...Which begs the question "Would you rather be dead, or live in Delaware?"

If he successfully staged his suicide why were the cops looking for him, if it was unsuccessful why didn't the reporter mention it?

I would think that in situations where there's no body, even if police do believe it really was a suicide then they'd still follow up on it after a while, just to make sure.

Hello, friends. Donald O'Connor here.

You know, we live in one of the greatest countries in the world, but we are a stronger people as a whole because of our parts. Each and everyone of our forty-eight States makes a significant contribution.

So while it is common knowledge that, yes, Delawarians will sometimes fake their own suicides, and, yes, will sometimes flee to California using an assumed name, this is true for only a very, very, very small percentage of the Delaware population. And when I say a "very, very, very small percentage," of course, I mean less than 5 to 10 thousand citizens of that state each year.

But forget about those few rotten apples! Think of all the wonderful things Delaware has to offer! Things like scrapple. And slot machines. And that unique Sussex County culture based on rudimentary agrarianism and the unskilled use of crude utensils. Why, once you start counting up all the wonderful things Delaware has to offer, you cannot help but nearly pee your Dickies at the prospect of visiting the First State!

So, remember, friends. Just because a small segment of Delawarians feel the need to fake their own suicides to avoid crushing credit card debt, be careful about posting a comment belittling the Small Wonder known as Delaware. For all you know, a person from Delaware could be reading this right now. Reading it very, very slowly, and sounding out the big words. So be careful what you write!

Happy threading!

Welcome back, Mr. O'Connor.

Man, I bet he smelled horrible.

You all are idiots.....
You would be surprised what Delaware has going for it.
Northern Delaware is one of the wealthiest areas in the country. Within an easy drive of NY, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia and not to mention the beaches. I don't know what you all do in your podunk towns that you think you can't do in Delaware.

/representing :)

Well for one, I can go to the beach in December drhomer.

He probably shouldn't have been using his brother's name. That made him fairly easy to track down. If was legally considered dead, with death certificate and all, it'd have been relatively easy for him to assume a new name and identity not within his family. Too bad for him.

Wow, this article is like my life story. I grew up in Delaware then I moved to Northern California.

Oh, except I never faked my own death.

thales

dammit...don't make me swim in 20 degree water to proove a point

What ever happened to the statute of limitations?

I'm torn; He's clearly very smart for getting away with credit card fraud and faking his own death and I wish he'd gotten away with it so I could call him a criminal mastermind, but if he had gotten away with it I'd never read about it so I could call him a criminal mastermind. Torn, very torn.

'E got better.

All I really like delaware for is no sales tax.

Its not hard to fake your own death, pretend to be someone else by assuming their identity and living in California for ...not that I would know anything about this...ummm,who hates Bush...look a bear..

Harrison Ford unavailable for comment

dont all credit cards operate out of delaware because its the only place where 19% isnt considered lonesharking?

Carl: Oh no! He's going over the falls!
Lenny: Oh good. He snagged that tree branch.
Carl: Oh no! The branch broke off!
Lenny: Oh good. He can grab onto them pointy rocks.
Carl: Oh no! Them rocks broke his arms and legs.
Lenny: Oh good. Those helpful beavers are swimming out to save him.
Carl: Oh no! They're biting him, and stealing his pants.

I would have thought that the dead fugitives would be the easiest ones to catch.

Sibbilus
I'm always torn when beavers steal my pants.

Lars! - where've you been? Nice to see you back

[/no one is who they seem to be around here,... and neither am I.]

beaver have stolen my pants many of times :)


damn beavers..heheh

drhomer:

You all are idiots.....
You would be surprised what Delaware has going for it.
[snip] Within an easy drive of NY, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia....

Uhm, I thought you were going to tell us some things it had going for it.

Sid_6.7
That and the whole "no car tax" shiat and brimstone.

drhomer:

You all are idiots.....
You would be surprised what Delaware has going for it.
[snip] Within an easy drive of NY, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia....

You're exactly right. That's why Delaware's state motto is "Delaware: you're never more than a couple hours' ride from someplace cool. In the meantime, enjoy our slots, speed traps and tolls."

I saw something like this on Unsolved Mysterious once... A guy parked his car on a bridge with his wallet and a suicide note, got picked up by a friend, and then notified a guy in a toll booth that there was a potential jumper. After his body didn't float over to the place where they usually end up, the police were suspicious. I can't remember if there was an update saying if the guy got caught or anything... It could've even been this guy, who knows.

Andy?

Delaware is definitely the coolest place *ever*

ok, so maybe not, but this campus never fails to amuse me in some way!

/ have seen the scrapple factory in Bridgeville and love my drives through Bridgeville to OC, MD...town motto: "If you live here you'd be home by now!"

delaware fark party. that'll show all you haters!

Definitely lacking in details, but based on the information given, I wonder why it took a dozen plus years for the popo to check up on his brother. Seems to me, proper investigation techniques would dictate that once you've determined that the individual is alive (or there is insufficent evidence to say that their DEAD) you grill the immediate family for information. The only explenation I can think of is that the brother died, and the criminal assumed his identity in a new location. It certainly wouldn't be hard, you'd know all their bio info, and would probably have (relatively) easy access to their SSN card and such.

I hate poor reporting and even more, poor investigative skills. Its the reason why my uncles murder case has been unsolved for 15 years. "Transient drifters" my ass.

Did anyone else misread the station as being WTFtv.com?

"johnson, johnson, sprinkle some crack on him case closed lets get out of here."
/chappelle

He was spending a year 'dead' for income tax purposes..
Got carried away...

/RIP Douglas Adams

A picture of fugitive:

I live in Delaware and I bought some internet home for everyone to see.

How does one fake one's own death convincingly?

/just out of curiosity

New State Mottoes

Delaware: At least we're bigger'n Rhode Island!

Delaware: 3 square miles of burning funk!

Delaware: A wholly owned subsidiary of DuPont, Inc.

Delaware: Your credit card payments come here.

Delaware: A little slice o' New Jersey.

Delaware ends south of the canal, that's a whole 'nother can of peas down there. I think our state motto is now "Delaware, come for the tax free shopping, leave with cancer and a credit card."

Having experienced the badness and apathy firsthand from Deleware's 'finest', I'm not surprised that the cops bothered to fish for a corpse.

Most of suburban Wilmington makes the ghettos of Chi-town seem like an enchanting playground. How the hell can you have graffiti-tagged buildings in the middle of remote rural towns?! Everything was covered in spraypaint. I (briefly) lived in a Newark, DE, and my roommate and I had crackheads creeping by our back porch to case our apt- several times a day.

Anytime I wanted to go to a bar, the police were always waiting outside anticipating a Guido fight which always went down. Most of the local land is polluted with PCB's or Mercury thanks to DuPont. I figure that Wilmington is like Gary, Indiana if Philly were Chicago.

That being said, the dude's hometown of West Chester, PA is rather nice. Maybe we'll see the faked suicide on the next Jackass episode.

I live in Delaware. We've got the Resettler's Warehouse. Resettler's rocks, and I think the only other warehouse is in Wisconsin or North Carolina or something. Anyway, hitting up 202 for some tax-free shopping is great fun. Go Tower Hill Hillers!

I forgot to add this, but I agree. Downtown Wilmington scares the shiat out of me. And it's very true that Newark has one of the highest or the highest heroin traffic per capita. Some messed up things about DE, but I keep to main street and I'm usually OK

Or, imagine being magically whisked away to... Delaware.

Hi.

I'm in Delaware.

/Wayne's World. Had to be said.

Delaware... hmmm you don't pay tax... do your corporations, or is that good?

/just wondering...