All language subtitles for A.S.o.M.S06E03.720p.WEB.H264-JFF

-An empty field
in an affluent golf community

yields a gruesome discovery.

-I immediately saw
a deceased white male

with a single gunshot wound
to the left side of his chest.

-This could have been, you know,
a robbery gone horribly wrong,

but there doesn't look like
there's any struggle.

-Detectives wonder
if the victim's past

has finally caught up
with him...

-He knew who did this.

-Why would somebody
want to shoot Alan?

-You're the only person
that knew

he was gonna be walking
out of that gate that night.

-...until strange new evidence
challenges everything

police thought they knew.

-Why is he buying
a 350-gram weather balloon.

It was very strange.

-The more we're digging,
the more questions we're adding.

And there are no answers.

-Many of the searches
were in his own voice.

-It was like he was leaving
evidence from beyond the grave.

And all of a sudden,
this takes a 180-degree turn.

[ Dramatic music plays ]

♪♪

-On a quiet Thursday morning,
shortly after 7:00 a.m.,

West Palm Beach, Florida,
Dispatch

receives a call from a bicyclist

who says they spotted something
in an empty field

adjacent to the bike path.

[ Telephone rings ]

-We arrived.

I immediately saw a deceased,
white male laying on his back,

facing up,
with a single gunshot wound

to the left side of his chest.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

-First responders --

they assess the body
for signs of life,

and upon not finding any,

they pronounced him deceased
at 7:16 a.m. that day.

-I immediately called
the other detective supervisor

and said
we need to deploy our team

and get to the scene
as fast as possible.

-I get my stuff,
and I head out there.

Right now
you're just scanning the area,

because we're not gonna touch
the body

till the medical examiner
gets there.

He's already been pronounced
dead.

So you're examining the scene.

You're not moving anything yet.
You're waiting.

-So, patrol officers immediately

locked down the scene
for preservation.

-Detectives turn their focus to
the body of the deceased male.

-The body was still warm when
the investigator came to scene.

Rigor had not set in yet.

We suspected
that that death had occurred

shortly before law enforcement
and first responders arrived.

-The gunshot that we observed
was right about here,

just near the heart,
the left-center of the heart.

Small entry wound,
like about the size of a pen.

-You could tell
it was a low-caliber shot.

-Detective Moretti
also notes the location

of the victim's body
in an empty field

next to the affluent
BallenIsles Country Club

and residential community.

-It's in the middle of a field,

and it's bright and early
in the morning.

So, number one,

what are you doing
out in the middle of the field,

right around the corner
from the BallenIsles entrance,

with the guard-shack gate
right there.

He's an elderly gentleman,
so maybe he was taking a walk.

We don't know at this time.

-I thought it was odd
that he was laying faceup,

almost like he had
kind of fallen over perfectly.

-The gunshot wound early on

was placed so perfectly
in the center of his chest

I thought possibly
that we were gonna find

a firearm underneath him,
that maybe he committed suicide.

-Also, the area
is a very safe area.

There's not a lot
going on there,

especially at that time of day.

This could be a suicide.

There has to be a gun
underneath him.

-But when medical examiners
at the scene

turn over the man's body,

they find nothing.

-When you don't have a gun

and you got a deceased person
right there in an open field

with a single gunshot wound
to the chest...

it looks like a homicide.

♪♪

-Once the medical examiner
arrived

and gave us permission
to move the body at the scene,

we found his wallet
in his back pocket.

We were then able to identify
him as Alan Abrahamson,

a 71-year-old resident
of the bordering community,

which is BallenIsles.

-Detective Clayton
did locate next of kin,

which had been his wife, Linda,
who they reside in BallenIsles.

And we all went to the house
first, and no answer.

Nobody was there.

We checked with security,

and there was no alarm set or
triggered or anything like that.

And so Detective Clayton
researched

and found
that Linda was in Boston.

-While law enforcement attempts
to reach Alan's wife, Linda,

1,400 miles north,

detectives at the scene
focus on collecting evidence.

-I see a cellphone, earbuds.

White earbuds were attached
to the cellphone.

We noticed a pair of scissors.

There was some string nearby,

some rubber bands,
and the binder clip.

And I thought that was unusual,

because I always carry
my money like this.

