St Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office
A North Carolina man is in custody after police say he tried but failed to fake his own death in a poorly staged kayaking accident in order to evade rape charges.
Melvin Emde, 41, was taken into custody in Georgia on Sunday after a traffic stop and subsequent motorcycle crash revealed to authorities there that he had supposedly died in a tragic accident weeks earlier, according to the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Office.
The alleged ruse began on Aug. 7, when Louisiana deputies say they received a call from Emde’s son reporting that he’d fallen overboard while kayaking in the Mississippi River near Hahnville.