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Accident Suicide or Murder - Season 6 Episode 1 - A Man And His Balloon
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00:00an empty field in an affluent golf community yields a gruesome discovery
00:15i immediately saw a deceased white male with a single gunshot wound to the left side of his chest
00:20this could be a you know robbery gone horribly wrong but there doesn't look like there's any
00:27struggle detectives wonder if the victim's past has finally caught up with him he knew who did this
00:33your father was not a boy scout he was not a boy scout i don't know what his business dealings were
00:38i don't know if he pissed the wrong person off why would somebody want to shoot alan
00:43you're the only person that knew he was going to be walking out of that gate that night until strange
00:49new evidence challenges everything police thought they knew why is he buying the 350 gram weather
00:56balloon it was very strange the more we're digging the more questions we're adding and there are no
01:03answers many of the searches were in his own voice it was like he was leaving evidence from beyond the
01:15great and all of a sudden this takes a 180 degree turn
01:19on a quiet thursday morning shortly after 7 a.m
01:49west palm beach florida dispatch receives a call from a bicyclist who says they spotted something
01:54in an empty field adjacent to the bike path
01:56we arrived i immediately saw a deceased white male laying on his back facing up with a single gunshot wound to the left side of his chest
02:03first responders they assessed the body for signs of life and upon not finding any they pronounced him deceased at seven seconds
02:10and now on pga and now on pga okay and there's a guy laying in the field he's a white elder guy he doesn't realize he's breathing
02:18he's a black male laying on his back facing up with a single gunshot wound to the left side of his chest
02:25first responders they assessed the body for signs of life and upon not finding any they pronounced him deceased at seven sixteen a.m. that day
02:34i immediately called the other detective supervisor and said we need to deploy our team and get to the scene as fast as possible
02:41i get my stuff and i head out there right now you're just scanning the area because we're not going to touch the body till the medical examiner gets there
02:49he's already been pronounced dead so you're examining the scene you're not moving anything yet you're waiting
02:56so patrol officers immediately locked down the scene for preservation
03:00detectives turn their focus to the body of the deceased male
03:04the body was still warm when the investigator came to scene rigor had not sit in yet
03:11we suspected that that death had occurred shortly before law enforcement and first responders arrived
03:19the gunshot that we observed was right about here just near the heart the left center of the heart
03:26small entry wound like about the size of a pen
03:29you could tell it was a low caliber shot
03:32detective moretti also notes the location of the victim's body in an empty field next to the affluent
03:38ballin isles country club and residential community
03:43it's in the middle of a field and it's bright and early in the morning so number one what are you doing out in the middle of the field
03:51right around the corner from the ballin isles entrance with the guard shack gate right there
03:56he's an elderly gentleman so maybe he was taking a walk we don't know at this time
04:03i thought it was odd that he was laying face up almost like he had kind of fallen over perfectly
04:12the gunshot wound early on was placed so perfectly in the center of his chest
04:16i thought possibly that we were going to find a firearm underneath him that maybe he committed suicide
04:23also the area is very a very safe area there's not a lot going on there especially at that time of day
04:30this could be a suicide there has to be a gun underneath him
04:34but when medical examiners at the scene turn over the man's body
04:39they find nothing
04:42when you don't have a gun and you've got a deceased person right there in an open field with a single gunshot wound to the chest
04:49it looks like a homicide
04:53once the medical examiner arrived and gave us permission to move the body at the scene we found his wallet in his back pocket we were then able to identify him as Alan Abramson
05:08a 71 year old resident of the bordering community which is ballin isles
05:12detective clayton did locate next of ken which would have been his wife linda
05:19who they reside in ballin isles and we all went to the house first and no answer nobody was there
05:24we checked with security and there was no no alarm set or triggered or anything like that
05:29and so detective clayton researched and found that linda was in boston
05:36while law enforcement attempts to reach alan's wife linda 1400 miles north
