Connor Murphy, the 32-year-old fitness influencer who gained recognition for his muscular physique and social media presence, was found unresponsive in a lake near Bangkok, Thailand, on July 7.
Murphy rose to prominence before viral fitness content became a major online industry, attracting followers with his physique and outgoing personality. In more recent years, however, he drew attention for increasingly unusual biohacking experiments, including inserting of colloidal gold into his bloodstream as he pursued what he believed could be the limits of human physical potential.
A friend claims that this particular experiment led to his passing. He told TMZ:
“He’s an () intelligent person and he was the happiest he’d ever been in his entire life after he started ”
Tony suspects the gold may have triggered a form of psychosis:
“I didn’t realize maybe he has like two different personalities and the gold like got him stuck in this other personality.”
“I mean, in hindsight now, it’s kind of like I guess when someone’s drinking too much () and their friends are telling them to stop.”
In a separate video that same friend claimed what led to Conor’s downfall. Murphy resumed the practice about a month and a half before his passing, buying gold bars, gold leaf, and gold necklaces from jewelry shops and dissolving them in an electrolysis machine rather than paying for medically packaged colloidal gold online.
Huge said Murphy’s baseline pleasure rose, his fear and anxiety dropped, and his senses of sight, hearing and touch all felt amplified. Huge theorized this tracked with gold’s conductivity interacting with the body’s bioelectric signals.
In the clearest example Huge pointed to, Murphy described becoming convinced that the singularity had occurred and that he would serve as a kind of transmission tower to spread enlightenment to the world.
Thai police said Murphy had been acting erratically outside a luxury rental property in the Bang Phli district. Reports indicate he had stayed awake the previous night, allegedly painting the home’s interior walls, damaging furniture and defacing appliances.
Police officers responding to the incident reportedly saw Murphy run into a nearby lake and attempt to swim away. The water was more than 10 meters deep, and nobody at the scene entered the lake to assist him.
“Reviewing video footage, a village staff member showed the foreign man suddenly exhibiting erratic behavior without known cause. He ran and swam in the village lake until he became exhausted and submerged,” police noted in their report.
Rescue divers spent approximately 30 minutes searching before locating Murphy’s body around 20 meters from the shoreline. Authorities reported no apparent signs of assault. An autopsy has been ordered, with further testing underway.
Murphy’s girlfriend of three years told investigators she had not noticed any previous symptoms of illness. She also said she had never seen him use any stuff during their relationship. According to her account, the property damage happened while she was sleeping, and Murphy had declined to rest that evening.
Murphy, who became one of the most recognizable fitness influencers nearly a decade ago, had increasingly focused on biohacking in an effort to develop what he described as “superhuman abilities.”
He reportedly increased the amount of gold he took over time, with the eventual goal of making his skin visibly golden.
People close to Murphy had reportedly raised concerns about the risks of his experiments. Gold nanoparticles can be difficult for the body to eliminate, and conventional chelation treatments may not effectively remove them.
While many said Murphy sometimes displayed changes in his behavior after taking larger quantities of gold. Murphy, however, reportedly insisted he was merely “acting” for his online content.
The American embassy in Thailand has been notified.
