whacked to you, it gets better. The couple's verbal plea has piqued curiosity about who, or what, 'star whackers' refers to. And the plea may allow the couple to stay in B.C. as refugee claimants.
Which might just be the point.
Meanwhile, a private investigator told Sun Media that the conspiracy theory Evi Quaid hopes will allow her and Randy to claim refugee status in Canada is fictitious.
"Evi believes the ‘union mob’ is out to destroy them, and that they're going to kill Randy and herself and make it look like a murder-suicide," said Becky Altringer by phone from La Verne, Calif.
"There is nobody out to kill Randy or Evi," Altringer went on. "The only one trying to hurt Randy and Evi is Evi, she is really mentally ill."
"Heath Ledger, Chris Penn, David Carradine all died of different things," she added, "they all died of self-inflicted (matters)."
Yep, no need to employ a P.I. to figure that one out.
According to Altringer, she was hired by the Quaids last year to investigate the alleged conspiracy, but ended up quitting and filing a restraining order against the couple, who ran up a $19,000 bill. She said she gave them a place to stay but eventually evicted them over Evi’s behavior.
So the plot thickens.
Asked whether he really wanted refugee status, Randy Quaid stated that "Canada is a very protective nation." If the couple is allowed to access the refugee system, the process will take a minimum of one to two years. During that period, they will have access to Canadian benefits, including work permits, medical care and welfare.
Still, experts doubt the couple's claim for refugee status will be approved. Criminality is typically not an open door to Canada's refugee process.
If unable to discredit the California charges and prove fear of prosecution back home, their time in Canada will be brief, and the likelihood is that the couple will be escorted from the hearing room directly to the back of an immigration truck, where they will face a one one-way trip to the U.S. border and the waiting arms of American law enforcement officials (or the 'star whackers', whomever gets there first, we reckon).
Quaid and his wife also claimed that they chose Vancouver as their destination to talk to an agent about jump-starting Quaid's acting career.
Duane Chapman has wasted no time inserting himself into this sordid saga. After threatening to hunt down Quaid and "do an intervention, Doggy style" (sorry, "Dog style"), the star of A&E's Dog the Bounty Hunter now claims he wants to hear Quaid's 'star whackers' story.
"That is the first time I heard about it," Chapman said. "Something is wrong here and we need to find out … Something is up and we need to get to the bottom of it."
It's unlikely Chapman really believes this story about assassins targeting Hollywood celebrities, either. Anything for ratings, we suppose.
If Dog really wants to pull off a ratings coup, he should consider traveling to Pakistan to hunt down Bin Laden…with Randy Quaid riding shotgun (certainly a better way to jump start Quaid's career than a guest-stint on Smallville).
No comments:
Post a Comment