05:42detectives at the scene focus on collecting evidence
05:46i see a cell phone
05:50earbuds white earbuds were attached to the cell phone
05:53we noticed a pair of scissors there was some string nearby some rubber bands and the binder clip
06:01and i thought that was unusual because i always carry my money like this
06:08so we're thinking possible robbery don't know
06:12this area where he was found is used as a parking lot an overflow parking lot for the golf community ballin isles
06:18so some of the items that first we thought possibly weren't involved in the case
06:22but as an investigator you want to take everything you can
06:25because sometimes in the end it'll come back and prove that it was part of the case
06:29while evidence at the scene is processed detectives are able to reach linda
06:34and inform her that they found alan shot dead in a field near their home
06:39linda is in complete distress disarray
06:42the boston police department was there with her for safety reasons while we made that call
06:48and she advised that she was there visiting her daughter who recently had a child
06:54from his wife we learned that they had both traveled to boston together
06:58and a few days into the trip alan had been complaining of boredom
07:03he was tired of the cold tired of the hotel
07:07and decided he wanted to come back home to palm beach gardens
07:11so he flew back down on his own to west palm beach on the 21st he told her he'll be back up on the 28th
07:22linda described alan her husband the deceased as the life of the party
07:27she said he only has friends and no enemies he was always having a good time he seemed to be happy
07:32and everything seemed to be going well and he loved living in that community because he could play golf with the many friends that he had there
07:38linda also informed detective clayton that alan would normally walk his neighborhood very early in the morning around 5 30.
07:49linda was able to tell us that the property that was found at the scene the phone was his the binder clip was his
07:55we also learned from his wife linda alan would regularly carry three to five hundred dollars in cash in his binder clip
08:02and that she had just given him a watch and the watch meant something to him coming from his wife
08:07so we know that the watch is missing and the money is missing from the scene
08:11so once we learned that we thought wow he was robbed and killed
08:17from palm beach gardens we don't have a lot of homicides come through our office
08:24it's a very affluent part of town it's got great security
08:31linda wants to do whatever she can to help us investigate to find out you know who killed alan
08:37so then at that time we determined that we need to interview linda
08:41and she advised us that she was going to come home to speak with investigators
08:45as linda prepares for a return to palm beach gardens detectives shift their focus to the upscale golf community
08:52and any residents who may have witnessed something to help the investigation
08:57we had tactical crime units surveilling the area
09:00we had them stopping cars and interviewing subjects
09:03so we can gain as much information from them as possible
09:06did anyone talk to you specifically this week
09:09anybody that stood out to you as suspicious or dangerous or anything or anything
09:13yes
09:14there's a gentleman that always walks or runs this path elderly gentleman
09:18yeah i don't know
09:20yeah
09:22unable to find witnesses detectives turn back to the crime scene
09:24and what's left behind continues to raise questions
09:27there doesn't look like there's any struggle just from outside looking in
09:32doesn't look like there was a fight the shoes bottom of the soles of the shoes were clean
09:38didn't see any wounds on the hand or anything like that and his hat was still on his person
09:44there was no struggle that really put another question mark into this case
09:51you don't know what you have at this point anything it could be you got to follow the clues or wherever the evidence may take you
09:59Alan drove his vehicle to the exact location where he would be found deceased less than 12 hours later
10:10he is there for 55 minutes that evening
10:14what was he doing in the field the night before his death
10:17now you're asking yourself a lot of questions
10:32at first glance the shooting death of 71 year old Alan Abramson appears to be a robbery turned homicide
10:41but as detectives examine the evidence nothing about the case adds up
10:45with no signs of a struggle
10:48we're floating any possibility right now we're you know a few hours in so we've got to collect evidence
10:55and we got to see where this evidence is going to lead us
10:58at that point you you want to find the crucial evidence which is a firearm the murder weapon or a shell case
11:06investigators combed the field where Alan's body was found zeroing in on any sign of a murder weapon
