Last week, 33-year-old Shane Billingham passed away at the Burning Man Festival under mysterious circumstances. However, his toxicology report has now been released, showing that carbon monoxide caused his death, along with the effects of various controlled substances. Investigators are still trying to get to the bottom of Billingham’s death.
Billingham was found dead in his camper van on on Thursday at Burning Man’s Black Rock City in Nevada. He was staying at the Beat Boutique camp, and bystanders performed CPR on him until emergency responders could arrive. When they brought him to the festival’s medical tent, however, he was pronounced dead on the scene.
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According to a report by the Reno Gazette-Journal, Billingham’s toxicology report told investigators a lot about his death. The reveller was killed by carbon monoxide poisoning, as the initial autopsy had suggested, but he had drugs in his system as well. These likely exacerbated the effects of the poisoning, the cause of which has not yet been specified.
Billingham was known to his friends as “Wingman.” An artist and a craftsman, he made his living by selling custom art and jewellery, particularly wearable fairy wings, which were his specialty. Billingham’s friend, Steve MacWitchey, told reporters that he will miss him.
“He was one of the best people I’ve ever known,” he said. “I miss him. I’m never going to let him be forgotten.”
Billingham was a New Zealand native, but he traveled often. This was not his first trip to Nevada for Burning Man, a festival infamous for its free-wheeling, experimental atmosphere. The gathering takes place far out in the Black Rock desert, where attendees erect a temporary “city” each year, then deconstruct it when the week is over, leaving no trace of themselves behind.
This year, the theme of Burning Man was “metomorphoses.” About 80,000 people attended, bringing along 345 art installations and taking part in no less than 19 burns.
The giant “Burning Man” effigy for which the festival is named went up in flames on Saturday night, two days after Billingham’s passing. This year’s sculpture was over 60 feet tall, and was designed by Yelena Filipchuk and Serge Beaulieu.
Billingham’s death brought even more negative press to the embattled festival, which was already under scrutiny as it tried to renew its permit with the Bureau of Land Management. Now, organizers are working hard to re-orient public perception of their beloved gathering.
Billingham’s family has started a crowdfunding campaign to get his remains transported home to New Zealand, where he will be laid to rest.