So we're thinking
possible robbery.

Don't know.

-This area where he was found
is used as a parking lot --

an overflow parking lot

for the golf community
at BallenIsles.

So some of the items at first

we thought possibly
weren't involved in the case.

But as an investigator, you want
to take everything you can,

'cause sometimes in the end,

it will come back and prove
that it was part of the case.

-While evidence at the scene
is processed,

detectives are able
to reach Linda and inform her

that they found Alan shot dead
in a field near their home.

-Linda is in complete distress,
disarray.

The Boston Police Department
was there with her

for safety reasons
while we made that call.

And she advised that she
was there visiting her daughter,

who recently had a child.

-From his wife, we learned

that they had both traveled
to Boston together.

And a few days into the trip,

Alan had been complaining
of boredom.

-He was tired of the cold,
tired of the hotel,

and decided he wanted to come
back home to Palm Beach Gardens.

So he flew back down on his own
to West Palm Beach.

on the 21st.

He told her he'll be back up
on the 28th.

♪♪

-Linda described Alan,
her husband, the deceased,

as the life of the party.

She said he only has friends
and no enemies.

He was always having
a good time.

He seemed to be happy,

and everything seemed
to be going well.

And he loved
living in that community,

'cause he could play golf
with the many friends

that he had there.

-Linda also informed
Detective Clayton

that Alan would normally
walk his neighborhood

very early in the morning,
around 5:30.

-Linda was able to tell us

that the property
that was found at the scene,

the phone was his,
the binder clip was his.

We also learned
from his wife, Linda,

Alan would regularly carry

$300 to $500 in cash
in his binder clip

and that she had just given him
a watch

and the watch meant something
to him coming from his wife.

So we know
that the watch is missing

and the money is missing
from the scene.

So once we learned that,

we thought, "Wow.
He was robbed and killed."

♪♪

-From Palm Beach Gardens,

we don't have a lot of homicides
come through our office.

It's a very affluent
part of town.

It's got great security.

-Linda wants to do
whatever she can

to help this investigation

to find out,
you know, who killed Alan.

-So, then, at that time,

we determined
that we need to interview Linda.

And she advised us
that she was gonna come home

to speak with investigators.

-As Linda prepares for a return
to Palm Beach Gardens,

detectives shift their focus
to the upscale golf community

and any residents
who may have witnessed something

to help the investigation.

-We had tactical crime units
surveilling the area.

We had them stopping cars
and interviewing subjects

so we can gain
as much information

from them as possible.

-Did anyone talk to you
specifically this week,

anybody that stood out to you
as suspicious

or dangerous
or anything unusual?
-Yes.

-There's a gentleman that always
walks or runs this path --

elderly gentleman?
-Yeah, I don't know.

-Unable to find witnesses,

detectives turned back
to the crime scene.

And what's left behind
continues to raise questions.

-There doesn't look like
there's any struggle.

Just from outside looking in,

doesn't look like
there was a fight.

The shoes -- bottom of the soles
of his shoes were clean.

Didn't see any wounds on
the hand or anything like that.

And his hat
was still on his person.

-There was no struggle.

That really put another
question mark into this case.

-You don't know
what you have at this point.

Anything it could be.

You got to follow the clues

or wherever the evidence
may take you.

♪♪

Alan drove his vehicle
to the exact location

where he would be found deceased
less than 12 hours later.

He is there
for 55 minutes that evening.

-What was he doing
in the field

the night before his death?

-At first glance,

the shooting death
of 71-year-old Alan Abrahamson

appears to be a robbery
turned homicide.

But as detectives examine
the evidence,

nothing about the case adds up.

-With no signs of a struggle,

we're floating any possibility.

Right now, we're, you know,
a few hours in,

so we've got to collect
evidence,

and we got to see where this
evidence is gonna lead us.

-At that point, you want to find
the crucial evidence,

which is a firearm, the murder
weapon, or a shell casing.

-Investigators combed the field
where Alan's body was found,

zeroing in on any sign
of a murder weapon.

-The field is probably
several acres --

larger than a football field.

We searched that whole field --

trees, bushes, grass.

Even a waterway
that runs to the south, a canal,

we searched with a dive team.

