King of Spam Escapes , Found Dead

By TChris, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 08:17:00 PM EST
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Bump and Update (TL): The "Spam King" Eddie Davidson is dead. His body as well as that of his wife and three year old daughter were found today. All died from gunshots. An eight month old son was unhurt and a teenage daughter was grazed by a bullet but is okay. Developing...

Further update (TChris): Good background on Davidson's mental health problems here.
******

By TChris

It isn't likely anyone will make a movie about this less-than-daring escape, and there's no need to fear that this former prisoner will terrorize the community. You might soon find your email box filled with even more spam, however, if he evades capture and returns to his former employment.[More...]

Edward “Eddie” Davidson, a notorious e-mail spammer who was sentenced to jail time in April, has escaped from a federal prison camp in Florence, Colorado.
Davidson ... also known as the "Spam King," made a run for it when his wife visited him last Sunday and is now officially listed in “escape” status, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He was last seen in Lakewood, CO.

Davidson was serving a 21 month sentence. He'll serve quite a bit more time if federal Marshals are able to track him down.

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King of Spam Escapes , Found Dead | 31 comments (31 topical)

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I have an idea (5.00 / 1) (#7)
by TheRealFrank on Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 06:22:56 PM EST

Let's send out a mass email asking for information on his whereabouts..

Just saw on the news that they found him DEAD (5.00 / 1) (#9)
by Angel on Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 07:34:40 PM EST

in a murder-suicide. Him, a woman and a child were found dead in the driveway of a home. Sad.

You know...it is one thing if you want to (5.00 / 4) (#11)
by PssttCmere08 on Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 08:47:05 PM EST

put yourself out of your misery, but why your wife and child? That breaks my heart...


And 2 more kids were there (5.00 / 2) (#12)
by nycstray on Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 08:50:10 PM EST

and now get to live with this. I hope they have some strong relatives and get good help.


: NYC...I cannot imagine the horror of (none / 0) (#14)
by PssttCmere08 on Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 08:58:45 PM EST

knowing your own father tried to kill you...I am sure the support of their family and professional help will go hand in hand.

It's depression talking. (5.00 / 1) (#24)
by Fabian on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 06:21:57 AM EST

You feel that your life is not worth living, but you also feel responsible for people who are dependent on you. So you "resolve" their problems too.

It's a horrible logic, but when you are severely depressed, you make bad decisions because your options seem so limited - more pain or an end to the pain.

Mental illness is real. Its effects are real.


Fairly obvious (none / 0) (#27)
by Turbulent Confusion on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 08:57:56 AM EST

This guy held himself in higher regard than most other things. Most egomaniacs believe that taking it with them is the most hateful thing one can do...

It is terrible that this POS harmed his wife and child. I am glad that two did survive, I wish them well..


Good God. (5.00 / 1) (#20)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 11:43:25 PM EST

My thoughts and prayers to his survivors.

Well, Karadic was lamming for (none / 0) (#1)
by scribe on Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 05:21:14 PM EST

12 years, but he had help from friendly cops (who gave him the ID of someone KIA in the Balkan Wars) and was able to grow a serious head of hair and beard.

That hedge fund scam guy who "sorta" "faked" his death a couple weeks ago, he was reduced to riding a motorbike around a campground, got bored and turned himself in.

King of Spam? (none / 0) (#2)
by wasabi on Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 05:32:06 PM EST

I thought I heard a news report where he was personally responsible for under 1M e-mails. I thought there were larger operations than that.

According to WIKI there are over 100 Billion spam e-mails a day going around. Less than a million over his "career" seems like chump change.

Spam... (none / 0) (#3)
by weltec2 on Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 05:49:16 PM EST

May he escape into the desert... and be eaten by giant hungry ants equivalent in number to the spam e-mails that he sent.

Ouch... (none / 0) (#18)
by weltec2 on Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 11:26:40 PM EST

I should have read the whole thing instead of just the headline.


I didn't even notice the "found dead" (none / 0) (#19)
by weltec2 on Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 11:30:33 PM EST

sorry.


: That was added later. The news wasn't out yet (none / 0) (#21)
by Teresa on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 12:00:49 AM EST

when you wrote your comment.

S'okay (none / 0) (#25)
by Fabian on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 06:23:49 AM EST

I get the Fallout reference.


Oy, that doesn't sound smart (none / 0) (#4)
by andgarden on Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 05:54:51 PM EST

: really (none / 0) (#5)
by Jen M on Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 06:04:56 PM EST

really dumb

I will cling to my 10 guage (none / 0) (#6)
by Exeter on Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 06:05:13 PM EST

until this barbaric animal is put back behind bars!

I know its probably wrong... (none / 0) (#8)
by kdog on Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 07:23:02 PM EST

but I'm rooting for him.

Don't blame me...blame Papillon, The Count of Monte Cristo, Escape from Alcatraz, and The Shawshank Redemption...I get all mushy inside at a jailbreak.

: Upon further review.... (none / 0) (#30)
by kdog on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 10:38:45 AM EST

In hindsight this is one guy who should not have gotten away.
It takes a real sick breed to harm a kid...that's just awful.

if he escaped from the Super Max in Florence thats (none / 0) (#10)
by athyrio on Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 08:41:55 PM EST

amazing as that is quite the set up there...We toured it before they opened as I used to live close to there. Many famous criminals are there like the Unibomber, etc.

he was at the adjacent prison camp (none / 0) (#13)
by Jeralyn on Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 08:51:56 PM EST

for low level offenders.


: oh ok (none / 0) (#15)
by athyrio on Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 09:16:49 PM EST

we have a friend whose son is a guard at the super max and some of his stories will curl your hair indeed.

Definitely something seriously (none / 0) (#16)
by jen on Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 09:22:07 PM EST

wrong with the guy to do something like this over a 21 month sentence. Yoikes. Or could it have been some vigilante thing? Light to his surviving children and family...

: sad but true, some folks just can't deal (none / 0) (#22)
by hellothere on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 12:05:39 AM EST

with reality. it is too much for them. i think this guy couldn't handle failure of any sort.

: Not a surprise. (none / 0) (#26)
by Fabian on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 06:27:38 AM EST

AD/HD can lead to depression and depression leads to suicide. And sometimes men take their loved ones with them when they commit suicide.
Untreated mental illness is usually an invisible disease until something like this happens.

obviously, he had (none / 0) (#17)
by cpinva on Thu Jul 24, 2008 at 10:51:41 PM EST

far more serious problems than anyone realized. i'm just kind of at a loss to see why he would do something like this, over a 21 month sentence.

Nice call there... (none / 0) (#23)
by Patrick on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 12:20:56 AM EST

It isn't likely anyone will make a movie about this less-than-daring escape, and there's no need to fear that this former prisoner will terrorize the community. You might soon find your email box filled with even more spam, however, if he evades capture and returns to his former employment.[

T-Chris. I'd call that family terrorized. It's just that attitude that gets people killed all the time. Perhaps you just might want to think about it once in a while.

Obviously ... (none / 0) (#28)
by TChris on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 09:11:45 AM EST

I was writing what I thought to be a light-hearted post before the news broke about the escape's tragic ending.


: It isn't (none / 0) (#31)
by Patrick on Mon Jul 28, 2008 at 11:24:10 AM EST

about making a mistake. It's about a mindest with respect to criminal behavior. You have it, and it's dangerous.

The Perp? (none / 0) (#29)
by Doc Rock on Fri Jul 25, 2008 at 10:30:59 AM EST

Karl Rove did it?