Here is a theory which I find rather plausible: Dr. Brunner received the tortoise from Ici Li back in May. He then traded it to Tuan for some other animals. Tuan then offered to trade the tortoise to my friend Jerry Carucci in July. Jerry was wise enough to ask Tuan for some kind of proof that the tortoise really is a son of legendary dam #443 before agreeing to any deals involving it. Hence, both Tuan and Jerry contacted me within about 36 hours of each other asking me to verify that Ici Li had indeed ever owned a son of that dam.
I told both of them that Ici Li had never bought one of her offspring from anyone who has owned her but that did not rule out the possibility that he could have bought the tortoise from its original buyer and that knowing the person from whom Ici obtained him might allow me to verify that that person had bought one or more offspring of dam #443 making it possible that Ici did have such a son.
Tuan asked this question of Ici Li at some point, possibly even before he decided to ask me, which tipped Ici off to the fact that the tortoise was not dead. Upon learning that Tuan had the tortoise, Ici started the bad guy thread about Dr. Brunner and refused to name the source of the animal in order to make it more difficult for anyone to sell it.
Facts: Jerry Carucci told me that Tuan had the tortoise when he first made his inquiry of me. Tuan told me he did not buy the tortoise from Ici because the price was too high, but was "interested" in the tortoise from the original ad (April). When I asked him if he had gotten it from someone else and why he only became interested in its backgroundr 2-3 months after it was advertised and when someone to whom he had offered it wanted to verify the background, he reiterated "I did not buy it" in several emails and then stopped communicating.
I believe semantics are in play here. He did not "buy" it, but with all the deals he does, he could very easily have traded something to Dr. Brunner for it, which I suppose means he didn't "buy" it. That doesn't mean he doesn't have it, though, a question which he won't answer in spite of being asked repeatedly via email.
Ici steadfastly refuses to name the source of the tortoise, telling me it is irrelevant to the bad guy thread. I told him that it could only help him and his credibility to get that information out in the open, but he still refuses.