We had workers come out
and search storm drains...

[ Dramatic music plays ]

...and we couldn't find
anything.

-As the sun sets
on day one of the investigation

into Alan Abrahamson's death,

detectives hope
the next morning's autopsy

will provide clues.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

-The body did not present
any defensive wounds.

There was a single gunshot wound
to the left chest,

and the defect on the shirt had
a little bit of blood staining

around the defect

and then a little streak
of blood

coming up
around the 12:00 position

and going up
to the left shoulder.

-Something appeared to us

that something dragged through
the blood post being shot,

from what we don't know
at this point.

-And I could see

unburned gunpowder particles
on the shirt.

Those unburned gunpowder
particles tell me

that the gun was discharged
very close

or near contact
to the body surface.

-We feel this is more evidence
we have a homicide

and that he knew who did this,

because he let someone
get that close to him

to shoot him straight
directly in the chest.

-Despite their theory
that Alan knew his killer,

detectives have not identified
a suspect.

-Outrage, shock, and fear.

Tonight, the Palm Beach Gardens
community is on edge

after one of their own
is gunned down and left for dead

just outside
a well-to-do neighborhood.

Now police are on the hunt
for the killer.

-You do not have people being
shot outside of BallenIsles.

It was not a common occurrence.

This was in public.

It was inexplicable
for the police department.

It had to be a really big deal.

The media is barking
at their door, saying,

"What's going on here?",
you know?

So they had a lot of pressure
on them.

-The thought
someone was killed here

has many locals on edge,

and there are still many
questions surrounding his death,

as police have not confirmed
an arrest.

[ Down-tempo music plays ]

♪♪

-I was sitting at my desk.

And the phone rang,
and it was the newspaper.

I don't recall the name
of the newspaper.

But they identified themselves

and, you know,
broke the news to me.

It was devastating to hear this,

because I had just talked
to him, you know, hours before.

I met Alan Abrahamson
through an introduction

from another sales rep
that was working for me.

I immediately liked Alan.

Why would somebody
want to shoot Alan?

You know, he had no enemies.

He was this,
you know, happy-go-lucky guy.

He was, like, the model person
for that stage of life.

Had a successful career.

Got out of a marriage
that he wasn't happy in.

Moved to Florida, found Linda,

had a wonderful relationship
with Linda,

living in a nice neighborhood.

Alan and Linda
were like two teenagers in love,

and he always
talked about Linda.

They were a great couple
and a happy couple.

And you know, I immediately
thought about Linda

and how I wanted to reach out
to her, which I did.

And of course Linda was, you
know, totally beside herself.

She couldn't even talk, really.

-But the grieving Linda,

having returned to Florida
from Boston,

allows detectives to come to
her home for a formal interview

as they hunt for any information

that will help identify
Alan's killer.

-She was really still grieving
and was upset.

-It's not an easy thing
to handle.

She reiterated
a lot of the things

that she had told
Detective Clayton

over the phone,

that he would carry
$200 to $300 cash on him,

might have been wearing a watch.

You know, there were scissors
left at the scene --

a small pair
of metal scissors --

and we asked if they were hers,
if, you know, it was him.

And to her recollection,
absolutely not.

She doesn't know anybody
who would hurt him.

-Detective Moretti advised
that he felt

that Linda had nothing to do
with this homicide,

that he was able to clear her
as a suspect.

-Linda tells detectives

that Alan recently altered
his early-morning walks

around the neighborhood

and he was meeting a golf buddy
for coffee --

a member of the BallenIsles
community named Victor.

-We had learned
from Alan's wife, Linda,

that Alan was supposed
to meet Victor for coffee

that morning of his death.

One thing stood out --

in order for Victor Greenstein
to go home,

he had to drive past the crime
scene to enter his neighborhood.

Why wouldn't you call 911

if your friend doesn't show up
at Starbucks?

-Victor has not reached out
to Linda

or Palm Beach Gardens detectives
in the days since Alan's death.

And the question is why not?

-Detectives investigating
the killing

of 71-year-old Alan Abrahamson

have just learned that Alan
was set to meet a friend

the morning of his death.

-Because Victor Greenstein

was supposed to meet Alan
for coffee that morning

and then Alan didn't show up,

Victor was definitely identified
as an early person

that we wanted to talk to.

