Police in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., say they have foiled Alan Abrahamson's attempt to make his suicide look like a murder. (Palm Beach Gardens Police Department)
An old episode of TV’s "CSI" has helped Florida cops unravel a mysterious shooting death.
Palm Beach Gardens police referenced the show in a report Thursday concluding wealthy 71-year-old Alan Jay Abrahamson attached a gun to a weather balloon to make his Jan. 25 suicide look like a murder.
“Although the theory seemed far-fetched, it was plausible, so the investigation division began doing research on weather balloons, payload capacity, burst altitudes, distances traveled, etc.," the report said, according to the Palm Beach Post.
“Upon researching this we discovered a 2003 television episode of CSI Las Vegas…. In the episode, one of the plot lines was of an individual who staged a homicide by tying a gun to helium filled balloons and the weapon carried gun from the scene.”
They also found a 2008 real-life attempt to duplicate the 'CSI' episode in connection with a New Mexico suicide.
Investigators learned Abrahamson purchased two weather balloons last year, in October and on Christmas Day, the paper reported.
He also exchanged four emails with the balloon vendor asking logistical questions about the balloons, according to the paper. He sent the last email four days before his death.
Police found no gun when they found Abrahamson’s body in a field near his home.
He made large payments into his life insurance account before his death, the Sun Sentinel reported.
He also searched for information on whether life insurance companies could deny payments for suicide, the paper reported.
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