You’ve probably at least once or eight times in your life heard a theory claming that “x celebrity isn’t actually dead and they’re actually living on a resort island”. The term suicide comes from the Latin words “Sui” meaning self and “Cidium” meaning death, but the prefix “Pseudo” means false in Greek, so the term for faking your death is called pseudocide, which actually isn’t illegal. What is illegal though are the many reasons someone might fake their own death. Has this ever actually happened with a celebrity? Probably not but this has undoubtedly happened with many other people, and has led to some very VERY odd situations. 

John and Anne Darwin

   John and Anne Darwin are very normal middle-aged British people. John worked as a teacher before becoming a prison officer, and Anne worked as a doctor’s receptionist, but both also owned a business renting bedsits out to people which are accommodations in the U.K. where every occupant gets a room but everyone shares a bathroom. What you need to know about housing in the U.K. is that mortgage is almost twice as much as it is in the U.S. and the Darwins owned 10 bedsit houses. Despite previously being a math teacher, John Darwin bought two more houses they could not afford at all and the humongous mortgage accumulated by owning so many houses in the U.K. put them in massive debt. Being in crushing debt is obviously very stressful so the Darwins decide to take a kayaking trip in the North Sea, but suddenly, tragedy strikes. John Darwin has drowned and the body is nowhere to be found! Do you buy it? The U.K. did and his death certificate was issued.

Of course, John Darwin faked his own death, but why would someone fake their own death? Criminals or victims might fake their death if they want to disappear, but John Darwin was not either at all. The reason why a law-abiding citizen would want to fake their own death is to claim life insurance money, which Anne Darwin did to pay off the debt of buying another bedsit. After he was presumed dead, John lived in the bedsit next to his family’s house until he moved back with his wife a year later. In this bedsit, one of the tenants recognized him, and John’s only response was, “Don’t tell anyone about this.” The couple decided to consider moving to Cyprus and John used the name to get a passport under the name John Jones which he got away with even using his real home address. Still going to lakes for his wonderful hobby of kayaking, a fisherman claimed he was going under the name John Williams. 

Later in their lives, the couple moved to Panama but still kept their business in the UK. In Panama, John made the very brave move of having an interview with writer Elizabeth Greenwood for her new book, “Playing Dead: A Journey Through The World of Death and Fraud”. Unfortunately for John and Anne, Panama’s new VISA laws required foreigners like them to verify their identities with their country of origin. Once the UK police found John’s fake passport along with the mountain of evidence he had been spilling out in multiple countries, the couple was arrested for fraud and deception, a criminal charge I didn’t know existed. 

Donald Miller

Where many fake deaths are done on purpose for criminal reasons, Donald Miller’s case breaks that trend completely. In 1986, he abandoned his wife, kids, and massive child support debt. He was legally confirmed dead in 1994, but reappeared in 2005, trying to apply for a driver’s license. Like John Darwin, Miller faked his own death so his wife could claim social security death benefits to support their children and get rid of his debt, but unlike Darwin, Miller had absolutely no contact with family of any kind for almost 20 years. His parents didn’t even know he was actually alive, and his wife and kids had no idea how long he’d be gone. When discovered, however, he was immediately brought into court for trial. 

Donald Miller was obviously in the wrong for disappearing so his wife could claim benefits, but there was some trouble actually declaring him guilty. Usually, the Social security Administration (SSA) considers someone missing dead after seven years, but it depends lightly on the state. On top of that, the state of Ohio has a law where a death certificate can’t be reversed after three years leaving Judge Alan Davis with a dilemma. Here stands a man in his court that has clearly done something very much against the law, but he can’t actually convict him because by law, this man is deceased. So in one of the weirdest court rulings I’ve ever read about, Donald Miller gets to walk out of the courthouse in perfect health, not guilty or innocent, but dead.

Sharaban K.

In Germany, 23-year-old Sharaban K. was found dead in the middle of the woods with over 50 stab wounds, leaving her body completely disfigured. When police found the body, Sharaban’s family confirmed that it was indeed her. Sharaban’s activity was very odd before her violent death though, spending a lot more time on social media, perhaps to distract herself from the intense and merciless family politics that plagued her life constantly. However, after thorough DNA tests were done on the body, it matched that of a social media beauty blogger named Khadidja O., who had strangely gone inactive online. As police looked through her Instagram posts, they saw a striking resemblance to the body, and Sharaban. Khadidja also had been in conversation online about a possible cosmetic offer from a newly created Instagram account. Coming to the conclusion of the body actually being Khadidja, police started to investigate and even search for a possible roaming Sharaban. 

It was found that Sharaban had created multiple social media accounts under multiple aliases, and tried to reach out to dozens of look-alikes through Instagram. Khadidja received one of these messages in the form of a cosmetic offer. When Khadidja was picked up at her apartment by Sharaban and her friend Sheqir, she was taken to the middle of the woods where she was stabbed over and over again, especially in the face, to try and make her less recognizable as Khadidja. Under the stress of years of family disputes and internal politics, Sharaban wanted to fake her death while avoiding the suspicion that comes without a body being found. In a big twist, this was indeed a homicide-pseudocide.