-Victor, how are you doing?

-Good to see you --
Well, not, like...

-How long have you known Alan?

-Basically,
when he moved into BallenIsles.

I'm gonna say five years.

-From what we understand,

that you and Alan recently
started meeting at Starbucks.

-He gets a small coffee --

tall coffee with two ice cubes.

-Okay. Now, Alan
doesn't show up on Thursday.

You call. He goes to voicemail.
Call again.

-The last time I tried him
was 6:49, I think.

And I probably left around --

Yeah, I left 7:00, 7:05.

-Is that out of character,
for Alan not to show up?

-You know, I mean,
I thought nothing of it,

that maybe he overslept
or whatever.

I mean,
I wasn't gonna go to his home

and ring the doorbell,
thinking I'd wake him.

Quite frankly,
that's what I kind of figured.

-As an investigator,
put yourself in my shoes, okay?

You're the only person that knew
he was gonna be walking

out of that gate that night.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

You're there.
He doesn't show up.

You call him.

Okay,
so where do you go after that?

-I went to the gym.

-What gym?
-BallenIsles.

-When you left the Starbucks
that morning,

I would assume
you went westbound

on PGA towards BallenIsles.

-I went right by
that light show.

-How many police cars
do you think were there?

-God, I don't know --
six maybe, seven.

I mean, it was...

And, guys, honestly, you know,
it never dawned on me.

In hindsight...

I mean, maybe it should.
It didn't.

-So Victor had told us
that he did see the crime scene,

he saw the police cars,

but he just didn't think
anything of it.

-What would you say the general
consensus of Alan is

amongst the community,
amongst his friends?

How would you describe him
to somebody who never met him,

which is us?

-Well, it's just the guy
you'd want to go out

and have a beer with
or hang out with,

or spend four hours
on the golf course with.

He was just a fun guy.

-Did he talk about any business
dealings coming up

or anything like that?

Having to meet anybody?
Anything at all?

-No.
-And how would you describe,

if you know,
his relationship with Linda?

-I think it's great.

Two second marriages.

Both bad first marriages,
from what I understand.

And I think
they were just really soulmates.

-Do you know anybody
who would want to harm him?

-No, I do not.

♪♪

-But detectives are eager to
learn more about Alan's past,

specifically the family
he built before he met Linda.

They set out to question
Alan's ex-wife

and their two grown children.

♪♪

-We found out that Alan
had two adult children

that were estranged from him --

his daughter Rachel,
and his son Daniel.

-Alan's children didn't have
a great relationship with him.

He was remarried
and had three stepchildren.

He didn't really speak to them
that often,

and it seemed like he was losing
his relationship with them.

That makes us want
to talk to them

and interview them extensively.

Are they angry enough to have
something done to their father?

These are all questions
that you have to have answered.

-Detectives also speak
to Alan's ex-wife

and learn that all three members
of Alan's estranged family

have alibis
hundreds of miles away

on the morning of the killing.

While his family
is ruled out as suspects,

the details they've shared

force detectives to reconsider
Alan's spotless reputation.

-A man 71 years old has a past.

There's a whole world of things
to dig into.

-Why did he leave his wife alone
in Boston?

Who was he coming here to meet?

Was he having an affair?

-Police
in West Palm Beach, Florida,

are searching for clues
in the mysterious death

of Alan Abrahamson.

They suspect information
on his cellphone

may hold the key
to finding his killer.

-A forensic extraction was
completed on Alan's cellphone,

and I had looked over
that report

but didn't see anything really
of any evidentiary value.

So I decided to start manually
looking through the phone.

I was able to get into
his Google Maps timeline,

which started to paint a picture

of where he had been
over the last few days.

-It showed him going
from the airport on the 21st

to his house on that day

with an Uber.

He went to Bank of America.

He went to a gas supplier

for, like, helium, propane,

I-95 to another gas supplier.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

♪♪

What it also showed
is the night before,

so on Wednesday the 24th,

it showed that Alan drove his
vehicle to the exact location

where he would be found
deceased

less than 12 hours later.

He is there for 55 minutes
that evening.

Doing what? We don't know.

After that almost hour passes,
he returns back home.

