The Dumb Crime of The Month: The Pilot Who Faked His Death

What do you do when your financial empire is collapsing, investigators are closing in, and your carefully manufactured life is about to fall apart?If you’re Marcus Schrenker, you climb into a million-dollar airplane, report a catastrophic midair emergency, switch on the autopilot, and parachute into the Alabama wilderness while the empty aircraft continues flying toward the Gulf of Mexico.The plan was supposed to convince authorities that Schrenker had died in a tragic plane crash. Instead, the pilotless aircraft attracted fighter jets, crashed suspiciously short of the ocean, and left investigators with an intact windshield, no blood, and no body.Unfortunately for Marcus, things only became dumber from there. His escape involved a hidden red motorcycle, a completely imaginary canoeing accident, an unexpected encounter with local police, and the one thing every successful fugitive should probably avoid: campground Wi-Fi.In this month’s Dumb Crime of the Month, Steve unpacks the unbelievable story of a wealthy financial adviser who tried to escape fraud allegations by faking his own death. In the process, he transformed a financial investigation into a multistate federal manhunt.Strap in, Crime Crew. This getaway is about to experience some serious turbulence.Follow Heists, Hustles, and Homicide on your favorite podcast app and share this episode with someone whose emergency plan is at least marginally better than Marcus Schrenker’s.