(ConservativeJournal.org) – Authorities in Louisiana have revealed that a man’s attempt to stage his own death in a kayaking incident was a desperate bid to evade child rape charges in North Carolina.
Melvin Emde, aged 41, was apprehended following a police chase in Georgia that culminated in a motorcycle crash. At the time of his arrest, law enforcement was unaware that he had been declared missing since August 7.
His son was the one to initially report his disappearance. He claimed that Emde had fallen out of a kayak while fishing on the Mississippi River. The St. Charles Parish Sheriff, Greg Champagne, disclosed that an exhaustive two-day search, using divers, sonar equipment, and drones, had failed to recover any trace of Emde’s body.
This immediately raised suspicions that the kayak mishap may have been faked to orchestrate an escape from pending charges in Brunswick County, North Carolina. At the time of his disappearance, Emde, originally from Talihina, Oklahoma, was confronting allegations of statutory rape of a child and charges of indecency with children in North Carolina.
Detectives discovered that before the purported drowning, he had bought two prepaid cell phones in Boutte, Louisiana. Collaborating with authorities and the US Marshals Service, North Carolina officials attempted to trace the phones but were met with limited success, as Emde had only briefly used one.
Ultimately, Emde was apprehended after the Georgia Highway Patrol sought to pull over a motorcycle lacking a license plate. A crash ensued, and the rider attempted to flee but was subsequently captured. Upon providing a false identity to law enforcement, his true identity was unveiled through fingerprint analysis.
Amanda Pertuis, the Public Information Officer for Champagne, reported that Emde’s son, who placed the false phone call, has not faced charges as of now. The investigation is ongoing as authorities delve deeper into this complex case.
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