And, then, that morning,

the Google timeline
picks back up again,

shows him in a walking distance
from his residence

to that same field
where he was found deceased.

-It was very unusual.

What was he doing in the field
the night before his death?

And there's nothing there.

It's in the middle of nowhere.
It's in an open field.

-In the meantime,

while everybody's
doing everything else,

we were able to obtain video
footage from the guard shack

at the BallenIsles entrance
of PGA.

We start looking
from the previous days there,

so we've got him leaving
on the 23rd.

He's walking out the gate
at 5:50 a.m.

Alan was on his way
to meet Victor for coffee.

We were able to pull up
video footage from Starbucks

showing Alan entering in
and meeting Victor for coffee.

-So that's when we were able
to confirm

that Victor was telling us
the truth,

that he did regularly
meet him there,

and that he did meet him there

several days
before the homicide.

We would talk regularly.

I actually met him for coffee
on several occasions.

And as I slowly got to know
Victor,

you could clearly see

that he had nothing to do
with the shooting,

and we were able to rule him
out as a possible suspect.

-And, then, on the morning
of the murder,

Thursday the 25th,

we have Alan on video,
walking out.

-Alan was shown on video
walking out of the gate

at 5:53 in the morning,

carrying something
in his left hand.

-We let it play,
see if we can hear anything,

'cause it also had audio.

37 1/2 minutes later,

you hear an audible gunshot,

plain as day.

[ Gunshot ]

-Detectives can hear the shot
that killed Alan Abrahamson.

But with Alan out of the
camera's view 200 yards away,

they can't see
who pulled the trigger.

-So we've got 37 minutes
of unaccounted-for time.

What happened
in that 37 minutes?

I walked from that guard arm to
the location where he was found,

and I just took
a normal walking pace,

and it took me
four and three seconds.

So you minus four minutes
from the 37,

we got 33 minutes
of unaccounted-for time.

What is happening
in that 33 minutes?

-Investigators wonder
if the package

that Alan carried
can provide answers --

a package that was absent
from the crime scene.

-We want to know what that was.

Like, is that something
that could help us?

Was he exchanging something
with somebody in the field?

What was he carrying?

-For answers, investigators

turn back to Alan's timeline

within his cellphone data

and look for any unusual

movements before the shooting.

A trip to the bank,

then to gas-supply companies,

catch their eye.

-Eventually,
we get the documentation

from Bank of America
showing he withdrew $300 cash.

I got surveillance video of him
withdrawing the money.

Then, detectives go to nexAir

and find out at that time

that he purchased

a 40-cubic-foot helium tank.

He paid cash for it.

We were able to obtain
the receipt.

-Alan asked the air supplier for
another 40-pound tank of helium,

but they were sold out and
referred him to another store.

-So Alan went
to that air supplier,

bought another
40-cubic tank of helium.

He paid cash
for that, as well.

We got
the receipts for that.

And so why is he buying
80 cubic feet of helium?

I don't know.

-It made no sense.

-To make sense
of the strange purchases,

investigators turn again to the
data found within Alan's phone.

-February 1, I was going through
Alan's e-mails

in his Gmail account,

and I had found
that he had placed an order

for a weather balloon
on Christmas Day 2017.

I thought
a weather balloon purchase

about a month prior was odd.

-Investigator Machado
follows her instincts

and digs deeper
into Alan's unusual purchase.

She finds e-mails from Alan
to the weather-balloon supplier

dating back months
before his death.

-October 17, 2017.

He e-mailed
High Altitude Science,

"Will a 350-gram balloon

be able to hold
65-plus cubic feet of gas?"

Also, "What will
the approximate diameter

of the balloon be at launch?"

Those are very specific
questions, if I would say so.

♪♪

What we're thinking now
that we've got those e-mails,

"Okay,
that might explain the helium."

We eventually go back
to the residence again.

And in the garage, on a shelf,

was an empty box from
High Altitude Science, empty.

Linda had no knowledge that
that was even there,

had no clue about why he would
be purchasing weather balloons,

had no clue whatsoever.

Okay, well, now what?

♪♪

-At this point,
we still kind of have nothing,

-Investigators working
the mysterious shooting death

of Alan Abrahamson
are spitballing ideas

as they search for his killer.

