Slush Pile: Thomas Hickman baloon suicide scam

2008 Slush Pile

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Thomas Hickman baloon suicide scam

2008 Reader Submission
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Balloons carried gun away in Red Lobster executive's 'CSI'-like suicide

Thomas Hickman drove through New Mexico, police say, until his Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo ran out of gas. Then the 55-year-old North Richland Hills man walked into a field, tied helium balloons to a gun, covered his mouth with duct tape, and shot himself in the back of the head, according to New Mexico State Police.

That determination is a far leap from what authorities first suspected when Mr. Hickman's body was discovered March 15 near Santa Rosa, N.M., about 100 miles east of Albuquerque. Authorities initially thought the Red Lobster executive had been kidnapped and slain.

Thomas Hickman But investigators came to the conclusion that Mr. Hickman committed suicide. The first clue was the bundle of white helium balloons, with the gun still attached, found snagged on bushes and cactus near Mr. Hickman's body.

The grip of the Smith & Wesson Airweight had been removed and the trigger guard ground down, said Lt. Rick Anglada of New Mexico State Police.

"He took as much weight off as he could to make it light as possible," Lt. Anglada said. The plan apparently was to have the gun float far away after being fired, but that didn't happen.

The gun and balloons led police from that field back to Mr. Hickman's house in North Richland Hills.

"This was apparently an elaborate attempt to make it look like he was murdered," Lt. Anglada said. "Investigators were able to show that he purchased the balloons and purchased the gun. We also found shavings from the gun in his garage."

Partway through the investigation, one of the investigators recalled seeing a television show in which balloons were used in a suicide.

The investigator obtained a copy of an October 2003 episode of the television drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and noticed that there were several similarities between that show and Mr. Hickman's case. But Lt. Anglada said New Mexico authorities are not sure if Mr. Hickman ever saw the program.

Detectives would not speculate about the motive for his suicide, the lieutenant said.

However, the investigation showed that at the time of his death, Mr. Hickman's life was in turmoil. Lisa Hickman, his wife of 29 years, was ill, and he had been caring for her for some time. Mr. Hickman had also recently lost some money in the stock market, Lt. Anglada said.

Mrs. Hickman could not be reached for comment Tuesday. But in March, she described her husband as a generous Christian man who "did not preach the word of God, but he walked the walk. He lived it."

The couple moved to Texas from Florida in 2003 and had one son.

Mr. Hickman worked for Red Lobster for 32 years and oversaw restaurants in the chain from North Richland Hills to West Texas. He started as a manager trainee, company officials said. In 1977, Mr. Hickman was promoted to general manager and headed operations at restaurants in Wisconsin, Illinois, North Carolina and Florida. He became director of operations in 2003 when he took over restaurants in parts of Texas.

As the West Texas director of operations for Red Lobster, Mr. Hickman regularly traveled through the region where he died. He was last seen at a meeting in Abilene on March 13. The next day, he missed a meeting in Lubbock. On March 15, two motorists discovered his body in the field

Submitted on 07/19/2008

Submitted by: Eva Benali
Reference: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/071608dnmethickman.3d76e7d.html

>> Moderator Scores <<

Bruce said:
Definitely Toss: Other
Thanks, Eva, but we don't award suicides. I do have to admit though that this was a fairly creative attempt to make it look like something other than a suicide. Unfortunately he didn't plan things out as well as he should have, and in the end it is just a suicide.

Candi said:
Definitely Toss: Other
No suicides. But I wonder if there's another web site that would want this? I'll bet that there are probably two reasons for such an elaborate cover-up: Ego -don't want to admit they just gave up- and life insurance -which often have "no suicide" clauses. After all, if the reports in forensic science books are anything to go by, it's amazing what people -the suicide and others- will do to make it look NOT like a suicide so that they don't lose certain benefits. Thanks for a rollicker of a story, Eva!

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2008 Slush Pile

Thomas Hickman baloon suicide scam

2008 Reader Submission Pending Acceptance

2008 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance