Bid to ‘get to God’ minutes before ‘Judgment Day’ deadline turns fatal

before the first earthquakes of “Judgment Day” were supposed to strike.
The 25-year-old from Florida, who had been staying with family in California, eventually drowned in the 80-acre reservoir in Contra Loma Regional Park, Antioch on Friday night, investigators said.
Frasno, who was described by investigators as very religious, had also tried to pull his older brother into the water after saying he had been “chosen”.
The 27-year-old, who has not been identified, managed to wriggle free before scrambling up the bank to get help. He last saw Frasno thrashing about while quoting from the Bible.
Authorities pulled Frasno’s body out of the lake just before midnight on Friday. Judgement Day was pegged for the next day based on a prediction by Oakland-based evangelist Harold Camping and his Family Radio group.
The world kept turning, but investigators believe the frenzy that had been whipped up around the so-called “rapture” with a global advertising campaign and vast media coverage may have helped to push Frasno over the edge.
“I believe it probably had something to do with the rapture because this wasn’t his normal behaviour,” Detective Holly Sontag, told the Contra Costa Times.
Frasno, his brother and his brother’s wife had gone down to the park earlier on Friday, according to police.
“He (Frasno) started talking about God profoundly, but nothing abnormal at that point,” Detective Sontag told the paper.
They then returned to the brother’s apartment where Frasno started to watch UFO videos while quoting from the book of Ezekiel, she added.
He then insisted the threesome return to the reservoir where his religious rants continued.
“He told his family that he now understood the Bible and that God was going to come to see him,” Det Sontag said.
Frasno then dived into the icy cold water after telling the pair God was waiting for him on the other side.
The brother and his wife jumped in to rescue him where a struggle ensued.
They managed to drag him out and the wife went off for help, Det Sontag said.
But Frasno then jumped back into the water this time taking his brother with him.
“Climb on my back, God has given me the strength to go across,” Frasno had said before jumping in, according to the detective.
She called it a “very sad situation”.
Frasno had not been drinking, was not on any prescription drugs and had no history of mental illness, she said.
Authorities are still waiting for the results of a drug test to come back.
Despite the evidence linking the drowning to Judgment Day hysteria, Frasno’s family told police they weren’t aware he was or had been influenced by Camping’s group, Det Sontag said.
“The family never said anything related to rapture, but our sense is that was probably what happened,” she added. – Daily Mail.