To fake a death means that an individual provides evidence to suggest that he or she is dead, in order to mislead others.
This can be done for a variety of reasons, and here are three of the silliest and strangest reasons that someone has faked their own death.
This can be done for a variety of reasons, and here are three of the silliest and strangest reasons that someone has faked their own death.
You hear about it on the news, you read about it in popular culture – people who fake their own deaths... they could do it for a variety of reasons; perhaps they’re in dire financial difficulty and their death will make the perfect solution? Perhaps they’re on the run from the mob... or perhaps you’re not ‘all there’ in the head and fake your death for the strangest of reasons... here are some very odd reasons that people have faked their own deaths, and gone to a lot of trouble to achieve their goal.
Name: Alistair Liddle
Profession: Solictor
Date: 1997
Reason: Charged with malpractice; “loveless marriage”
Method: Alistair Liddle was a successful solicitor in Scotland. He called his wife one afternoon, to tell her that he had arrived safely at a meeting, and then vanished from sight, after withdrawing funds from the bank. He was presumed dead under mysterious circumstances. There were all kinds of rumours surrounding his disappearance, but none of them were very strong or held very much weight. Alistair had simply disappeared.
One year later, in Cornwall, England, somebody was murdered. The police questioned everyone who may have had an interest in the case, which included poor Alistair. During the questioning, he was obviously required to provide is real name – and when police ran a check on it, they saw that he had an unpaid traffic fine, and the rest was history.
It seems Alistair had called his wife that fateful day, and then thrown his phone in the closest bin and moved to Cornwall to start a brand new life as a flower picker.
Why couldn’t he just resign from his job, leave his wife and travel to Cornwall to pick flowers?
What did come out was that the image the town had of Alistair was wrong. Before he fled, he was in fact a grossly overweight solicitor, who lived in a loveless marriage, with a job that made him miserable. Years later, after all had came out, he had lost a remarkable amount of weight, lived with the love of his life, Paula, and their little baby girl.
Alistair was charged with embezzlement and jailed for 12 months for stealing £17,500 of his clients' money. He has said of the incident: "I do feel bad for the people I hurt and betrayed but I had no choice."
One year later, in Cornwall, England, somebody was murdered. The police questioned everyone who may have had an interest in the case, which included poor Alistair. During the questioning, he was obviously required to provide is real name – and when police ran a check on it, they saw that he had an unpaid traffic fine, and the rest was history.
It seems Alistair had called his wife that fateful day, and then thrown his phone in the closest bin and moved to Cornwall to start a brand new life as a flower picker.
Why couldn’t he just resign from his job, leave his wife and travel to Cornwall to pick flowers?
What did come out was that the image the town had of Alistair was wrong. Before he fled, he was in fact a grossly overweight solicitor, who lived in a loveless marriage, with a job that made him miserable. Years later, after all had came out, he had lost a remarkable amount of weight, lived with the love of his life, Paula, and their little baby girl.
Alistair was charged with embezzlement and jailed for 12 months for stealing £17,500 of his clients' money. He has said of the incident: "I do feel bad for the people I hurt and betrayed but I had no choice."
Name: Bernie Wint
Profession: Narcotics dealer
Date: 1989
Reason: Thought the police were catching up with him
Bernie Wint. Method: 29 year old Bennie, his fiancé and their four year old daughter travelled to Daytona Beach in September 1989 to get married. Unfortunately for all concerned, Bennie was believed to have been eaten by a shark, or to have drowned, when he went out for a swim. His fiancé and daughter were distraught over his death, and life eventually moved on.
Fast-forward 20 years. Bennie was not dead at all. Back in 1989, Bennie was involved in a narcotics ring. He was becoming increasingly more paranoid that the police were catching up to him, and he saw that there were two things he could have done... 1. Let the police catch up, serve time in prison then be released to spend the rest of his life with his wife and daughter; or 2. Fake his own death.
He chose to fake his own death.
One day, 20 years later, Bennie was driving in North Carolina, when he was pulled over because the light on his license plate was malfunctioning. He gave the officer his fake name, which of course didn’t add up, and the whole, sordid story eventually unfolded.
Bennie had faked his death, moved away, met another woman and had another child. He had well and truly moved on – and the worst thing was, he was not even on the Police’s radar. They had never heard of Bennie Wint. So everything he did, he did in vain. And as it is illegal to fake your own death, he now did have a criminal record.
Fast-forward 20 years. Bennie was not dead at all. Back in 1989, Bennie was involved in a narcotics ring. He was becoming increasingly more paranoid that the police were catching up to him, and he saw that there were two things he could have done... 1. Let the police catch up, serve time in prison then be released to spend the rest of his life with his wife and daughter; or 2. Fake his own death.
He chose to fake his own death.
One day, 20 years later, Bennie was driving in North Carolina, when he was pulled over because the light on his license plate was malfunctioning. He gave the officer his fake name, which of course didn’t add up, and the whole, sordid story eventually unfolded.
Bennie had faked his death, moved away, met another woman and had another child. He had well and truly moved on – and the worst thing was, he was not even on the Police’s radar. They had never heard of Bennie Wint. So everything he did, he did in vain. And as it is illegal to fake your own death, he now did have a criminal record.
Name: Amir Vehbovic
Date: 2007
Reason: Wanted to see how popular he was
Method: Amir Vehbovic was 45 when he died. He was a native of Bosnia, and passed away in March 2007 of mysterious causes. An elaborate and ornate funeral was arranged for Amir, a death certificate was issued, and a coffin delivered by the undertaker to the place the funeral was to happen. Of course you know by now that Amir was not really dead! He was watching from the sidelines, to see what would happen. It turns out Amir did not really trust his friends. None of them. This was his reason for planning his funeral, and he planned it right down to bribing the undertaker.
So surely he had friends who came along to his funeral right? Nope! The only person in attendance at his funeral was his mother (and him, hiding in the bushes).
Amir was angry at all his friends and wrote a letter to about 50 of them, saying "I paid a lot of money to fake a death certificate and bribe undertakers to deliver empty coffins. I expected a lot of you "so called" friends would turn up. I guess I now know whom to trust".
(I can find many references to this fake death, but nothing which leads me to believe it is the absolute truth. It is fun though.)
So surely he had friends who came along to his funeral right? Nope! The only person in attendance at his funeral was his mother (and him, hiding in the bushes).
Amir was angry at all his friends and wrote a letter to about 50 of them, saying "I paid a lot of money to fake a death certificate and bribe undertakers to deliver empty coffins. I expected a lot of you "so called" friends would turn up. I guess I now know whom to trust".
(I can find many references to this fake death, but nothing which leads me to believe it is the absolute truth. It is fun though.)
By Peet Banks 2014
Put together by Ashley Hall 2014
Put together by Ashley Hall 2014
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