11:12the field is probably several acres larger than a football field we searched that whole field trees bushes grass
11:21even a waterway that runs to the south a canal we searched with a dive team
11:26we had workers come out and search storm drains and we couldn't find anything
11:31as the sun sets on day one of the investigation into Alan Abramson's death detectives hope the next morning's autopsy will provide clues
11:41the body did not present any defensive wounds there was a single gunshot wound to the left chest
11:52and the defect on the shirt had a little bit of blood staining around the defect
11:58and then a little streak of blood coming up around the 12 o'clock position and going up to the left shoulder
12:07something appeared to us that something dragged through the blood post being shot from what we don't know at this point
12:16and i could see unburned gunpowder particles on the shirt those unburned gunpowder particles tell me that the gun was discharged
12:26very close or near contact to the body surface
12:31we feel this is more evidence we have a homicide and that he knew who did this because he let someone get that close to him
12:38to shoot him straight directly in the chest
12:42despite their theory that Alan knew his killer detectives have not identified a suspect
12:48outrage shock and fear tonight the Palm Beach Gardens community is on edge after one of their own is gunned down
12:55and left for dead just outside a well-to-do neighborhood now police are on the hunt for the killer
13:01you did not have people being shot outside of Ballin Isles it was not a common occurrence
13:10this was in public it was inexplicable for the police department and it had to be a really big deal
13:17media is barking at their doors saying what's going on here you know so they had a lot of pressure on them
13:22they thought someone was killed here as many locals on edge and there's still many questions surrounding his death
13:28police have not confirmed an arrest
13:33I was sitting at my desk and the phone rang and it was the newspaper I don't recall the name of the newspaper
13:41but they identified themselves and you know broke the news to me
13:47it was devastating to hear this because I had just talked to him you know hours before
13:55I met Alan Abramson through an introduction from another sales rep that was working for me
14:03I immediately liked Alan why would somebody want to shoot Alan he had you know he had no enemies
14:12he was this you know happy-go-lucky guy he was like the model person for that stage of life
14:24had a successful career got out of a marriage that he wasn't happy in
14:31moved to Florida found Linda had a wonderful relationship with Linda living in a nice neighborhood
14:40Alan and Linda were like two teenagers in love and he always talked about Linda
14:47well they were a great couple and a happy couple and you know I immediately thought about Linda
14:53and how I wanted to reach out to her which I did and of course Linda was you know totally beside herself
15:00she could she couldn't even talk really
15:05but the grieving Linda having returned to Florida from Boston allows detectives to come to her home for a formal interview
15:11as they hunt for any information that will help identify Alan's killer
15:15she was really still grieving and was upset
15:18it's not an easy thing to handle
15:21she reiterated a lot of things that she had told detective Clayton over the phone that he would carry two to three hundred dollars cash on him
15:28might have been wearing a watch you know there were scissors left at the scene a small pair of metal metal scissors and we asked if they were hers if you know it was him and to her recollection absolutely not
15:39she doesn't know anybody would hurt him
15:43Detective Moretti advised that he felt that Linda had nothing to do with this homicide
15:47that he was able to clear her as a suspect
15:50Linda tells detectives that Alan recently altered his early morning walks around the neighborhood
15:55and he was meeting a golf buddy for coffee a member of the Ballin Isles community named Victor
16:00he had learned from Alan's wife Linda that Alan was supposed to meet Victor for coffee that morning of his death
16:10one thing stood out in order for Victor Greenstein to go home he had to drive past the crime scene to enter his neighborhood
16:18why wouldn't you call 911 if your friend doesn't show up at Starbucks
16:24Victor has not reached out to Linda or Palm Beach Gardens detectives in the days since Alan's death
16:30and the question is why not
16:33I thought Victor Greenstein was a person of interest
16:37detectives investigating the killing of 71 year old Alan Abramson have just learned that Alan was set to meet a friend the morning of his death
17:02because Victor Greenstein was supposed to meet Alan for coffee that morning and then Alan didn't show up
17:09Victor was definitely identified as an early person that we wanted to talk to
17:14Victor, how are you doing?
