“Now it’s time for Mr. Emde to face the music for his charges in North Carolina,” Sheriff Champagne said.
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Police claim that an Oklahoma man faked his own death in a kayaking accident in an unsuccessful effort to flee child rape allegations in North Carolina. As a result, the man is now in jail.
Nearly 500 miles east of the Louisiana section of the Mississippi River where he was believed drowned in a kayaking mishap more than a month prior, Melvin Emde was apprehended on Sunday during a traffic stop in Georgia.
Emde’s son reported his father drowning and going overboard in the river near Hahnville to authorities on August 7.
However, when they learned that the 41-year-old was scheduled to appear in court the following day to answer to accusations of statutory rape and indecent liberties with a minor, investigators claimed they immediately thought something was up.
“We immediately became quite suspicious that this may have been a faked accidental drowning and death in order for Mr. Emde to escape charges in Brunswick County, North Carolina,” St. Charles Parish Sheriff Greg Champagne said.
“However, we could not publicly expose our suspicions for fear of tipping him off.”
When police and the United States Marshals Service tracked the phones, they discovered Emde had been using one covertly by just turning it on briefly.
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Emde was finally apprehended after initially trying to locate him close to his home in Talihina, Oklahoma, during a 3:30 a.m. traffic check in Georgia.
A man driving a motorcycle without a license plate was stopped by police; he eventually took off, crashed, and then tried to escape on foot.
After being taken into custody, he gave a phony identity, but after getting his fingerprints taken, he was recognized as Emde.
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