Faked death
Encyclopedia
A faked death occurs when an individual leaves evidence to suggest that he or she is dead
in order to mislead others. This may be done for a variety of reasons, such as to fraudulently collect insurance
money or avoid capture by law enforcement for some other crime.
People who fake their own deaths sometimes do so by ostensibly drowning
, because it provides a plausible reason for the absence of a body. There are several how-to books on the subject of faking one's death, including How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found
.
Death
Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....
in order to mislead others. This may be done for a variety of reasons, such as to fraudulently collect insurance
Insurance fraud
Insurance fraud is any act committed with the intent to fraudulently obtain payment from an insurer.Insurance fraud has existed ever since the beginning of insurance as a commercial enterprise. Fraudulent claims account for a significant portion of all claims received by insurers, and cost billions...
money or avoid capture by law enforcement for some other crime.
People who fake their own deaths sometimes do so by ostensibly drowning
Drowning
Drowning is death from asphyxia due to suffocation caused by water entering the lungs and preventing the absorption of oxygen leading to cerebral hypoxia....
, because it provides a plausible reason for the absence of a body. There are several how-to books on the subject of faking one's death, including How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found
How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found
How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found is a book by Doug Richmond, originally released in 1985, which is a how-to guide on starting a new identity, and has been described as "one of the odder self-help titles on the market"...
.
Notable faked deaths
- "Lord" Timothy DexterTimothy Dexter"Lord" Timothy Dexter , as he was sometimes termed by admiring contemporaries, was an eccentric American businessman noted for a series of lucky transactions and his writing.-Biography:...
, an eccentric 18th century New England businessman who faked his own death in order to see how people would react. His wife did not shed any tears at the wake, and as a result he caned her for not being sufficiently saddened at his passing. - Connie FranklinConnie Franklin murder caseConnie Franklin became widely known in the United States for testifying at his own murder trial in 1929. Franklin was known in the popular press as the "Arkansas Ghost".-Background:...
, the "Arkansas Ghost", disappeared in 1929 and was reported to have been murdered. Later that year he was discovered to be living in a nearby county and brought to testify at his own murder trial. - Ken KeseyKen KeseyKenneth Elton "Ken" Kesey was an American author, best known for his novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , and as a counter-cultural figure who considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies of the 1960s. "I was too young to be a beatnik, and too old to be a...
, an American author who in 1966 faked his death and fled to Mexico in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid imprisonment on marijuana charges. - John StonehouseJohn StonehouseJohn Thomson Stonehouse was a British politician and minister under Harold Wilson. Stonehouse is perhaps best remembered for his unsuccessful attempt at faking his own death in 1974...
, a British politician who faked his own suicideSuicideSuicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by drowning on 20 November 1974 in order to escape financial difficulties and live with his mistress. He was discovered in Australia - where police initially thought he might be Lord LucanRichard Bingham, 7th Earl of LucanRichard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan , popularly known as Lord Lucan, as Lord Bingham before 1964, and sometimes colloquially called "Lucky" Lucan, was a British peer, who disappeared in the early hours of 8 November 1974, following the murder of Sandra Rivett, his children's nanny, the previous...
- and jailed. - Graham Cardwell, a LincolnshireLincolnshireLincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
dockmaster who disappeared in September 1998 and was assumed drowned. Eight months later he was discovered living in secret in the West MidlandsWest Midlands (region)The West Midlands is an official region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It contains the second most populous British city, Birmingham, and the larger West Midlands conurbation, which includes the city of Wolverhampton and large towns of Dudley,...
. He claimed he had thought he was suffering from cancerCancerCancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
(though had not sought medical attention) and wanted to spare his family the trauma of it. He was not prosecuted. - Steven Chin Leung, who faked his death in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacksSeptember 11, 2001 attacksThe September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
in order to evade a charge of passport fraud. - Dorothy Johnson, an American woman who allegedly faked her death in the September 11 attacks in order to collect on insuranceInsuranceIn law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
claims allegedly filed by her daughter, Twila McKee. Johnson and McKee were charged in 2003 with insurance fraud. - John Darwin, a British man who disappeared in March 2002 whilst canoeing and was assumed drowned until his discovery and arrest five years later and his trial and conviction the year after.