17:16Good to see you, well, not like
17:19How long have you known Alan?
17:21Basically when he moved in the Ballin Isles and I'm going to say five years
17:25From what we understand that you and Alan recently started meeting at Starbucks
17:32He gets a small coffee, a tall coffee with two ice cubes
17:36Now Alan doesn't show up on Thursday, you call, he goes to voicemail, you call again
17:43The last time I tried him was 649 I think
17:49And I probably left around, yeah I left to a 7, I left for 7
17:53Is that out of character for Alan not to show up?
17:55You know, I mean I thought nothing of it, that maybe he overslept
17:59Or whatever, I mean I wasn't going to go to his home and ring the doorbells and get weak
18:04Quite frankly that's what I kind of figured
18:06As an investigator, you put yourself in my shoes, okay?
18:11You're the only person that knew he was going to be walking out of that game that night
18:18You're there, he doesn't show up, you call him
18:21Okay, so where do you go after that?
18:23I went to the gym
18:24What gym?
18:25Bell House
18:26When you left the Starbucks that morning
18:30I would assume you went westbound on PGA towards Mellon Isles
18:34And went right by that lake shore
18:36How many police guards do you think were there?
18:38I don't know, 6 maybe?
18:40It was
18:41And guys honestly
18:43No but
18:44The owner had never gone on me
18:45In hindsight
18:47I mean maybe it sure
18:49It didn't
18:50So Victor had told us that he did see the crime scene
18:53He saw all the police cars
18:54But he just didn't think anything of it
18:56What would you say the general consensus of Alan is
18:59Amongst the community, amongst his friends
19:01How would you describe him to somebody who never met him?
19:04Which is us
19:05Well it's just a guy you'd want to go out and have a beer with
19:08Or hang out with
19:09Or spend four hours on the golf course with
19:11He was just a fun guy
19:13Did he talk about any business dealings that coming up or anything like that?
19:17Having to meet anybody, anything at all?
19:20No
19:21And how would you describe, if you know, his relationship with Linda?
19:25I think it's great
19:27Two second marriages
19:28Both bad first marriages from what I understand
19:31And I think they were just really soul mates
19:34Do you know anybody who would want to harm him?
19:37No, I do not
19:39But detectives are eager to learn more about Alan's past
19:44Specifically the family he'd built before he met Linda
19:47They set out to question Alan's ex-wife and their two grown children
19:53We found out that Alan had two adult children that were estranged from him
19:59His daughter Rachel and his son Daniel
20:01Alan's children didn't have a great relationship with him
20:04He was remarried and had three stepchildren
20:07He didn't really speak to them that often
20:09And it seemed like he was losing his relationship with them
20:12That makes us want to talk to them and interview them extensively
20:16Are they angry enough to have something done to their father?
20:19These are all questions that you have to have answered
20:23Over the phone you said you've been basically estranged since 2003
20:27Yeah
20:28What made you estranged?
20:29He was a distant dude like he had a hard childhood
20:32He didn't have a maternal mother and he didn't have a paternal father
20:36And he's telling a guy like shouldn't have had kids
20:39And we were just sort of like
20:41My brother and I were an afterthought
20:44Right, well you told me on the phone that you wanted me to know that your father was not a boy scout
20:48He was not a boy scout
20:49That he was a big partier
20:50He was obnoxious
20:51Yes
20:52And he knew what buttons to push
20:53He did
20:54Could you elaborate on that?
20:55He could be very offensive, he could be loud, he would just like say things
20:58I think my dad really wanted to like be more of a party guy again
21:01Once he got Linda, he like became Mr. Party Guy again
21:05I know, you know my father liked to drink, my father liked to party
21:10Even at the funeral they were like, Alan loved to have a cocktail or two
21:13You said that your dad was unfaithful to your mother
21:18As far as I know
21:20Elaborate
21:21We would have these babies served for the summer
21:24And
21:25When you were?
