The man accused of breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's California home and severely beating her husband Paul Pelosi with a hammer had made several racist and rambling posts online, including QAnon conspiracy theories. David DePape, 42, also raised questions about the 2020 election results and defended former President Donald Trump in several of his posts.
DePape was arrested at the Pelosi residence on Friday morning, following the near-fatal attack on Paul Pelosi. Brooke Jenkins, the district attorney for San Francisco, stated that she planned to bring several felony charges, including ones for burglary, elder abuse, attempted murder, and assault with a deadly weapon.
His Odd Beliefs
According to reports, DePape posted several conspiracy theories on social media, especially Facebook. He reportedly posted multiple memes and conspiracy theories about Covid vaccines, the 2020 election and January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
His Facebook posts also included QAnon theories. An acquaintance told CNN that DePape also seemed "out of touch with reality."
DePape's social media activity presents a concerning image of a person who has recently become interested in conspiracies. Last year, he falsely claimed that the 2020 election had been rigged in a number of video clips that he shared linked to on his Facebook page.
Recent posts on DePape's Facebook page have been mirrored on two other blogs written by someone with the pseudonym "daviddepape." The author of a Wordpress.com blog protested about big tech censorship and wrote claims like "Hitlery done nothing wrong" over the course of many days in August 2022. Since then, the website has been deactivated.
Another blog, also belonging to "daviddepape," had antisemitic rants and material related to the QAnon conspiracy theory. In one video posted on the website Pelosi is seen swinging a gavel during one of former President Donald Trump's impeachments.
She also appears in another video with other elected officials. In a third video, a segment of Pelosi speaking on the House floor is seen.
Other Conspiracy Theories
Other posts linked to websites that claimed Covid vaccinations were harmful and contained transphobic photos. "The death rates being promoted are what ever 'THEY' want to be promoted as the death rate," one post read.
He also posted links to YouTube videos with titles like "Democrat FARCE Commission to Investigate January 6th Capitol Riot COLLAPSES in Congress!!!" and "Global Elites Plan To Take Control Of YOUR Money! (Revealed)"
Two days after former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted guilty of killing George Floyd, David DePape argued in a video clip that the trial was "a modern lynching" misrepresenting Floyd's cause of death as drug overdose.
He also posted his views on the "Great Reset," a vast conspiracy theory that contends that world leaders are utilizing the coronavirus to bring about a new world order in which they will have more control and will enslave the populace. He also expressed displeasure that politicians "are offering you bribes in exchange for your further enslavement" when they make pledges in an effort to obtain votes.
On DePape's Facebook profile, the majority of the public posts were from 2021. DePape used to make lengthy religious rants on his website, in which he asserted that "Jesus is the anti-Christ." Pelosi didn't appear to be mentioned in any of the open posts.
Odd Character
DePape has been estranged from his family for years, according to three of his relatives, who also confirmed that the Facebook account that was deleted by the social media giant on Friday belonged to him.
"I really don't know what to think," the suspect's uncle, Mark DePape, said of his nephew's alleged attack on Pelosi. "Hopefully it's a scam. I don't want to hear something like that."
DePape, according to his stepfather Gene DePape, was raised in Powell River, British Columbia, and moved to California about 20 years ago to pursue a relationship with a woman older than him.
"David was never violent that I seen and was never in any trouble although he was very reclusive and played too much video games," Gene DePape said. He claimed he hasn't seen or met his stepson since 2003 and has made numerous unsuccessful attempts to get in touch with him over the years.
"In 2007, I tried to get in touch but his girlfriend hung up on me when I asked to talk to him," Gene DePape said.
People who knew DePape in California described him as a strange character. He was described as a "hemp jewelry maker" in a 2013 San Francisco Chronicle article, which also stated that he shared a home with a nudist campaigner. DePape can be seen in other photos published by the Chronicle attending a nudist wedding on the steps of San Francisco City Hall while fully dressed.
Californian Linda Schneider told CNN that she met DePape about eight years ago and that he occasionally did her housesitting. DePape told her he had struggled with hard drugs but was "trying to create a new life for himself" when they first met, she claimed, while DePape was residing in a storage unit nearby Berkeley.
He said he couldn't even go and have a bank account because he was terrified of speaking to a teller," Schneider said claiming that he was too shy a person.
But Schneider later received "really disturbing" emails from DePape in which he sounded like a "megalomaniac and so out of touch with reality," she said. She said she decided to stop communicating with him "because it seemed so dangerous," adding that she recalled him "using Biblical justification to do harm."
According to Gene DePape, his son's girlfriend who he accompanied to California was named Gypsy, and the two of them were parents to two kids. According to his stepfather, DePape also has a child from a previous relationship.
