I'm sure that was an episode of CSI.

[pantsonfire321@aol.com]

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

10:25 AM CDT on Wednesday, July 16, 2008

By TIARA M. ELLIS / The Dallas Morning News

tellis@dallasnews.com

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.

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[hoppy]

Some while back a man was found dead of a shot to the head. No gun was found then. Another person was awaiting trial for that death. The shooting took place in the early summer in a wooded area. That fall, after the trees had shed their leaves, a teen hunting squirrels happened to spot a pistol tied to a tree limb. It was determined the "victim" tied the pistol to a springy limb after implicating his wife's lover by letters, shot himself, the limb sprang back up hiding the gun among the summer foliage.

[spot]

hoppy;919913 wrote: Some while back a man was found dead of a shot to the head. No gun was found then. Another person was awaiting trial for that death. The shooting took place in the early summer in a wooded area. That fall, after the trees had shed their leaves, a teen hunting squirrels happened to spot a pistol tied to a tree limb. It was determined the "victim" tied the pistol to a springy limb after implicating his wife's lover by letters, shot himself, the limb sprang back up hiding the gun among the summer foliage.


As he walked he had firmly tied one end of the string to the handle of the revolver. We had now reached the scene of the tragedy. With great care he marked out under the guidance of the policeman the exact spot where the body had been stretched. He then hunted among the heather and the ferns until he found a considerable stone. This he secured to the other end of his line of string, and he hung it over the parapet of the bridge so that it swung clear above the water. He then stood on the fatal spot, some distance from the edge of the bridge, with my revolver in his hand, the string being taut between the weapon and the heavy stone on the farther side.

"Now for it!" he cried.

At the words he raised the pistol to his head, and then let go his grip. In an instant it had been whisked away by the weight of the stone, had struck with a sharp crack against the parapet, and had vanished over the side into the water. It had hardly gone before Holmes was kneeling beside the stonework, and a joyous cry showed that he had found what he expected.

"Was there ever a more exact demonstration?" he cried. "See, Watson, your revolver has solved the problem!" As he spoke he pointed to a second chip of the exact size and shape of the first which had appeared on the under edge of the stone balustrade.

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Probl ... hor_Bridge, The Problem of Thor Bridge by Arthur Conan Doyle, 1922.

[Nomad]

Yea I guess that would work.

Or you could shoot yourself in a place that would let you slowly and painfully bleed to death.

That way you could just walk over to the bridge and toss it, or bury it.

Also you would have that extra time to maybe grab a snack.

[spot]

Come on Nomie, it's a game - who can find the first use of the plot. It's your turn and we're back to 1922 so far. I reckon we should be able to reach 500BC with any luck.

[Galbally]

Using suicide to implicate someone else in your own murder, well I am sure as a plot its probably as old as Euripides.

Still with the case in question its amazing that someone would go to such lengths to cover up their own death, or implicate someone else, you would think that your own demise would be of concern enough to you, regardless of what happened afterwards, but I guess there is nowt queer as folk is there?

[spot]

Galbally;920040 wrote: I guess there is nowt queer as folk is there? He was American.