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The Accused Ricin-Mailer Is an Elvis-Impersonating Conspiracy Theorist

More details have emerged about the Mississippi man arrested for allegedly sending ricin-tainted letters to elected officials. Prepare to update your domestic terrorist profile to include Elvis impersonators battling gangs of organ-harvesters.

By Philip Bump
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This article is from the archive of our partner .

More details have emerged about Paul Kevin Curtis, the Corinth, Mississippi, man arrested for allegedly sending ricin-tainted letters to three people, including the president and Senator Roger Wicker. Prepare to update your profile of domestic terror suspects to include Elvis impersonators who fear criminal gangs of organ-harvesters.

That's Curtis, as seen in a 2011 video posted to YouTube showing one of his performances. Curtis, sometimes partnering with his brother Jake, offered his services as an impersonator at a live entertainment booking website, including photos of himself as Elvis and a heavily-bearded Hank Williams, Jr. The reviews from users are glowing.

Curtis appears to have fallen back on his impersonations after losing his job with a medical center in Mississippi. The Clarion-Ledger reports that he was fired from the medical center in March 2000. Later that year he sued, first claiming that he was discriminated against, and, later, that he'd uncovered evidence of a crime.

On his website, Curtis wrote that during his employment at the Tupelo hospital he stumbled upon a “refrigerator full of dismembered body parts and organs wrapped in plastic in the morgue.”

Curtis claimed the discovery was part of a mafia-related human body parts trafficking ring on his Facebook site.

On social media, Curtis seems to have ricocheted between typical posts and long rants against authorities, including Facebook itself. The rants vary, but are broadly anti-authoritarian and occasionally refer back to the organ-harvesting ring. This Tuesday, for example, Curtis posted this to his Facebook page.

I'm on the hidden front lines of a secret war. A war that is making Billions of dollars for corrupt mafia related organizations and people. (bone, tissue, organ, body parts harvesting black market) when we lay our loved ones to rest....we hope and pray their bodies are not violated but I am here to tell you, as long as the bone, tissue & organ harvesting indu$try is NOT REGULATED....on any level(s) whether it be local, state, federal or national...........your loved ones body parts are NOT $AFE. It's not fun for me to be the Me$$enger here. It was not fun in 1999 when I made accidental discovery and became a "Person of interest".

My mother wants me to SHUT UP. My brothers fear me. My sister hates me. My cousins have hostility towards me (they work in healthcare) I have lost most of my friends. I have spent more than $130,000.00 on legal fee's in 13.5 yrs. They burned down my home, killed my dogs, my cat, my rabbit, blew up my 1966 Plymouth Valent. They destroyed my marriage, they distracted my career, they stalked, they trolled, they came in to my home, took my computers, had me arrested 22 times and guess what? I am still a thorn in their corrupt anals! I will remain here until Jesus Christ decides its time for me to go. (ur welcome and amen. :)

This theme is more fully explored in a separate website apparently run by Curtis, titled "Missing Pieces." The page delves into loose accusations of organ-harvesting, accuses "the government, FBI, police departments, legal & healthcare systems" of engaging in a conspiracy, and includes images of correspondence between Curtis and various health facilities. "Missing Pieces" is also the name of a short ebook Curtis wrote, telling the story of a hospital employee named Kevin who stumbles onto an body part-trafficking ring. Here, "Kevin" speaks with his brother "Jake."

"That's it Jake, the man's head I found in the refrigerator! He was the man’s brother! I saw them in the ER and even spoke to the man! Oh my God, he was supposed to be cremated! Something's going on in that hospital Jake and I mean something bad!"

The "Missing Pieces" web page ends with: "This is Kevin Curtis& I approve this message." This is largely the same message that concluded the ricin letters.

Curtis actively proselytized his organ-trafficking theories. The Clarion-Ledger notes that he'd approached Senator Wicker with his charges.

He also posted criticisms of Sen. Roger Wicker, claimed that he ran into Wicker several times and that "he seemed very nervous speaking to me and would make a fast exit to the door" after talking about his case against the hospital.

He said he had personally sent out more than a million emails in one year, “detailing what happened to me.”

(Update: It appears that Wicker's relationship with Curtis may even be stronger that that:)

Posts Curtis made on Facebook this year prior to April 10th aren't available, but still exist on Twitter. On April 8, the day the letters were postmarked, Curtis had only one tweet.

But Curtis posted on Facebook a lot this week, until his arrest — although Facebook apparently blocked his leaving public comments at some point. On Monday, he posted a long tirade encouraging support for a mayoral candidate and lambasting a local judge. A local judge was one of the three intended recipients of Curtis' ricin-tainted letters.

I wanted to take an moment to urge everyone to get out and VOTE for Jason Shelton Tupelo Mayor! Jason was there for me when I faced my first Conspiracy in life right here in Tupelo, Mississippi (birthplace of Elvis Presley! From a severed head in the North Mississippi Medical Centers Hospital refrigerator …

GOD IS in control no matter what Judge Dan Davis said at one of those 7 phony trials "Jesus is not in control of THIS jurisdiction Mr Curtis" HA the JOKES on YOU good ole boys I guess.

That post ends: "This is KC & I approve this message"

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.