I share with you the epic adventure of a mild mannered Brit named John Darwin. One after afternoon John Darwin went out for a peaceful canoe ride. However, later that evening his wife noticed that John did not return home for supper. Mrs. Darwin phoned the local authorities who investigated and discovered pieces of John’s canoe and a lone oar floating about.
The brilliant detectives decided John Darwin slept with fish. Mrs. Darwin contacted the insurance company and the pension company. They sent Mrs. Darwin payments somewhere in the neighborhood of nine hundred thousand pounds, that my friend is a whole lot of kipper.
Mrs. Darwin goes about her business of being a merry old widow for several years. One day out of the blue like Lazarus, John Darwin rises from the dead and walks into a UK police station. He tells the police he lost his memory.
The problem with doing stupid things today is the media. If you are declared, dead and you rise back to life people and the media will snoop. It is natural that we want to hear the story. John became the center of attention in the UK Media, part hero and part mystery. The questions rolled out and the big one being, where was John Darwin? Let us look at why he was able to fake his death by water.
Yes John Darwin broke the cardinal rule of faking ones death by water.
The question is why did it work for him and how did he get away with the crime.
John Darwin
No Pending Arrest
No Pending Criminal Cases
Not Facing Prison Sentence
No Accusation of Criminal Acts
No Accusation of Ill Acts With farm animals
Just Checking
John appeared to be a regular person, a regular husband a regular father and a regular grandfather. There were no apparent red flags in Darwin’s life to make law enforcement think he faked his death.
For face value, Mrs. Darwin appeared as a happy wife, good mother and loving grandmother. There seemed to be no reason to suspect any foul play on her part. It was an open and shut case, John Darwin had been declared dead like lead.
The important fact to notice is the Darwin’s came across as regular people with no bones in the closet. They appeared to have no out of the ordinary issues or any apparent disharmony in their domestic relationship. If you cannot you cannot say the same in your life vote against faking your death.
Back to John Darwin and his huge blunder. It is one thing to fool law enforcement and the media once but to try to fool them a second time is over ballsy and twice as stupid. Darwin’s plan was to reintroduce himself back into society by claiming he had amnesia.
This is stupid, stupid and more stupid. If you successfully faked your death and your wife has was paid big money stay dead.
Recap!
John went for a canoe ride
Wife reports him missing
Police investigate
John Darwin declared dead
Wife gets a canoe load of money
Time passes
John Darwin walks into police station
John claims he lost his memory
At this point in John’s return, the Darwin’s were probably, wishing John were truly dead. The big brilliant plan of returning to society took on water. Darwin figured he would walk into the police station and they would send him home and reunite him with Mrs. Darwin. Wrong!
Mr. & Mrs. Darwin never figured that John would become front-page news worldwide and the biggest story on top of the hours. The whole world from New Zealand to New York wanted to know what happened to John Darwin a regular where’s Waldo mystery.
Society has drastically changed where the average person can play journalist and investigator. To a certain degree when one commits a crime and if it is publicized one must be aware that “Computer Doe” could be on the tail. Computer Doe is the person who finds interest in your story and becomes a social investigator. They play on search engines searching your information to see if there is anything, they can find to blow you out of the water.
Some Computer Doe discovered a smoking gun in the John Darwin web of deceit. A photo of John and his wife-smiling ear-to-ear as if they pulled off the great train robbery. The photo was from the building association where they purchased a condominium in Panama. Post his demise into the angry waters.
Darwin’s boat of crime soon began to sink. The authorities were ripping apart his life and finding major evidence of fraud. The important question here is why did John reintroduce himself into society? What was his game plan? John Darwin’s downfall was probably being bored with his wife and had the desire to move on. So say the whispers and gossipers. If that were the case, he should have done so under the palm trees of Panama.
Mistakes
Involved Another
Photo Taken Post Pseudocide
Returned
Claimed Amnesia
Underestimated Police, Media & Public
John Darwin did the old grave robbery trick to obtain a new identity. He stole the identity of a month old baby. To be honest I find it astounding that this actually worked. Either way it is a risky trick and very rarely works in modern societies. I guess the UK needs to hone up on their technology.
The story closes with Darwin’s taking a long vacation in Her Majesty’s finest prison.
If you fake your death and it is successful stay dead!