Vanish

Criminal

People have faked death to escape criminal convictions, debts, and their spouses. In 2007, a man named Amir Vehabovic faked his death just to see who showed up at the funeral (answer: only his mom). John Darwin faked his own death in a canoeing accident in the UK. And the ex-boyfriend of Olivia Newton John, Patrick Mcdermott, is rumored to have faked his death.

It's an appealing soap-opera fantasy, but actually disappearing requires an incredible amount of planning. How do you obtain a death certificate, a believable new identity, or enough money to start a new life? Today -- the answers to those questions, stories of fake death gone wrong, and a man who spends his life bringing back the dead.

Playing Dead: A Journey Through the World of Death Fraud, by Elizabeth Greenwood

Steven Rambam's Investigative Agency, Pallorium, Inc.

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We also make This is Love and Phoebe Reads a Mystery.

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Episode transcripts are posted on our website.

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