21:26When we were little, yeah, they would come for the summer, like college
21:28And then one year my mom got a letter from one who was Mormon
21:31And was making amends for all the things she had done
21:34One of them was apologizing for my father
21:37Having like, been romantic with him
21:40My parents were still like allegedly happily married
21:43And my dad was on match.com, actively
21:46And he left, he had been printing profiled out
21:49And left them on the table
21:51He was just cocky to, you know, like that was a cocky move
21:55And it was that he was doing that to my mom
21:57Even if you were unhappy, but who leaves it out?
21:59Like
22:00Well you said, no more buttons to push
22:02Or just so cocky, like you think you won't get, like, I don't know
22:06Do you
22:07Know anybody would want to cause your father on?
22:11The short answer is
22:13No, I don't
22:15I also wasn't that involved in this life now
22:18So I don't know what he was doing
22:20I don't know what his business dealings were
22:22I don't know if he pissed the wrong person off
22:25Detectives also speak to Alan's ex-wife
22:27And learn that all three members of Alan's estranged family
22:30Have alibis hundreds of miles away on the morning of the killing
22:34While his family are ruled out as suspects
22:37The details they've shared forced detectives to reconsider Alan's spotless reputation
22:43A man 71 years old has a past
22:45There's a whole world of things to dig into
22:49Why did he leave his wife alone in Boston?
22:53Who was he coming here to meet?
22:55Was he having an affair?
22:56Was he living a life that his wife Linda didn't know about?
23:03Police in West Palm Beach, Florida are searching for clues in the mysterious death of Alan Abramson
23:22They suspect information on his cell phone may hold the key to finding his killer
23:29A forensic extraction was completed on Alan's cell phone
23:32And I had looked over that report
23:34But didn't see anything really of any evidentiary value
23:38So I decided to start manually looking through the phone
23:43I was able to get into his Google Maps timeline
23:47Which started to paint a picture of where he had been over the last few days
23:52It showed him going from the airport on the 21st to his house on that day with an Uber
24:00He went to Bank of America
24:02He went to a gas supplier for like helium propane
24:0695 to another gas supplier
24:13What it also showed is the night before
24:16So on Wednesday the 24th
24:18It showed that Alan drove his vehicle to the exact location
24:23Where he would be found deceased less than 12 hours later
24:27He is there for 55 minutes that evening
24:32Doing what? We don't know
24:35After that almost hour passes
24:38He returns back home
24:40And then that morning the Google timeline picks back up again
24:44Shows him in a walking distance from his residence
24:47To that same field where he was found deceased
24:51It was very unusual
24:54What was he doing in the field the night before his death?
24:57And there's nothing there
24:58It's in the middle of nowhere
24:59It's in an open field
25:02In the meantime while everybody's doing everything else
25:04We were able to obtain video footage
25:06From the guard shack at the Ballin Isles entrance of PGA
25:12We start looking from the previous days there
25:14So we've got him leaving on the 23rd
25:18He's walking out the gate at 5.50 a.m.
25:21Alan was on his way to meet Victor for coffee
25:23We were able to pull up video footage from Starbucks
25:27Showing Alan entering in and meeting Victor for coffee
25:31So that's when we were able to confirm that Victor was telling us the truth
25:36That he did regularly meet him there
25:37And that he did meet him there several days before the homicide
25:41We would talk regularly
25:43I actually met him for coffee on several occasions
25:46And as I slowly got to know Victor
25:48You could clearly see that he had nothing to do with the shooting
25:51And we were able to rule him out as a possible suspect
25:55And then on the morning of the murder Thursday the 25th
25:59We have Alan on video walking out
26:03Alan was shown on video walking out of the gate at 5.53 in the morning
26:08Carrying something in his left hand
26:10We let it play
26:13See if we can hear anything
26:15Because it also had audio
26:1637 and a half minutes later
26:19You hear an audible gunshot
26:21Plain as day
26:23Detectives can hear the shot that killed Alan Abramson
26:27But with Alan out of the camera's view 200 yards away
26:31They can't see who pulled the trigger
26:33So we've got 37 minutes of unaccounted for time
26:37What happened in that 37 minutes
26:39I walked from that guard arm to the location where he was found
26:44And I just took a normal walking pace
26:47And it took me four minutes and three seconds
26:50So you minus four minutes from the 37
26:52We got 33 minutes of unaccounted for time
26:54What is happening in that 33 minutes?
