A prominent white nationalist who took part in the infamous "Unite the Right" rally in 2017 apparently took his own life as he was scheduled to go on trial on a drug charge in a Tucson federal court.
Marchers chanted "You will not replace us" at a torchlit rally on a Virginia college campus in 2017. One of the best-known photographs from that night shows 30-year-old Teddy Joseph Von Nukem, wearing a plain black polo shirt and carrying a tiki torch at the head of the march.
Von Nukem was born Teddy Landrum in Phoenix and changed his name to Von Nukem after a videogame character. He was active in the alt-right movement. In 2021, von Nukem was arrested at the Lukeville port of entry, after customs agents said they found 33 pounds of fentanyl tablets in bags hidden in his SUV.
Von Nukem was scheduled to go on trial on drug possession and conspiracy charges in Tucson on January 30th. When he didn't show, the judge issued an arrest warrant. Less than an hour later von Nukem's wife called the court from their home in Missouri, saying there was an emergency.
Tuesday independent journalist Molly Conger reported on Twitter that von Nukem had died the same morning the Tucson trial was to begin. Later the Daily Beast website reported a death certificate showed the 35-year-old died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. An obituary posted by his hometown funeral home was taken down after the news surfaced Tuesday.