-A few of our detectives
were together

with the Florida Department of
Law Enforcement investigators,

and they started talking about
a theory.

-There was an episode
of "CSI Las Vegas"

where a person
had tied a handgun

to a regular, helium
party balloon

and had tried
to shoot themselves,

and the balloon
took the gun away.

[ Dramatic music plays ]

-Maybe Alan committed suicide

by purchasing
the weather balloon,

tying a string
to the weather balloon,

attaching the gun to the string
of the weather balloon,

and shot himself,
and then the weather balloon

took off with the gun,
and off it goes.

Well, initially,
we're back-and-forth.

"Okay. Yeah, okay. Sure.
No problem.

This is the movie 'Up.'
Whatever."

So we do some more research
with this,

and I find that there's a case
in New Mexico.

A gentleman did try this,
did commit suicide.

The balloon did take the gun
from the scene.

However, it was found
about 20, 30 feet away,

and it was popped by a cacti.

Okay. This has been thought of

and attempted on TV before.

Okay. So?

But it's also been attempted
in real life before.

-Maybe Alan's the first one
that was successful.

-This case
maybe was not a homicide,

but actually a suicide.

At this point,

it was kind of the only theory
that made any sense.

But at the same time, we didn't
have enough to prove it.

-We just have the purchase
of the tanks

and the purchase
of the weather balloon.

That's all we have.
We still got to keep digging.

♪♪

-Once we had the theory,

we decided to widen
our search of the field.

We went approximately 100 feet
to 200 feet west

of where Alan was found,

and we found multicolored
rubber bands and string.

At that point, I decided,
"Let's go back out to his house

and do a more extensive search."

So Alan's wife, Linda,
led us in the house,

and in the top drawer
of Alan's office,

we matched the rubber bands in
the string found in the field.

So we knew that that string
and rubber bands

that were found on that morning
linked to this case.

-For more evidence
to boost the suicide theory,

investigators take another look
at Alan's autopsy report

and notice an unusual finding
that remains unexplained.

-Our CSI team
and Dr. Tormos had noted

that there was a thin line
of blood upon his sweatshirt

that looked like something

was dragged through the blood
along the shirt.

-In all likelihood,
once the gunshot was fired,

that string
from the weather balloon

holding,
that tied the weapon to it,

went across the chest there.

-We now know what happened.

We now know how that mark
got on Alan's shirt --

part of the string
on the weather balloon

leaving a trail of blood.

-Despite the mounting
evidence,

investigators realize
they face an uphill battle.

-It's very rare that a homicide

will be reclassified
as a suicide.

We went
to the medical examiner's office

to reveal what we thought
happened to Alan.

-He would run
the new findings by me

and say, "What do you think?
Is this even possible?"

And I would say,
"Yes, but we need more."

-"We need more facts.

We need more evidence
to prove your theory."

So we weren't quite there yet.

-For the next three weeks,

investigators attempt
to collect more evidence

to support the suicide theory.

But they continue
to come up empty.

♪♪

-On February 27,
I was at home.

And my son had been playing
with my cellphone --

my Android phone at the time.

And he had said, "Hey, Google,"

and he was asking it
some silly questions

that a 7-year-old
would want to know.

And when I took the phone
back from him,

I saw that it was on a screen
called My Activity.

I found
that it was recording his voice

and I could play
his searches back in his voice.

♪♪

At this point,
I am immediately going into work

and getting Alan's phone
out of evidence again.

Once I got Alan's phone
out of evidence,

I immediately went
to the Google app,

and I started just scrolling
through the past few days.

♪♪

One of the first searches
that came up

was "How to commit suicide"
and "Ways to kill yourself."

And I just turned to Rick,

and I said,
"Rick, we've got it."

-This happened
in January of 2018,

but these searches started
in 2009.

"How to commit suicide"
and "Ways to kill yourself"

was in July of 2009.

".380 ammo for sale" in 2010.

-In 2016,
his search started to include

the weather-balloon research.

-He was contemplating this

not for a week, not for a month.

He was contemplating this
for 10 years.

And then we learned many of the
searches were in his own voice.

