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Man stages his suicide to make it look like a murder

Gil Bang

By Gil Bang
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Gil Bang

Gil Bang 26025

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attached the gun to helium balloons to carry it away from the scene. 

 

https://www.mypalmbeachpost.com/news/crime--law/latest-gardens-man-staged-suicide-look-like-murder-police-say/gckUM9HanQtYvaNGbHZT4N/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

 

PALM BEACH GARDENS —

Alan Jay Abrahamson's royal blue sweatshirthad a circle of blood where a single copper hollow-point bullet ripped into his heart. But Palm Beach Gardens detectives noticed something odd: a thin line of blood running to the shoulder. 

As if something had been dragged across the shirt. Like maybe string. 

Then police learned that, in the weeks before the 71-year-old was found dead on Jan. 25 in a field near his BallenIsles Country Club home, he had bought two weather balloons, asking questions such as how much they could lift, how far they could drift and at what height they'd pop. And he had bought big tankfuls of helium.

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Detectives have concluded Abrahamson concocted a scheme to kill himself but make it look like murder. Investigators believe he attached a gun by a string to a weather balloon that would lift the weapon from his dead hand, waft offshore and drop into the Atlantic Ocean. 

The case is closed, a supplement obtained Friday said. 

It does not suggest a motive for the apparent suicide or for Abrahamson making his death appear to be a murder. The report did say Abrahamson had several life insurance policies and had searched the Internet for questions such as whether such policies pay off for suicides. 

 

‘He woke each morning with a smile’

In fact, a police search of Internet browsing history on Abrahamson’s computer suggests he mulled the scheme for nearly a decade, the report said.

It said investigators found Google searches dating to 2009 for ways to commit suicide by gun, hanging, drugs and poison — and how quickly a gunshot victim dies. And there were searches about helium balloons. 

The week of Abrahamson's death, he searched sunrise and sunset times and Palm Beach County traffic counts, the report said. And the night before his death, he deliberately deleted his Dropbox software. That’s a service for storing files online.

Abrahamson was born in West Hartford, Conn., and graduated from Syracuse University. A friend would tell police he had money from a family flooring business in Connecticut. He recently had worked for five years as a developer for the Washington state-based LED lighting company Every Watt Matters. 

Records show Abrahamson owned a 5,000-square-foot home in BallenIsles since March 2015. 

 “He woke up each morning with a smile on his face and was adored by all,” his obituary said. “Wherever Alan was, he made it ‘happy hour.’ ”

Family members said Friday they did not want to comment.

‘The love of her life’

At about 7 a.m. on Jan. 25, a man walking his dogs found Abrahamson’s body in a field on the south side of PGA Boulevard.

The detective tracked down Abrahamson's wife, Linda, who was visiting her daughter in Massachusetts. 

"Linda stated that Alan was the love of her life," the report said. 

She said her husband — it was a second marriage for both — was semi-retired but “took care of everything and told her she would always be taken care of.” 

She said he had come with her to Boston but that after about a week, on Jan. 21, he said he was tired of the cold and flew back to West Palm Beach, saying he'd return to New England on Jan. 28.

The report said Abrahamson had told his wife he wanted to drop a few pounds he'd picked up on a recent cruise and had begun walking in the mornings and meeting a friend at a nearby coffee shop.

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The friend later told police Abrahamson was "a fun guy that everybody wanted to be around." He said he dined with Abrahamson the evening of Jan. 23 and had lunch with him on Jan. 24. He said Abrahamson suggested the two again dine that Friday night, Jan. 26. 

The BallenIsles pro shop said Abrahamson had a 12:30 p.m. tee time the afternoon of Jan. 25 as part of a foursome; it does not identify the other three players. 

On the morning of Jan. 25, surveillance-camera video showed, Abrahamson walked out the north gate of BallenIsles at 5:53 a.m., carrying an unidentified object in his left hand. At 6:30 a.m., the report said, "the sound of an apparent single gunshot can clearly be heard." 

Shortly afterward, police announced the man apparently had been murdered. A $3,000 reward was posted. But it drew no tips or leads.

In mid-March, police announced they instead had ruled the death a suicide. At the time, they did not elaborate. 

Their suspicions might well have begun with the line on the shirt. 

 

A thin, red line

"The linear blood transfer pattern on Abrahamson's sweatshirt from the entry wound toward the upper left shoulder (was an) indication that something with the approximate width of a string passed through the blood on the outside of the shirt," the supplement said. 

It said that as early as Feb. 1, just days after the death, one of the detectives had "theorized that it possibly was not a homicide, but possibly a suicide." 

Although the balloon-gun theory "seemed far-fetched, it was plausible," the report said. 

Detectives began poking around the Internet. They found a 2003 episode of the television show “CSI” in which a person used a gun tied to a weather balloon to make a suicide appear to be a murder. They also found a real-life 2008 New Mexico suicide in which the subject, a restaurant chain executive, tried to copy the “CSI” plot. The subterfuge was revealed because the balloon caught in a nearby cactus.

On Feb. 5, detectives returned to the field where Abrahamson died. About 40 yards west of where his body had been found, the report said, they spotted "pieces of white string/twine with knots tied and some colored rubber bands." Detectives later found similar string and rubber bands in a drawer at Abrahamson's home. 

 

The mystery begins to unravel

Detectives also were intrigued by the discovery of a small pair of silver scissors near the body. And the man’s widow said he owned several guns. His son led police to a bag in the garage that contained three handguns plus ammunition. The widow asked the officers to destroy them.

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Investigators then learned that in October 2017, Abrahamson had bought a 350-gram — about three-fourths of a pound — weather balloon for $127.72 from an outfit in Tampa. On Christmas Day, he bought a second weather balloon from the firm for $62.51, this one 600 grams — about 1.3 pounds. 

"Thank you for your purchase," an email to him says. He responded Jan. 4, saying in part, "with an 800-gram load, what will the burst altitude be? Thank you, Alan."

Eight-hundred grams is about 1¾ pounds.

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In fact, the balloon vendor said Abrahamson had sent him four emails between Sept. 27 and Jan. 21, asking logistical questions about the balloons. 

They included how much he can pump into the balloon without it bursting and how much it would deflate if he did not launch it for 12 to 14 hours.

"No family or friends (of Abrahamson) knew of any interest in weather balloons, aerial photography or weather," the supplement said. 

 

Field was ‘optimal for a weather balloon launch’

The vendor later told police two 40-cubic-foot tanks could launch about 1,800 grams — nearly 4 pounds. He told a detective in February that, just that week, he'd launched a balloon in Huntsville, Ala., and it had burst 18 hours later over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New Jersey. That’s about 700 miles. 

On Jan. 23, Abrahamson spent $189.86 for a 40-cubic-foot tank of helium at the Air Gas outfit in Riviera Beach. The next day, he bought another tank of the same volume for $132.21 from NexAir, an operation near Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach. Both times, he paid cash.

A check of weather conditions suggested a balloon launched from where Abrahamson was shot likely would have ascended to about 100,000 feet — 19 miles — and would have exploded somewhere north of the Bahamas in the open Atlantic. 

The report also said the open field "was optimal for a weather balloon launch." 

It said neither the balloon, nor the tanks, nor a weapon ever was found.

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ImissWallyPryor

ImissWallyPryor 9046

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40 minutes ago, Deej said:

How do they know this wasn't a murder, disguised as a suicide, disguised as a murder?

If I kill someone in a field, I’m going to lay his body on top of a gun to make it look like he fell on the gun before the balloon could carry it away. If I hear they suspect murder, I’ll tip them off to your post. They never suspect me. 

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