26:56Investigators wonder if the package that Alan carried can provide answers
27:01A package that was absent from the crime scene
27:05We want to know what that was
27:06Like is that something that could help us?
27:08Was he exchanging something with somebody in the field?
27:11What was he carrying?
27:13For answers, investigators turn back to Alan's timeline within his cell phone data
27:18And look for any unusual movements before the shooting
27:21A trip to the bank, then to gas supply companies catch their eye
27:28Eventually we get the documentation from Bank of America showing he withdrew $300 cash
27:34I got surveillance video of him withdrawing the money
27:36Then detectives go to Nexair and find out at that time that he purchased a 40 cubic foot helium tank
27:46He paid cash for it, we were able to obtain the receipt
27:50Alan asked the air supplier for another 40 pound tank of helium
27:54But they were sold out and referred him to another store
27:57So Alan went to that air supplier
28:01Bought another 40 cubic tank of helium
28:05He paid cash for that as well
28:07We got the receipts for that
28:09And so why is he buying 80 cubic feet of helium?
28:16I don't know
28:18It made no sense
28:22To make sense of the strange purchases
28:24Investigators turn again to the data found within Alan's phone
28:27On February 1st, I was going through Alan's emails in his Gmail account
28:36And I had found that he had placed an order for a weather balloon on Christmas Day 2017
28:45I thought a weather balloon purchase about a month prior was odd
28:53Investigator Machado follows her instincts and digs deeper into Alan's unusual purchase
28:59She finds emails from Alan to the weather balloon supplier dating back months before his death
29:05October 17, 2017
29:08He emailed High Altitude Science
29:10Will a 350 gram balloon be able to hold 65 plus cubic feet of gas?
29:15Also, what will the approximate diameter of the balloon be at launch?
29:20Those are very specific questions, if I would say so
29:25What we're thinking now that we've got those emails
29:30Okay, that might explain the helium
29:33We eventually go back to the residence again
29:37And in the garage
29:40On the shelf was an empty box
29:43From High Altitude Science
29:45Empty
29:46Linda had no knowledge that that was even there
29:49Had no clue about why he would be purchasing weather balloons
29:54Had no clue whatsoever
29:55Okay, well
29:57Now what?
