2001: Bernd-Jürgen Brandes was stabbed repeatedly in the neck and then eaten by Armin Meiwes. Before the killing, both men dined on Brandes' severed penis. Brandes had answered an internet advertisement by Meiwes looking for someone for this purpose. Brandes explicitly stated in his will that he wished to be killed and eaten.

2001: June 1, Crown Prince Dipendra of Nepal, enraged from a dispute over his marriage arrangements (and possibly intoxicated), reportedly went on a rampage at dinner and massacred nearly the entire Royal Family, including his father the king. But in accordance with custom and tradition, Dipendra, then in a coma due to wounds sustained either from palace guards or a botched suicide attempt, became king for three days before dying on June 4. He was succeeded by his uncle, whose son survived the massacre.

2001: Orchestral conductor Giuseppe Sinopoli collapsed at the podium of a heart attack while conducting an emotionally charged scene in Aida.

2003: Brian Wells, pizza deliveryman, was killed by a time bomb which was fastened around his neck. He was apprehended by the police after robbing a bank, and claimed he had been forced to do it by three people who had put the bomb around his neck and would kill him if he refused. The bomb then exploded, killing him.

2003: Brandon Vedas died of a drug overdose while engaged in an Internet chat, as shown on his webcam. This occurred while demonstrating how "hardcore" he was. Although several users witnessed his death, there was little effort made to contact the police.

2003: Vitaly Nikolayenko, a Russian self-educated natural scientist and photographer notable for his extensive research on the ethology of Russian bears, was found dead at the Kronotsky state reserve, 110 miles north of Petropavlovsk. Authorities concluded that the cause of death was bear mauling.

2003: Timothy Treadwell, an American environmentalist who had lived in the wilderness among bears for thirteen summers in a remote portion of Alaska, was killed and partially consumed by bears, as was his girlfriend Amie Huguenard. The incident is chronicled in the documentary film Grizzly Man.[5]

2005: Kenneth Pinyan, a Seattle, WA. man, died of acute peritonitis after submitting to anal intercourse with a stallion in the town of Enumclaw, WA. The man had done this before, but he delayed several hours to visit a hospital wishing to avoid official cognizance. The case led to the criminalization of bestiality in Washington.[6]

2005: 28-year-old Korean Lee Seung Seop collapsed in an Internet cafe after playing World of Warcraft and Starcraft for almost 50 hours.

2005: 33-year-old pastor Kyle Lake of University Baptist Church[7] in Waco, Texas, was electrocuted when he reached for a microphone while standing in the baptismal pool of the church.

2006: Steve Irwin, television personality and naturalist known as The Crocodile Hunter, died when his heart was pierced by a short-tail stingray barb while filming in Queensland's Batt Reef. Stingrays are rarely lethal to humans: there have been fewer than 20 confirmed cases of people being killed by the fish. Irwin was the third to be killed in Australian history.[8]

2006: A Canadian woman choked on marshmallows at London, Ontario's Western Fair while taking part in a "Chubby Bunny" contest, and later died in hospital. Although there were medical personnel at the scene with suction equipment, it is believed that their efforts at resuscitation were hampered by the stickiness of the marshmallows.[9] The contest has since been taken down.