- Alan Kirk Wolford, an American funeral homeFuneral homeA funeral home, funeral parlor or mortuary, is a business that provides burial and funeral services for the deceased and their families. These services may include aprepared wake and funeral, and the provision of a chapel for the funeral....
director who forged his own death certificate in order to evade significant debts in 2007. - Samuel Israel IIISamuel Israel IIISamuel Israel III is a former hedge fund manager for the fraudulent Bayou Hedge Fund Group, which he founded in 1996. He was born in Louisiana....
an American hedge fundHedge fundA hedge fund is a private pool of capital actively managed by an investment adviser. Hedge funds are only open for investment to a limited number of accredited or qualified investors who meet criteria set by regulators. These investors can be institutions, such as pension funds, university...
manager who was facing twenty years in prison for fraud left his car and a suicide note on the Bear Mountain BridgeBear Mountain BridgeThe Bear Mountain Bridge is a toll suspension bridge in New York State, carrying U.S. Highways 202 and 6 across the Hudson River between Rockland and Westchester counties...
in an attempted fake suicide in 2008. A month later he surrendered himself to authorities after tiring of life as a fugitive. It was always suspected that his suicide was faked since, among other things, passers by reported that a car had picked someone up on the bridge from near Israel's abandoned car. - Ace BakerAce BakerAlexander "Ace" Baker is an American composer and keyboardist.-Composer:Along with Clair Marlo, Baker was the series composer for American Dragster, a documentary series on ESPN from 2006-2007. *...
, an American composer and 9/11 conspiracy theorist, faked suicide by gunfire on January 5, 2009 while on a live radio show with Jim Fetzer. Baker later admitted the stunt on his blog, calling it a work of performance artPerformance artIn art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
, citing his frustration with the rest of the 9/11 Truth Movement9/11 Truth Movement9/11 Truth movement is a collective name for loosely affiliated organizations and individuals who question the accepted account of the September 11, 2001, attacks....
. - Marcus SchrenkerMarcus SchrenkerMarcus Schrenker is a financial manager known for attempting to fake his own death and the multi-state, three-day manhunt that followed. Schrenker lived and worked in Fishers, Indiana.-Background:...
A businessman who tried to fake his own death by putting his plane on autopilot, parachuting to the ground and speeding off on a motorcycle on January 11, 2009 was arrested three days later in a Florida campground.
Notable fictional examples
- In William Shakespeare's play Romeo and JulietRomeo and JulietRomeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
, one of the two titular characters, Juliet CapuletJuliet CapuletJuliet is one of the title characters in William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet, the other being Romeo. She is the daughter of old Capulet, head of the house of Capulet. The story has a long history that precedes Shakespeare himself....
, fakes her own death to avoid marrying Paris, although ultimately, this leads to demise of her lover Romeo MontagueRomeo MontagueRomeo is one of the fictional protagonists in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Romeo is the son of old Montague and his wife, who secretly loves and marries Juliet, a member of the rival House of Capulet...
and herself. - Sherlock HolmesSherlock HolmesSherlock Holmes is a fictional detective created by Scottish author and physician Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The fantastic London-based "consulting detective", Holmes is famous for his astute logical reasoning, his ability to take almost any disguise, and his use of forensic science skills to solve...
pretends that his encounter at the Reichenbach FallsReichenbach FallsThe Reichenbach Falls are a series of waterfalls on the River Aar near Meiringen in Bern canton in central Switzerland. They have a total drop of 250 m . At 90 m , the Upper Reichenbach Falls is one of the highest cataracts in the Alps...
was fatal, in order to go incognito for two years. After his return, in The Adventure of the Norwood BuilderThe Adventure of the Norwood Builder"The Adventure of the Norwood Builder", one of the 56 short Sherlock Holmes stories written by British author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the second tale from The Return of Sherlock Holmes. The story was first published in Strand Magazine in 1903 with original illustrations by Sidney...
he cleared his client who had been framed for the murder by someone who had not died. - The faked suicide of the hero is central to the popular British novel and subsequent BBC sitcom The Fall and Rise of Reginald PerrinThe Fall and Rise of Reginald PerrinThe Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin is a series of novels which developed into a British sitcom starring Leonard Rossiter in the title role...
written by David Nobbs.