29:58At this point, we still kind of have nothing until a detective comes up with kind of a wild theory
30:11Investigators working the mysterious shooting death of Alan Abramson are spitballing ideas as they search for his killer
30:36A few of our detectives were together with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigators
30:42And they started talking about a theory
30:45There was an episode of CSI Las Vegas
30:49Where a person had tied a handgun to a regular helium party balloon
30:55And had tried to shoot themselves
30:59And the balloon took the gun away
31:02Maybe Alan committed suicide
31:06By purchasing the weather balloon
31:10Tying a string to the weather balloon
31:13Attaching the gun to the string of the weather balloon
31:16And shot himself
31:17And then the weather balloon
31:19Took off with the gun
31:21And off it goes
31:22Well, initially, we're back and forth
31:26Okay, yeah, okay, sure
31:29No problem
31:30This is the movie up
31:31Whatever
31:32So we do some more research with this
31:34And I find that there's a case in New Mexico
31:37A gentleman did try this
31:39Did commit suicide
31:40The balloon did take the gun from the scene
31:43However, it was found about 20-30 feet away
31:46And it was popped by a cacti
31:48Okay, this has been thought of and attempted on TV before
31:55Okay, so
31:56But it's also been attempted in real life before
31:59Maybe Alan's the first one that was successful
32:03This case maybe was not a homicide
32:07But actually a suicide
32:09At this point, it was kind of the only theory that made any sense
32:15But at the same time, we didn't have enough to prove it
32:18We just have the purchase of the tanks
32:21And the purchase of the weather balloon
32:23That's all we have
32:24We still got to keep digging
32:31Once we had the theory, we decided to widen our search of the field
32:35We went approximately 100 feet to 200 feet west of where Alan was found
32:40And we found multicolored rubber bands and string
32:43At that point, I decided, let's go back out to his house and do a more extensive search
32:48So Alan's wife, Linda, led us in the house
32:51And in the top drawer of Alan's office
32:54We matched the rubber bands and the string found in the field
32:57So we knew that that string and rubber bands that were found on that morning linked to this case
33:02For more evidence to boost the suicide theory, investigators take another look at Alan's autopsy report
33:09And revisit an unusual finding that remains unexplained
33:14Our CSI team and Dr. Tormos had noted that there was a thin line of blood up on his sweatshirt
33:24That looked like something was dragged through the blood along the shirt
33:29In all likelihood, once the gunshot was fired, that string from the weather balloon holding that tied the weapon to it went across the chest there
33:41We now know what happened, we now know how that mark got on Alan's shirt
33:45Part of the string on the weather balloon leaving a trail of blood
33:49Despite the mounting evidence, investigators realize they face an uphill battle
33:55It's very rare that a homicide will be reclassified as a suicide
34:01We went to the medical examiner's office to reveal what we thought happened to Alan
34:06He would run the new findings by me and say, what do you think? Is this even possible?
34:12And I would say, yes, but we need more
34:16We need more facts, we need more evidence to prove your theory
34:19So we weren't quite there yet
34:21For the next three weeks, investigators attempt to collect more evidence to support the suicide theory
34:27But they continue to come up empty
34:29On February 27th, I was at home
34:34And my son had been playing with my cell phone, my Android phone at the time
34:39And he had said, hey Google
34:42And he was asking it some silly questions that a seven-year-old would want to know
34:47And when I took the phone back from him, I saw that it was on a screen called My Activity
34:54I found that it was recording his voice and I could play his searches back in his voice
35:01At this point, I am immediately going into work and getting Alan's phone out of evidence again
35:11Once I got Alan's phone out of evidence, I immediately went to the Google app
35:18And I started just scrolling through the past few days
35:21One of the first searches that came up was how to commit suicide and ways to kill yourself
35:29And I just turned to Rick and I said, Rick, we've got it
35:34This happened in January of 2018
35:40But these searches started in 2009
35:44How to commit suicide and ways to kill yourself was in July of 2009
35:50380 ammo for sale in 2010
35:54In 2016, his search started to include the weather balloon research
35:59Sunset and sunset times in West Palm Beach
36:02Traffic counts in Palm Beach County
36:04Traffic volume along PGA Boulevard
36:06He was contemplating this not for a week, not for a month
36:14He was contemplating this for 10 years
36:18And then we learned many of the searches were in his own voice
36:23To life insurance policies pay for suicide
36:31Lifting capacity of a three-foot balloon
36:37How to tie a large balloon
36:41Is there a way to hide a suicide gunshot?
36:53Shot in the heart, do you die instantly?
