Charles Darwin at a green chalkboard.

2006 Darwin Awards

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? Honoring Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, Darwin Awards commemorate those who improve our gene pool--by removing themselves from it in the most spectacular way possible.

A Slow Burn
2006 Darwin Award Winner
Confirmed True by Darwin

A Rare Double Darwin!

(6 July 2006, Ohio) Insurance fraud is harder than it looks. Just ask Andreas, who lost his life trying to collect on an amputated limb. Just ask Musa and his son Essa, who hired an arsonist to burn down their Steak Thyme sub shop so they could collect the insurance money. They promised the arsonist a $60,000 a year job, although where he would work once the shop was ashes is unknown.

Three times he tried, and three times he failed to destroy the sandwich shop. Whether it was a Molotov cocktail thrown through the window, or chairs doused with gasoline and set ablaze, the result was the same. Minor damage. The neighborhood was up in arms over the apparent "hate crimes" repeatedly being committed against the two Jordanian immigrants.

After the third bungled arson Musa boasted in a televised interview, "If someone is trying to shut me out of business, it's not going to happen. This is my life and nobody's going to take that away from me." Nobody but himself!

Musa grew tired of throwing good money after bad. This was getting him nowhere! For the fourth arson attempt, only 12 hours after the flaming chairs fizzled, he and his son decided to help their hired hand. They spread gasoline around their eatery. A single match would do the trick.

Tragically, they had more talent for arson than their amateur arsonist. They took a cigarette break. One flick of a lighter later, a gas explosion took out one wall, and burned both men so severely that, despite several weeks of hospitalized care, the men died.

Reader comment:
"It would have been easier just to run their business..."
"If you want something done right..."

More Insurance-Related Stories:
Classic Urban Legend: The Bricklayer
Darwin Award: Missed Stop Misstep
Darwin Award: Chainsaw Insurance

Darwin asks, "Can anyone determine the amount of money Musa expected to collect? I cannot find this information in my Google searches. If you have information, please CONTACT DARWIN."

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Submitted by: Sharon Sonenstein, Andrew Potter
Reference: WCPO News, Associated Press, Coalition Against Insurance Fraud,

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