Martin Manley, a former Kansas City Star sports reporter, committed suicide recently and posted a website with coordinates to his purported fortune, but police said it was a hoax. He also left a lengthy explanation and apology for killing himself.
According to CBS, Manley’s claim that he buried $200,000 in coins at the Overland Park Arboretum is a hoax. Officials sent extra police to guard the arboretum and have turned away people coming with shovels and other items to recover the coins. Police used metal detectors and found nothing.
Manley, 60, shot himself on Thursday morning in the parking lot of the Overland Park City Police department.
“We looked with the metal detector,” said Overland Park police spokesman Mark Wilson. “There were no hits at all. And we had even contact with his family who said he didn’t leave anything. This is a hoax.”
He left behind a website that tells of his life, views, and opinions. A mirror of the site can be found here.
“Today is August 15, 2013. Today is my 60th birthday. Today is the last day of my life,” his website reads. “Today, I committed suicide. Today, is the first day this site is active, but it will be here for years to come.”
He added: “Before I get into the nuts and bolts of this site, I first must say to those whom I have a special bond with, please don’t think that I didn’t consider your feelings. I’m sorry... very sorry for the hurt and pain I will have caused by my actions.”
Manley said that he noticed he had problems with his memory as he aged.
“So, what I hope will happen in the long run is that my life is remembered and the suicide is just an asterisk, a footnote. After all, we all die. The way we died doesn’t change one little thing about the way we lived. When remembering anyone who has passed on, hopefully it is the life that is recalled and not the death,” he wrote.
“Frankly, I didn’t have any major problem that would cause me to do it. I did it for other reasons. I’m sure there are those that suffer terminal illness or financial calamity or loss of loved ones or serious addictions or fear of going to jail for life or just plain depression. And, I acknowledge any of those reasons might spur them toward suicide. But, I believe some of us who do it simply have a dark side that doesn’t allow us to appreciate life – or at least extended life - in the same way as others,” he continued in another part of the site.
Later on he gave out the GPS coordinates (38.800542, -94.687884) to his wealth, which is apparently akin to buried treasure, said The Blemish.
“I had no financial problems. I sold my house which was completely paid for in 1998. The same year I bought $30,000 in 1/10 ounce gold coins and pre 1965 silver coins. Gold was $300/ounce when I bought it and silver was $4/ounce. Gold went up to $1,700 and Silver to $44 making my stash worth over $200,000,” he wrote.
The Kansas City Star reported on Manley’s death. He worked for the paper for seven years before he started his blog, Martin Manley’s Sports in Review.
“Martin was a terrific guy and a good employee,” Mike Fannin, the editor and vice president of The Star, told the paper. “This is a real shock, just an incredible tragedy. Our hearts and thoughts are with his family today.”
However, police told the Star that the buried cache of coins could be a hoax.
Police said his family had “gotten rid of” the coins before he killed himself.
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