[ Cellphone beeps ]

[ Cellphone beeps ]

[ Cellphone beeps ]

[ Cellphone beeps ]

[ Cellphone beeps ]

[ Dramatic note plays ]

-Oh, my God.

[ Suspenseful music plays ]

-Investigators have just found
a number of searches

on Alan Abrahamson's phone

which support
their suicide theory.

-It wasn't just
the helium tanks.

It wasn't the purchase
of the weather balloon.

This tied it all together.

-Armed with a massive pile
of evidence,

investigators formulate
their final theory

to present
to the medical examiner

and the state's attorney.

-On the evening prior to us
finding him deceased,

Alan went out to the field.

-And we theorized
that he drove his car there,

and he had the two 40-cubic foot
helium tanks in there,

prepped them somewhere
in the field.

-His helium tanks,
his string, the rubber bands,

probably the scissors --

everything was in place
and probably ready to go.

-That morning, we saw Alan
walk out past the --

He made it out to the field

probably approximately
four minutes.

-We think that package
he was carrying

was the weather balloon.

If you remember, initially,

we had that 33 minutes or so
of unaccounted-for time.

It takes time to inflate that --

Not a lot of time,
but enough time to inflate that.

Then you've got
these helium tanks.

-We never found
the helium tanks,

but there was a waste-management
dumpster in the plaza next door.

And the morning that we were
arriving at the scene,

the waste-management truck was
pulling out as we were arriving.

So were his helium tanks
in the dumpster?

Maybe. And maybe Alan was so
thorough that he knew that.

-He then had time
to set up his system

of tying the gun
to the weather balloon,

cutting the string.

-We cannot prove,
but we theorize that the reason

we did not find
a shell casing at this point

was we think he tied
some type of catch bag

to catch the casing
when it ejected on there,

'cause that would be taken away,
as well.

-Alan was able to pull
the trigger, fall backwards,

and let the balloon
take away the firearm.

♪♪

-And you ask, where would
the weather balloon end up?

-There are these things
called weather balloon trackers.

Type in the weather conditions
for that day,

capacity of the balloon.

You enter all that information
in, and it gives you a track.

It took off up, to the west,

made a U-turn,

and headed east
out over the Atlantic Ocean,

and the approximate burst point

was about 40 miles north

of the Bahamas
in the Atlantic Ocean.

-Once presented with
the totality of information,

there is no doubt in my mind

Mr. Abrahamson
committed suicide,

and we changed the manner of
death from homicide to suicide.

-With the manner of death
changed,

investigators must now notify
Alan's wife, Linda.

-We sat down,

and we started going over
step by step from the beginning.

And we're probably 10,
15 minutes into this.

She asked us, "Can you please
stop for a moment?"

And I heard her say,
"Did he kill himself?"

So she could see
where it was going

just that early, too.

Linda was taken aback, for sure.

It was shocking to them.

Everything seemed to be fine,

and life of the party
and love of his life,

and they were going on trips
together.

♪♪

-I believe that she thinks

that Alan had committed suicide
to benefit everybody.

There were several
life-insurance policies

written out
to all the family members.

-You can't take a million-dollar
policy out on yourself

for your family and then kill
yourself the next day.

It's not gonna cover that.

But these insurance policies
were taken out way prior.

-The insurance companies
tell investigators

that the policies were past
the point of contention.

Since several years had passed
since Alan opened them,

they were to be paid out

regardless of whether
he committed suicide.

-So when Alan killed himself,

he knew
before he left this world

that everybody would be
taken care of financially.

-Even though Alan's family
would benefit financially

from his suicide,

those around him
still find it shocking

that such a vibrant man
would choose to end his own life

and stage it
to look like a homicide.

-Not the slightest hint
that he was depressed

or unhappy with his life.

He was suffering in silence
with a smile on his face.

I would want people to know

that Alan was the type of person
that everybody loved.

He apparently was a master
of two lives --

two emotional lives.

But he concealed it and did
a very good job concealing it.

-I think he went through
this elaborate scheme

so his family would not find out
that he did commit suicide.

He wanted it to make it
look like a homicide.

-He wanted everybody to think
that he left happy.

He didn't want to reveal
to his family

and his wife that he was sad.

-At the end of the day,

the reason why
will really never be known,

because Alan took that with him
to the grave.