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Tank Hafertepen died of complications arising from silicone injections to his genitals on October 15th, 2018.
His mother and brother are now suing his five partners for wrongful death, negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy related to his death.
Tank Hafertepen, born in Australia as Jack Chapman, emigrated to the United States to be with his partner, Dylan Hafertepen. The two had a master and pup kink relationship and blogged frequently about that relationship.
Tank's mother is alleging that his relationship with Dylan was an abusive one and accuses Dylan and their other partners of endangering Tank by encouraging him to get silicone genital injections.
Several friends of Tank within the BDSM community made similar allegations and even created online records supporting the abuse allegations. "Justice for Jack" trended among members of the community as his friends shared messages from Tank before his death saying he wanted to leave Dylan and change his name back to Jack Chapman.
A special Australian news report was created after his death which outlined his family and friend's allegations.
Justice for Jack - The Project youtu.be
According to text messages, photos and video shared online, Tank left Dylan for a time citing fear and abuse. With a friend's help he cut off his chain around his neck after Dylan refused to give him the key to the padlock.
But Tank later returned to his partners and recanted his prior statements in apology messages to his friends. Shortly after, Tank revised his will then died.
Despite his recanting his abuse allegations, some within the BDSM community allege Dylan has a reputation and history of abuse that is not acceptable within healthy BDSM relationships.
Mrs. Chapman claims that his five partners, Dylan Hafertepen, Daniel Balderas Hafertepen, Charles Osborn, Matthew Scott and Philip Myers, pressured Tank into getting the injections.
Dylan insisted, however, that this was Tank's kink, and not one that he encouraged.
"This was his fetish. I did not make him inject silicone."
"On the contrary, I helped him get some removed."
Body modification through steroids or injections is not uncommon in the kink community, but silicone injections are well know to be both extremely dangerous and illegal.
Despite this knowledge, Tank's partners thought that he just had a "routine infection" when he was admitted to the hospital 6 days before his death.
Charles Osborne, one of Tank's partners and executor of his will, reminisced about Tank and mentioned a persistent cough that he'd had for several months in a Facebook memorial post.
He did not explicitly state the cause of Tank's death in the post.
"Tank had a persistent cough for several months. Otherwise, he seemed fine, doing the things he loved -- working out, caring for clients as part of Lifelong AIDS Alliance, and spending time with his family."
"Until a week ago when he had trouble breathing and was admitted to the hospital with what we figured was a routine infection. It turned out to be much more."
You can read the whole of that post below:
The lawsuit filed by Tank's mother and brother alleges that Tank's relationship with Dylan and the others was abusive, and states that they were not informed of his illness, hospitalization or death. They are seeking punitive damages and to overturn a revised will that Tank drew up weeks before his death.
The revised will left all of Tank's possessions to Dylan, including $200,000 from his father in an investment account. His mother maintains that Tank intended to leave that money to his autistic brother after his death.
The family's lawyer, Joe Murphy, said of the group:
"They robbed her of her right to be his mother."
In reference to the money, which he has claimed in court but not received, Dylan said:
"Tank had wanted the money to go towards our home together, but without Tank it's a reminder of what I've lost."
At the time of Tank's death, there were some who were concerned about the sometimes blurry line between consent and coercion in Dom/sub relationships.
Some folks who knew Tank called for Dylan to be held accountable as well.
Many, however, just missed Tank and mourned his loss.
It can sometimes be difficult for someone outside of a relationship to tell the difference between a healthy dominant and submissive relationship and an abusive one.
Murphy said the Chapman's want to prevent Tank's alleged abuser from receiving any benefit from his death and they want to know what really happened.
"We filed this suit to bring some closure and resolution. One of the most important parts to her will be discovery. She wants to know what happened."
Hopefully this lawsuit will shed some light on the situation surrounding Tank's death and provide some clarity and closure for both his biological family and his chosen family.