It was a plan doomed to fail, as the man wearing Emde was still wearing the ankle monitor.
Photo: ODD ANDERSEN / AFP / Getty Images
A North Carolina man is in custody after police say he tried, unsuccessfully, to fake his own death in a kayaking accident. poorly organized to evade rape charges.
Melvin Emde, 41, was arrested in Georgia on Sunday after a traffic stop and subsequent motorcycle accident revealed to authorities that he had allegedly died in a tragic accident weeks earlier, according to the Parish Sheriff’s Office. St Charles
Emde’s son allegedly told police that his father fell out of a kayak and drowned while in the Mississippi River in Hahnville, Louisianaaccording to the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office.
After he was reported missing, Detectives learned that Emde had pending charges of indecent liberties with a child and statutory rape by an adult in North Carolina. He was due in court just one day after being reported missing, authorities said.
“We immediately suspected that this may have been a staged drowning and accidental death for Mr. Emde to escape charges in Brunswick County, North Carolina. However, we were unable to publicly state our suspicions for fear of giving him away,” St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne said in a statement.
The sheriff’s office discovered that Emde was wearing an ankle monitor as a condition of being released on bail.to. Further investigation revealed that Emde purchased two prepaid phones at a Walmart on the day of his alleged drowning, the sheriff’s office said.
St. Charles Parish sheriff’s detectives worked with North Carolina authorities and the U.S. Marshals Service to trace the phones. Police said Emde only used one of the phones and turned it on for short periods of time.
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