Hypothetically, if you are a witness or whistleblower who's adversary was a very big corporation (such as boeing), what measures could you take to prevent yourself from being "suicided"?
Amongst everything others have said, if you get sucked into an interview or press conference, directly and firmly state that, for the record, you are not suicidal and that if you should die, it was absolutely not suicide. You believe that you've become a target and fear for your safety and life.
It doesn't matter if you believe yourself to be a target in the privacy of your head. Always say that you are early, often, loudly, and to anyone who will listen.
Does it really matter that much? I figure either way they're going to get you if they want and the media will treat it like a suicide regardless of how much you publicly telegraph what's going to happen ahead of time.
Yes of course it matters. If he wasn't lying and acting like an insane criminal for a decade or so, people would be inclined to believe him.
The guy acted like people with your same thought process could magically absolve him of his crimes and lies because he made a wild claim that he would be killed. He hadn't said a goddamned thing for years pertaining to himself that was true. He was a lunatic and a murderer (rapist too iirc?). It makes all the sense in the world he would be lying about expecting to be killed too