'Spam King' dies in murder-suicide

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

BENNETT, Colo. - A convicted spammer and his wife, who were being sought after she helped him escape prison, were found slain along with their young daughter Thursday in an apparent murder-suicide, authorities said.

A teenage girl was shot in the neck and a baby was found unhurt in a car seat inside the vehicle where the three bodies were found, Arapahoe County undersheriff Mark Campbell said. The relationship between the girl, baby and the escaped convict wasn't immediately clear.

The bodies of "Spam King" Edward "Eddie" Davidson, his wife, and 3-year-old daughter were found in an SUV parked in a farmhouse driveway in a rural part of Bennett, about 25 miles east of Denver. Authorities said Davidson was the apparent gunman.

"What a nightmare, and such a coward," U.S. Attorney Troy Eid said. "Davidson imposed the 'death penalty' on family members for his own crime."

Authorities had been searching for them since Sunday, when the couple drove away from a minimum-security federal prison in Florence, 90 miles south of Denver.

Eid said that after Davidson escaped, he drove to the Denver suburb of Lakewood and got a change of clothes and cash. The house where the shooting occurred was not where the Davidsons lived, Campbell said.

Davidson, 35, was sentenced in April to 21 months in prison and ordered to pay $714,139 in restitution to the IRS after pleading guilty to falsifying header information to send spam e-mail, tax evasion and criminal forfeiture.

Campbell said deputies rushed to the farmhouse after receiving reports of shots fired.

They found Davidson on the driver's side of the SUV and a woman dead on the passenger side. A girl was found dead in the back of the car, and a 7- or 8-month-old boy was in a car seat uninjured.

Injured girl ran for help

Campbell said a teenage girl who was shot in the neck ran to a neighbor's house for help and has been hospitalized. He said the girl had serious injuries, but was coherent and talking when taken to the hospital.

Prosecutors said that from 2002 to 2005, Davidson's business, Power Promoters, and his subcontractors would spam people's inboxes with e-mails promoting items such as watches and perfume.

From 2005 through part of 2006, he sent thousands of e-mails from his home in Bennett, sometimes with false information, on behalf of a Houston company promoting a penny stock as an excellent investment, according to a plea agreement. His bank account deposits from 2003 to 2006 totaled $3.5 million, the plea agreement said.

Prosecutors said they also found about $380,000 that he had stashed in his girlfriend's bank account over three years, and purchases totaling $418,000 from a company that sells gold, platinum, palladium and silver coins.

Prosecutors did not identify the girlfriend in court documents.

When Davidson was sentenced, U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger noted it was Davidson's first serious conviction, and that he was supporting three children, which documents did not identify. She noted Davidson had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. A condition of his sentence was that he undergo mental health counseling.

Michael Arvin, Davidson's attorney during his criminal trial, did not return a phone message left after business hours Thursday.

Source: msnbc.com

[Budious]

Except for the little girl, I was going to say "SWEET!" because this is a fate I wish all spammers could face.

[djDaemon]

Except for the little girl, I was going to say "SWEET!" because this is a fate I wish all spammers could face.

+1

[Coldgunner]

Really weird when I was reading about his escape yesterday.

[tiagosilva29]

****ing coward.

[WhoTheF]

Nice. I see 200 less e-mail on my GMail spam today. No wonder.

I feel sorry for the teenage girl.. luckily she's still living..

[funkymunky]

What a weak ****!!

All it was, was 21 months

Edited July 25, 2008 by bmaher

[Budious]

What a weak ****!!

All it was, was 21 months

Well, for all we know, it could have been 21 months of receiving his own inbox of spam each shower session.

Edited July 25, 2008 by bmaher
Fixed Quote

[Ricardo Gil]

Next week...

[|Rapture|]

3 people dead and people are happy cause they think they will get less email.

[S.MULLA]

+1

+ 10 bazillion trillion googleplexian !!!

serves the g!t right...

[Ayepecks]

Sorry, but I never see murder or suicide as "sweet." Yes, I do disagree with suicide, and I hate spam too, but come on... it's a human life.

Why couldn't the man just do his time, though? It was freaking less than two years, and the amount he had to pay was less than what he made!

[djDaemon]

3 people dead and people are happy cause they think they will get less email.

Oh, please. No one (in their right mind) thinks that.

But that doesn't mean we can't revel in the fact that this a**hat got EXACTLY what he deserved. Perhaps he should have chosen a more honorable profession.

...but come on... it's a human life.

Barely. He chose the life, not us. He couldn't live with himself, because he's a pathetic, weak and sad excuse for a human being.

Darwin wins again.

[Ayepecks]

There is no "barely" in a human life. It's either a life or it is not. Don't use your own opinions to change that fact.

And please, a less honorable profession? You had to delete 2 extra e-mails a day and you think this guy owed you his life for it? Please. If anyone's a sad, pathetic and weak excuse for a human being, it's people who find justification in a group of people dying because they had the inconvenience of having to waste 1 second of their life clicking a delete button. :rolleyes:

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

What a coward. Absolutely terrible outcome!

[Sethos]

Ah, gotta love political correctness.

[djDaemon]

There is no "barely" in a human life. It's either a life or it is not. Don't use your own opinions to change that fact.

And please, a less honorable profession? You had to delete 2 extra e-mails a day and you think this guy owed you his life for it? Please. If anyone's a sad, pathetic and weak excuse for a human being, it's people who find justification in a group of people dying because they had the inconvenience of having to waste 1 second of their life clicking a delete button. :rolleyes:

The lack of honor in his profession has nothing at all to do with what I may or may not have to do in my life. If a person is a crack dealer, gets caught and chooses to kill themselves rather than serve their debt to humanity, then yes - they are sad, pathetic and not someone I want in my gene pool. His profession is no more honorable than that of a crack dealer, or an ambulance-chasing lawyer.

Hell, I have a low opinion of ANYONE who takes their own life, as they're committing multiple counts of murder. For example, if I killed myself, I'd be killing my Parents' son, my siblings' brother, my Grandmother's grandson, etc.

For someone to choose suicide rather than a measly 21-month prison sentence (in minimum security, no less) is, in fact, pathetic.

[funkyjunky]

It would've been better if he just killed himself. What a ######...

[PL_ Veteran]

Spam isn't even that bad guys, jeez.

[Garry]

Spam isn't that bad and nobody should be glad a guy died because of it...

...however, the guy is also a double murderer. Now are you glad he's dead?

Personally I'd rather have seen him doing life for the murders.

[Budious]

Spam isn't even that bad guys, jeez.

Conservative estimates indicate that at least 70% of all email is spam.

http://eval.symantec.com/mktginfo/enterpri...-2008.en-us.pdf

[djDaemon]

Spam isn't even that bad guys, jeez.

The coward killed others, and himself. For that reason alone, he's a pathetic excuse for a human being. The fact that he's the largest-known spammer is merely icing on the cake.

[MackTK]

When Davidson was sentenced, U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger noted it was Davidson's first serious conviction, and that he was supporting three children, which documents did not identify. She noted Davidson had been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. A condition of his sentence was that he undergo mental health counseling.

is that in anyway relative?? i have no information about the disorder, but if it has something to do with the murder then i wouldn't call him coward just sick and this whole situation is really sad.

if it has nothing to do though, **** him, not that he deserve to die but he killed his family right?

[djDaemon]

is that in anyway relative??

ADHD didn't prevent him from making millions of dollars, so why should it be relevant in his death?

[MackTK]

^it could be, but i have no idea of the disorder to say

anyway, i'm just putting all the possibilities on the table