36:57Oh my god
36:59It was like he was leaving evidence from beyond the grave
37:02Investigators have just found a number of searches on Alan Abramson's phone
37:22Which support their suicide theory
37:24It wasn't just the helium tanks
37:26It wasn't the purchase of the weather balloon
37:28This tied it all together
37:30Armed with a massive pile of evidence
37:33Investigators formulate their final theory
37:35To present to the medical examiner and the state's attorney
37:38On the evening prior to us finding him deceased
37:41Alan went out to the field
37:43And we theorized that he drove his car there
37:47And he had the two 40 cubic foot helium tanks in there
37:51Prepped him somewhere in the field
37:53His helium tanks, his string, the rubber bands
37:56Probably the scissors, everything was in place
37:58And probably ready to go
37:59That morning we saw Alan walk out past the
38:05He made it out to the field
38:07Probably in approximately four minutes
38:09We think that package he was carrying was the weather balloon
38:12If you remember initially
38:14We had that 33 minutes or so of unaccounted for time
38:18It takes time to inflate that
38:20Not a lot of time, but enough time to inflate that
38:22Then you've got these helium tanks
38:24We never found the helium tanks
38:26But there was a waste management dumpster in the plaza next door
38:32And the morning that we were arriving at the scene
38:34The waste management truck was pulling out as we were arriving
38:37So were his helium tanks in the dumpster? Maybe
38:41And maybe Alan was so thorough that he knew that
38:44He then had time to set up his system of tying the gun to the weather balloon
38:51Cutting the string
38:53We cannot prove but we theorized that the reason we did not find a shell casing at this point
38:58Was we think he tied some type of catch bag to catch the casing when it ejected on there
39:04Because that would be taken away as well
39:06Alan is able to pull the trigger, fall backwards
39:11And let the balloon take away the firearm
39:19And you ask, where would the weather balloon end up?
39:23There are these things called weather balloon trackers
39:26Type in the weather conditions for that day, capacity of the balloon
39:31You enter all that information in and it gives you a track
39:35It took off, up, to the west
39:40Made a U-turn and headed east out over the Atlantic Ocean
39:46And the approximate burst point was about 40 miles north of the Bahamas in the Atlantic Ocean
39:57Once presented with a totality of information
40:00There is no doubt in my mind
40:03Mr. Abramson committed suicide
40:05And we changed the manner of death from homicide to suicide
40:09With the manner of death changed, investigators must now notify Alan's wife, Linda
40:16We sat down and we went and started going over step by step from the beginning
40:20And we're probably 10, 15 minutes into this
40:24She asked us to, can you please stop for a moment?
40:27And I heard her say, did he kill himself?
40:30So she could see where it was going just that early too
40:33Linda was taken aback, for sure
40:37It was shocking to them
40:39Everything seemed to be fine in life of the party and love of his life
40:43And they were going on trips together
40:46I believe that she thinks that Alan had committed suicide to benefit everybody
40:54There were several life insurance policies written out to all the family members
40:58I mean, you can't take a million dollar policy out on yourself and then for your family
41:06And then kill yourself the next day
41:08It's not going to cover that
41:09But these insurance policies were taken out way prior
41:13The insurance companies tell investigators that the policies were past the point of contention
41:18Since several years had passed since Alan opened them
41:21They were to be paid out regardless of whether he committed suicide
41:26So when Alan killed himself, he knew before he left this world that everybody would be taken care of financially
41:34Even though Alan's family would benefit financially from his suicide
41:38Those around him still find it shocking that such a vibrant man would choose to end his own life
41:44And stage it to look like a homicide
41:47Not the slightest hint that he was depressed or unhappy with his life
41:56He was suffering in silence with a smile on his face
42:03I would want people to know that Alan was the type of person that everybody loved
42:10He apparently was a master of two lives
42:15Two emotional lives
42:17But he concealed it and did a very good job concealing it
42:23I think he went through this elaborate scheme so his family would not find out that he did commit suicide
42:29He wanted it to make it look like a homicide
42:33He wanted everybody to think that he left happy
42:36He didn't want to reveal to his family and his wife that he was sad
42:40At the end of the day
42:42The reason why
42:45Will really never be known because Alan took that with him to the grave
42:50To the end of the grave
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