ISDP October 2012: The Golden Years

With the end of summer comes the usual drop in the number of number of people unfortunate enough to inhale that particular malodor associated with the discovery of a dead body nearby. Two incidents didn’t meet our famously strict criteria: one involved a search already underway for a missing person, and the other the simultaneous discovery of a visual clue. That leaves three and the third is a doozy.

We begin in Fairburn, Georgia:

A body found behind a motel in south Fulton County has prompted a homicide investigation. 

A spokesperson for the Fairburn Police Department tells FOX 5 News that the body was discovered around 11 a.m. Sunday in the 600 block of Senoia Road. 

Police say someone came across the body after noticing a strong, foul odor.

An arrest has been made in the case. The second case took place a day earlier in California:

A decomposing body wrapped in cloth was found Sunday in a parked car in East Oakland, police said. 

The body was reported on the 2400 block of Ritchie Street in a blue Chevrolet Malibu at 5:07 p.m., police said. Witnesses reported that the car had been parked on the street near Arroyo Viejo Park for at least two weeks and that a strong odor was coming from the vehicle, authorities said.

SFGate peanut gallery member “organ_donor” cracks wise in the comments: “Is this going to show up on the Carfax?” but ISDP fans know that non-disclosure in a similar case lead to a lawsuit in Michigan.

Our third report is perhaps the first ever with a happy ending.

Walter Samasko Jr., Nevada Recluse, Found Dead With $7 Million In Gold Bars, Coins In Garage

Officials responding to reports of a foul odor at the home of a Nevada recluse may have been surprised [We doubt it.--Ed.] to find the man’s lifeless body -- he’d been dead for about a month -- but it was the contents of Walter Samasko Jr.’s garage that were truly unexpected.

The Carson City resident who had been living alone at the time of his death had gold bars and coins stored in boxes around the property, according to the Las Vegas Sun. 

According to the Associated Press, Samasko, 69, died of heart problems, leaving no will. The businessman, who died with $200 dollars in his bank account, but millions in the garage, hadn’t worked in more than 40 years.

According to later reports, there were no gold bars, only masses of coins wrapped in aluminum foil. Many of them were collectible which means that the initial $7 million estimate—based only on the trove’s total weight—is probably low.

It seems to us that the way Mr. Samasko went out was completely consistent with the way he lived his life. He wanted to be left alone and he was. Bravo.

And is it just us, or does his driver’s license photo bear just the slightest resemblance to the most famous gold bug of all time?