Back in September, a story aired about a Texas man who went missing in the dangerous gulf waters and subsequent accusations that he had faked his own death. Until now, the case has been silent as Arkansas authorities speak out about their intuition.
Larry James Tate, 35 years-old, went swimming in the
debris laden waters somewhere around mile marker 62 off the beaches near Port Aransas, Texas. The rip currents that day were dangerous, as reported by the Coast Guard. And according to a quote in
a local news report on KRISTV.com by a relative of Tate's, the last and only person to see him was Kathy Lauterbach, Tate's sister who was in tears as she told the camera "I saw his face and I saw him wave and then I didn't see him anymore."
The search for Tate was called off a few days later and his body never resurfaced. A fact that experts at the Coast Guard are calling "strange." Tate is still considered a missing person as far as the Coast Guard is concerned.
Just a few states away, officials want Tate on felony incest charges associated with Tate's confirmed fathering of one and possibly three children from his step-daughter. She was just 14-years-old at the time of the initial impregnation of his daughter. The age at which most young girls are starting out their freshman year in high-school.
Officials in Arkansas believe that Tate faked his own death to avoid having to serve possible jail time. Although they have no proof of this, as
recorded in a phone conversation between the news station and Robert Presley of the Crawford County, Arkansas District Attorney's Office:
"Do I have a gut feeling? Then yes. Though I have anything to substantiate that NO. But my gut feeling is that he is still alive. He's hiding."
An intuition so strong that officials have requested the assistance of United States Marshalls to get Larry James Tate to come out of alleged hiding.
It was also reported that Tate's former stepdaughter and mother to his DNA confirmed child and possibly up to three total children were
set to get married soon. Tate had apparently found his divine calling while in jail a few months back and was going to make everything right.
On October 11, 2008, the Rockport Pilot released the
obituary for Larry James Tate. James Lauterbach, Tate's brother-in-law, is angered by the barrage of accusations linking his wife to an alleged cover-up and even the possibility that Tate faked his death:
"He's dead. He's gone. My wife watched him drown. Period"
Lets hope the family will receive the much needed closure from these ongoing attacks that Tate has chosen to evade felony charges and possible jail time by faking his own death. With hopes and confidence that the US Marshalls will turn up nothing in the case and the lack of evidence to support Arkansas' theory, the only true evidence left in this story will be what could potentially wash ashore in the days ahead or to find Tate alive.
Faking ones death is not an uncommon feat. Just this year, a British man
returned after six years of a fake death scheme to collect money.
In a similar incident to Tate's,
a man from Georgiaattempted to avoid charges of molesting his soon to be step-daughter by faking his death in a drowning. Police reported that Julian D. Pipkins had told his son to report he had drowned in a fishing accident in Galveston, TX. He was found and arrested in Miami, FL living in a homeless shelter and working as a day labourer.
