Florida man faked his murder using a gun and a weather balloon

Ashley May | USA TODAY

The mysterious death of a Florida man has been solved, police say, after piecing together an elaborate suicide plot that included a weather balloon hoisting a gun into the sky.

Palm Beach Gardens police began investigating the death of Alan Jay Abrahamson as a homicide. His body was found with a bullet wound to his chest in a field near his country club home in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, on Jan. 25. Abrahamson, known to carry $200 to $300 in cash, had no cash in his wallet. His watch was missing. Police, who found no weapon or shell casings, began searching for suspects. They did find a pair of small scissors.

A $3,000 reward drew no leads. As time went on, police had more questions about what really happened to the well-loved man, "known for his extraordinary smile, contagious laugh and the twinkle in his eyes," according to his obituary in The Palm Beach Post.

Surveillance video obtained a few days after the death shows Abrahamson's last moments: Wearing a long-sleeve sweatshirt, blue ball cap, shorts and sneakers, Abrahamson walks off of a sidewalk and off camera. Something was in his left hand. About 37 minutes passes. Then, a gunshot is heard.

What happened during those 37 minutes?

An email found on Abrahamson's phone suggested he bought a weather balloon on Christmas day of last year. A purchase none of his friends could explain. He didn't have an interest in aerial photographer or meteorology. He also purchased helium tanks.

In February, police entertained the idea that Abrahamson's death might have been a suicide. The working theory became: He tied a gun to a string, attached it to the weather balloon, and once the shot was fired, the balloon carried the weapon away from the scene.

"Although the theory seemed far-fetched, it was plausible," a police report states.

A blood stain on Abrahamson's sweatshirt appeared to support the claim: A long thin line of blood had traveled up — "indicating that something was in the blood and dragged across to the top of the shirt," police note.

Investigators dug deep to find any evidence of a case like this in the past. What they found: A "CSI Las Vegas" episode from 2003 showing a character who staged a homicide by tying a gun to helium-filled balloons, and the weapon was carried from the scene. Also, a 2008 death in New Mexico appeared to recreate this, but the helium balloons attached to the handle of the gun had become tangled on nearby cactus after the shot was fired.

Typed and voiced searches found on Abrahamson's phone also revealed he had researched ways to commit suicide and guns, and various ways a weather balloon could assist.

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Investigators determined the weather balloon likely burst somewhere north of the Bahamas, in the Atlantic Ocean. The case is closed.

Abrahamson worked for a Washington state-based LED lighting company and owned a 5,000-square-foot home in BallenIsles Country Club, The Palm Beach Post reports. His wife, Linda, described her husband as "the love of her life," according to a police report.

He was supposed to meet his friend Victor Greenstein that morning in January. Greenstein described Abrahamson to police as "somebody everybody would gravitate to, and a fun guy that everybody wanted to be around."