South Florida man used gun tied to weather balloon to fake his murder

Police, once believing Alan Abrahamson had been murdered, rule death as suicide

Police say Alan Abrahamson went to "far-fetched" but "plausible" efforts to fake his own murder.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Possibly inspired by an episode from a popular television show, a South Florida man concocted an elaborate plot to make his suicide appear like a murder, police said.

Alan Abrahamson was found dead of a single gunshot wound a field near his Palm Beach Gardens home in January.

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What initially appeared to be a murder was later determined to be a self-inflicted shooting after investigators concluded that the 71-year-old man attached a gun by a string to a weather balloon that would lift it from his dead hand and drift away, according to a supplemental report recently released by the Palm Beach Gardens Police Department.

"Although the theory seemed far-fetched, it was plausible, so the investigation division began doing research on weather balloons, payload capacity, burst altitudes, distances traveled, etc.," Detective Richard Moretti wrote.

Scissors found near body

A man walking his dogs in the field discovered Abrahamson's body on the morning of Jan. 25. A cellphone, a paper binder clip and a small pair of silver metal scissors were found near the body. 

An autopsy showed that a bullet punctured his heart, passed through both lungs, broke a rib and lodged in his back under the skin. A firearms report said the bullet was a specialty solid copper hollow point. Detectives returned to the field to try to locate the shell casing, to no avail.

Alan Abrahamson, pictured here after a 2017 DUI arrest, was found shot to death Jan. 25 in Palm Beach Gardens.

Abrahamson's wife was in Massachusetts visiting her daughter at the time of the shooting.

"Linda stated that Alan was the love of her life and that he came to Massachusetts with her but left after a week to go back to Palm Beach Gardens," Moretti wrote.

She told police that Abrahamson was "tired of the cold" and decided to come back early. She also told police that it was common for him to carry several hundred dollars' worth of cash, but to her knowledge he never carried scissors with him.

'Thank you for your purchase'

Investigators used the timeline feature on Google Maps to follow Abrahamson's movements upon his return to South Florida.

One of his stops was Air Gas in West Palm Beach, two days before he was found dead. Detectives obtained a copy of Abrahamson's receipt -- a $189.86 purchase of a 40-cubic foot helium gas tank.

Surveillance video from the north gate of BallenIsles Country Club showed Abrahamson walking out of the community "carrying something in his left hand" shortly before he was shot. A single gunshot can be heard in the video about 6:30 a.m.

In February, one of the detectives investigating Abrahamson's death found an email sent to Abrahamson from a company called High Altitude Science.

The email stated: "Thank you for your purchase! Hi Alan, we're getting your order ready to be shipped. We will notify you when it has been sent. Order Summary: Weather Balloon $55.00, 600 g x 1. The order was placed on Christmas Day.

Abrahamson had also sent an email to High Altitude Science on Jan. 4. It read: "I understand how the balloon lift calculator works. My question is at sea level what is the maximum cubic feet of helium will the 350-gram balloon accept without bursting? I have an 80-cu ft. tank. Can I empty it without bursting the balloon? If so, with an 800-gram load, what will the burst altitude be? Thank you, Alan."

Friends and family members told investigators they weren't aware of Abrahamson's interest in weather balloons, aerial photography or meteorology, and they couldn't think of any reason why he would have a weather balloon or helium tank.

How an episode of 'CSI' helped support suicide theory

While researching the possibility that Abrahamson had killed himself, investigators stumbled upon a 2003 episode of "C.S.I: Crime Scene Investigation." The story line involves an individual who stages a murder by tying a gun to helium-filled balloons, carrying the weapon away from the crime scene.

Actor William Petersen, center, of "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" accepts the award for favorite television drama along with cast and crew members at the 29th Annual People's Choice Awards, Jan. 12, 2003 in Pasadena, California.

Investigators also learned of a similar incident in New Mexico in 2008. In that instance, the string tying the gun to the balloons got caught on a nearby cactus.

When detectives returned to the field in February, they discovered pieces of string and colored rubber bands about 40 yards away from where Abrahamson's body had been found. They then searched Abrahamson's home and found a roll of white string and colored rubber bands in his office desk.

But it was the observation of a crime scene investigator that provided perhaps the most reliable piece of evidence to support their theory.

Something unusual about blood on sweatshirt

The crime scene investigator pointed out something unusual about the sweatshirt Abrahamson had been wearing when he was killed. She noted that the sweatshirt "had a large blood stain on the upper, left side with a hole in the center. On the outside of the sweatshirt was a long thin, linear stain that traveled from inside the circular stain to the top, left side of the sweatshirt, possibly indicating that something was in the blood and dragged across to the top of the shirt."

Further investigation revealed that Abrahamson had sent several inquiries to Joseph Maydell, founder of High Altitude Science, in the fall of 2017. Abrahamson had a series of questions about launching a 600-gram weather balloon.

Maydell told investigators that he had recently launched a 600-gram weather balloon in Huntsville, Alabama, and it burst 18 hours later in the Atlantic Ocean off the New Jersey coast.

Investigators looked up the weather conditions in Palm Beach Gardens on Jan. 25 -- it was extremely windy -- and deduced that it was possible for a 600-gram weather balloon to burst in the ocean somewhere north of the Bahamas.

During a review of Abrahamson's phone records, investigators found that the words "balloon," "helium," "gun," "suicide" and "ammunition" had been used in Google searches since 2009.

In March, the manner of death was changed from homicide to suicide.

The gun and empty helium tanks have not been found.