More True Crime Stories–Mystery Question

Patricia Bradley Mystery Question 39 Comments

More True Crime Stories; Ephesians 6:10

More True Crime Stories for this week is again the Mystery Question. Four stories. Three are true and I made one up…which, by the way, is getting harder and harder.

But first the scripture and photo. I’ve used the photo before. It was taken when I went on a cruise with my literary agency. Business trip… 🙂 Well, it was. Really. I thought it went well with Ephesians 6:10, though.

Now for last week’s Mystery Question: Here are four true crimes, well really three true crimes. I made up the fourth one. It’s up to you to figure out which three are true and which one isn’t.
  1. A former prison inmate thought what worked for Amazon would work for him. He collaborated with an accomplice on the inside to take orders and collect the money. Then he set up shop in the woods outside the prison and delivered the cigarettes, cellphones, and drugs by drone late at night, dropping the packages inside the prison. What sealed his fate was keeping the boxes the cell phones came in–ready evidence when the FBI searched his home.
  2. Between 2016 and 2019, a man convinced people he met in bars, restaurants, and adult entertainment establishments to invest in a motorized surfboard. He collected more than $350,000. What was the problem? The patent, purchase orders, and buyer contracts were falsified, and he never manufactured the boards. Instead, he spent the money on lavish living.
  3. A romance writer was charged with the murder of her husband of 27 years after paying $16,000 to keep more than a million dollars in life insurance policies active. Policies that she sold to herself. A search of her phone turned up a bookmarked site on their shared iTunes account entitled“10 Way to Cover Up a Murder.”
  4. A robber convinced his friend to drive the getaway car in a bank robbery by telling him the bank had hired him to test their security system. He told the friend he was getting $2,000 for the job and he’d split it with him. When they were caught a mile from the bank, the robber convinced police the friend was the mastermind of the operation.

And the answer is…#4. Congrats to all who guessed correctly!

Now for this week’s More True Crime Stories–Mystery Question: Here are four true crimes, well really three true crimes. I made up the fourth one. It’s up to you to figure out which three are true and which one isn’t.
  1. A robber broke into a home at midnight and held a textile manufacturer’s family hostage until the owner could go to the bank and make arrangements to transfer a hundred thousand dollars to an offshore account for ransom. The owner did as he was told and returned, only to find the robber asleep on the floor. He quickly disarmed him and called the police. Moral: get plenty of sleep before you decide to hold someone hostage.
  2. A man was on the run from police after stealing cooking equipment.  He successfully evaded police for weeks, got cocky, and posted to Snapchat that he was at home, hiding from police.  A couple of his followers alerted police who then went to search his home, but didn’t find him and called off the search. He posted again saying police were in his house and he was hiding in a cabinet. Five minutes later the police had their man. Moral of the story: don’t think you can fool the police.
  3. A bank employee stole $5,000 from his workplace.  When he was reported to authorities, he promptly quit his job and moved to another city where he applied for a job as a dispatcher for the local police department. The police made the connection and thought the easiest way to catch him was to offer him a job interview. He arrived, suited up and ready to impress, and was promptly arrested. Moral of the story: Don’t post to social media everything you know.
  4. An author wrote a crime novel that quickly became a bestseller. However, police found many of the details about the murder in the novel eerily familiar to what they knew about an unsolved case on their books. When they looked into the case, they discovered the author not only knew the victim but was the last person to see him alive. The author is now writing from prison. The moral to the story: Police read books, too–don’t commit a crime and then write a best seller.
Okay Super Sleuths, which story did I make up? Leave your answer in the comments and I’ll enter you in a June drawing for $10 gift card!
Four crimes. Three really happened. I made up one of them. Can you guess which one? #mysteryquestion Share on X
Before I go, I want to let you in on A GREAT DEAL!

Standoff’s e-book is on sale for $1.99! And the e-book version of Obsession is $2.99! 

Here are the deets on Standoff:

Standoff & Obsession on sale!

The Natchez Trace National Parkway stretches 444 miles from Nashville to Natchez, the oldest town on the Mississippi River. It’s the perfect road for a relaxed pleasure drive. Unfortunately for park ranger Luke Fereday, lately it’s being used to move drugs. Sent to Natchez to infiltrate the organization at the center of the drug ring, Luke arrives too late to a stakeout and discovers the body of his friend, park ranger John Danvers.

John’s daughter Brooke is determined to investigate her father’s murder, but things are more complicated than they first appear, and Brooke soon finds herself the target of a killer who will do anything to silence her. Luke will have his hands full keeping her safe. But who’s going to keep him safe when he realizes he’s falling–hard–for the daughter of the man he failed to save?

And here are the deets on Obsession:

Natchez Trace Ranger and historian Emma Winters hoped never to see Sam Ryker again after she broke off her engagement to him. But when shots are fired at her at a historical landmark just off the Natchez Trace, she’s forced to work alongside Sam as the Natchez Trace law enforcement district ranger in the ensuing investigation. To complicate matters, Emma has acquired a delusional secret admirer who is determined to have her as his own. Sam is merely an obstruction, one which must be removed.

Sam knows that he has failed Emma in the past and he doesn’t intend to let her down again. Especially since her life is on the line. As the threads of the investigation cross and tangle with their own personal history, Sam and Emma have a chance to discover the truth, not only about the victim but about what went wrong in their relationship.

 


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  1. Paula Shreckhise

    It’s hard to choose because I can see your mind working in all of these! I’m going with #4.

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  2. Tim Johnson

    Some people underline passages in their Bible to emphasize the passage’s importance to them. Pat, I think your photos do a similar service. They bring attention to the Scripture you’ve chosen. Thank you for doing that for us each week.

    I think you made up #1. Gathering a ransom together might be time consuming, but it’s not clear to me that one could fall asleep with all that adrenaline flowing. I guess everyone needs to get a good night’s sleep before they start a big job.

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      Patricia Bradley

      Hi Tim! The scripture verses I use are usually ones that I’ve run across in my daily readings, then I start looking through my photos to see what would go with it. Thanks for stopping by and commenting every week!

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  3. Edward Arrington

    I think all four sound made up. This week should be called Dumb Criminals. None of these people portrayed the least bit of intelligence. I’m struggling with the guy who was hiding in a cabinet and the police didn’t find him until he posted his whereabouts. If there was a cabinet large enough for a person to hide in, the police didn’t conduct a very thorough search. If the story is true, those police need to go back for more training on how to conduct a thorough search.

    Enjoyed the picture again and like that verse with it.

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  4. Trixi

    The crime author story is funny, because I’ve seen fictional crime TV shows with this exact scenario. So I can see where someone might actually do this….not you, of course though, lol!

    My guess this week is #2 because I think that would be a pretty bold move on the perps part. I see Mr. Random got it right for me last week in guessing #4, maybe I’ll have to use him more often!

    I love the pictures you show us each week & then you pair it with a wonderful scripture. They always encourage me 🙂

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      Patricia Bradley

      I’m so glad you enjoy the pictures and scripture verses, Trixi! And we’ll see next week if Mr. Random got it right again for you. lol Thanks for always stopping by!

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