Melvin Phillip Emde arrested after faking demise: Cops

A 41-year-old kayaker who went “lacking” and was reported to have drowned in Louisiana was arrested over the weekend for allegedly faking his personal demise in a haphazard try to keep away from youngster rape costs in North Carolina. Melvin Phillip Emde was taken into custody in Georgia on Sunday and is awaiting extradition so he can “face the music for his costs in North Carolina,” authorities introduced.

Based on a press launch from the St. Charles Parish Sheriff’s Workplace, Emde’s son referred to as 911 within the early morning hours of Aug. 7, 2023, and reported that his father had gone lacking after “going overboard and drowning whereas kayaking within the Mississippi River.” Deputies instantly started looking for Emde.

Nevertheless, the day after Emde was reported lacking, sheriff’s detectives say they realized that there have been costs pending in opposition to him in Brunswick County, North Carolina on one depend of indecent liberties with a baby and one depend of statutory rape of a kid by an grownup. In actual fact, Emde was as a result of seem in court docket on Aug. 8 in reference to that case.

Because of the circumstances of Emde’s sudden disappearance, investigators mentioned they rapidly realized that his drowning was a hoax.

“We instantly grew to become fairly suspicious that this may increasingly have been a faked unintentional drowning and demise to ensure that Mr. Emde to flee costs in Brunswick County, North Carolina,” St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne mentioned within the launch. “Nevertheless, we couldn’t publicly expose our suspicions for concern of tipping him off.”

Regardless of believing the ordeal to be a sham, authorities made a public present of the seek for Emde, posting a number of images to Fb displaying how they introduced a cadaver canine and drones to help of their efforts.

Investigators in Louisiana obtained in touch with detectives in North Carolina and realized that on the time he was reported lacking, Emde was sporting a court-ordered GPS ankle monitor as a situation of his launch on bond. Based mostly on that info, investigators had been in a position to monitor Emde’s actions and realized that simply hours earlier than he was reported lacking he had bought two pre-paid telephones from a Walmart in Boutte, Louisiana.

Authorities mentioned Emde solely used one of many telephones just a few instances and just for “quick intervals of time.” With help from U.S. Marshals, authorities concentrated their search in Oklahoma, the place Emde and his son are from, however the path went chilly once they realized that Emde had stopped utilizing the pre-paid telephones.