Sunday, January 2, 2011

Odd True Crime Stories 2010

2010 is the Year that Was. Here are two odd stories of relevance to mystery readers and writers, proving that Truth is Stranger than Fiction.

MAN, SHOT IN HEAD, NOTICES FIVE YEARS LATER

A Polish man living in Germany went about his business for about five years without noticing he had been shot in the head because he was drunk when it happened. Doctors found a .22 caliber bullet in the back of his head after the 35-year-old went to have what he thought was a cyst removed.
Presented with the 5.6mm projectile, the man recalled he had received a blow to the head around midnight at a New Year's party "in 2004 or 2005," but had forgotten about it because he had been "very drunk," a police spokesman said. "He told us he remembered having a sore head, but that he wasn't really one for going to the doctor," the spokesman said.

The wound later healed around the bullet and it was not until the man decided to have the lump examined due to recurring pains that the discovery was made.

Police said they were not treating the incident as suspicious as the bullet might have got lodged in the man's head when a reveler fired a gun in celebration. "It may have been a shot fired up in the air which entered his head on the way down," the spokesman said.
 LINK

THIEF WEARS 'GHILLIE' CAMOUFLAGE MOSS SUIT TO STEAL FROM A MUSEUM

Deputies investigating a possible break-in at an Oregon rock museum were surprised when they stumbled upon a man concealed on the ground by a moss-like camouflage outfit. The hidden suspect cried out when a search dog bit him before daylight hours Thursday in a wooded area outside the Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals.

Police identified the man, dubbed "Moss Man" as 36-year-old Gregory Liascos of Portland, and arrested him on burglary and criminal mischief charges.

Sheriff's officials say nothing was stolen from the museum, a popular tourist attraction just west of Portland that is home to gemstones, minerals, fossils and meteorites. But they allege Liascos had secretly cut a hole in one of the building's walls days earlier and was trying to get in.

A caretaker noticed the large hole in a bathroom wall earlier in the week. Detectives were notified and installed security devices at the museum, which went off early Thursday.  Deputies who responded searched the grounds, finding a bike and a backpack.

"The K9 tracked to a wooded area and was very interested in a particular piece of ground about a half a mile away from the building," Thompson said in a release. "The dog then bit the ground that in turn cried out in pain."

The officer then realized there was a man hiding at his feet, dressed in a "ghillie" suit, Thompson said. A ghillie suit is a head-to-toe camouflage outfit used by military snipers to blend in with vegetation.
 LINK

Sounds like he had rocks in his head!

Found these stories on Oddee.com

3 comments:

Mason Canyon said...

Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. LOL

Mason
Thoughts in Progress

Anonymous said...

Janet - These really are strange-but-true... Yikes! Thanks for sharing.

kathy d. said...

These would be totally hilarious, except the poor guy walked around with a bullet in his head for five years, and the other guy got bitten, although his "disguise" couldn't fool a dog's sniffer. Kind of sad.