On January 19, 2023, an executive of Wells Fargo & Company named Greg Beckett jumped off a 14th-floor conference room in an alleged suicide at the firm's headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware. While the 46-year-old man reportedly took his own life earlier this year, he did not leave behind a suicide note, making the death appear suspicious.
Trigger warning: This article contains references to suicide. Readers' discretion is advised.
Now, nine months later, new details surrounding Beckett's demise have come to the forefront. According to The Messenger, immense stress and work pressure led to the death of the New Jersey native.
In fact, as per the Daily Mail, the night he died, the man responsible for securing and assessing Wells Fargo & Company's risk exposure attended business calls until midnight. However, when he did not return home that night, his family became concerned and went to his office to look for him.
Unfortunately, by the time they arrived, Greg Beckett had taken his own life, and police were on the scene investigating.
Wells Fargo & Company executive Greg Beckett died by suicide at the age of 46
Greg Beckett, the 46-year-old executive in charge of risk assessment, internal controls, and safeguarding exposure at Wells Fargo & Company, died earlier this year in an apparent suicide. As per the reports of The Messenger, he jumped off the 14th-floor conference room of his office's headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware.
According to a new report released by the Delaware Police Department, the native of Bridgeport, New Jersey, claimed his own life as he was suffering from mental health issues and a severe workload.
Initially, the police could not confirm it as a suicide, as he did not leave behind any suicide note or any other hint as to why he took his own life. But now, after months of investigation, the police have concluded that it was suicide.
On the night of his death in mid-January, Greg Beckett did not return home and even stopped answering any texts or calls, making his brother and sister-in-law worried for him. Before reaching his office in an attempt to locate him, the couple suspected that Greg Beckett was involved in a road accident.
However, upon their arrival at his office, they were shocked to discover that Greg had killed himself and saw that the parking lot was surrounded by police and first responders. While the postmortem did not reveal any foul play, Greg's family members deemed the suicide "sudden" and "impossible to believe," as per Mirror.
Back when the incident happened, Greg Beckett's brother Dave told The Messenger that he and the rest of the family were surprised that no senior executives from the firm attended his memorial service, instead only a few colleagues came. However, as per the media source, the multi-billion-dollar financial services firm sent flowers to Greg Beckett's family as a show of condolence.
Not only that, but a spokesperson for Wells Fargo & Company issued a statement to the Daily Mail regarding Beckett's death. It read as follows:
"We're deeply saddened by the loss of our colleague. Greg was a valued member of our team. As we all know, it's virtually impossible to identify a reason when a tragedy like this occurs. There is nothing more important to all of us at Wells Fargo than our colleagues' well-being."
At present, Beckett's family members, friends, and co-workers have all come to terms with his death but are still left wondering why Greg took his life on that fateful night in January and are grappling with many unanswered questions. While they were all aware of how demanding his corporate job was, they saw no signs of distress in the days, weeks, and even months leading up to his death, reported Mirror.
What made Greg's suicide appear even stranger was the fact that things were going steady in his personal life, despite his increasing workload and spending longer hours at the office, at times as late as 11 pm.
In fact, prior to his death, Beckett had moved in with his girlfriend Giovanna Muraca and her daughters, and they even spent their first Christmas together. Those who knew him up close said he was a Philadelphia Eagles fan, loved spending time with his dog, and was addicted to the TV show Real Housewives.
Meanwhile, a colleague informed Greg's family that he had been delegating several high-stress projects for months before his death. However, Wells Fargo did not issue a statement regarding this.
What's more interesting is that, when human resources personnel contacted Greg's brother about his life insurance and final paycheck, she was shocked to learn about the circumstances of his death and quickly disconnected the call, as per Dave's statements to Mirror. He even told the Wall Street Journal that his brother had personal accountability for the company but not vice versa.
