Man Fakes His Own Funeral to Escape Drunk-Driving Legal Consequences

Original article on OddityCentral.com – a blog on oddities and wacky news http://www.odditycentral.com/

Police in Hunan, China, recently published the details of a bizarre case dating back to January of last year. A man surnamed Si was pulled over by a police car and subsequently arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. A background check revealed that he had been caught driving without a license while intoxicated twice before, so Si risked spending time behind bars for his third offence.

While out on bail, Si decided that the risk of being issued a prison sentence was too great, so he came up with an extreme plan to avoid any legal consequences for his drunk driving. He convinced his family to assist him in faking his death and funeral, so he could run away without the fear of police looking for him.

In June of last year, Si and his family set their daring plan in motion. First, they bought a coffin, and then Si set the scene of his death. He scattered empty medicine bottles throughout his home, practiced holding his breath for long periods of time, and even used cooling equipment to keep his body cold, all in an effort to make it look like he had succumbed to a drug overdose.

Photo: Unsplash

Even though some neighbors later told police that they had seen Si’s body, his mother and grandmother covered his face with a cloth, claiming that the drugs had deformed his face. The funeral was carried out that same day, but while the coffin was being lowered into the ground, Si was already on his way to Yunnan Province.

Unfortunately for our protagonist, this story did not end with his fake death. There were some loose ends that police quickly picked up, like the fact that Si’s coffin had been purchased before his death, and the fact that his family never called an ambulance or alerted the police about his untimely death.

Police later learned that there had been no death certificate issued for Si, nor a record of his cremation. The fact that none of the neighbors had seen his face before his burial only added to their suspicions. Surveillance footage and bank records later confirmed that SI was still alive, and police launched a manhunt to find him.

Si was apprehended in April of this year and quickly sentenced to five months of criminal detention and a 20,000 yuan ($3,000) fine. A separate criminal investigation is now gathering evidence against his mother and grandmother for assisting and harboring an offender.

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