NY Man Allegedly Fakes Death For Insurance Money

A New York man is accused of faking his own drowning. The two reasons he supposedly did that were to get the life insurance money that would follow and to get away from his wife. His wife recently found out the truth however when she found the e-mails he was sending to his son, where he apparently didn’t have any nice things to say about her.

According to the New York Post, Raymond Roth, 47, allegedly wrote a message to his 22-year-old son Jonathan the day before he “vanished.” He said, “DO NOT allow that a–hole to give the house away,’’ apparently referring to his wife Evana.

To help with the scheme, he left his shorts, shirt, shoes and wallet –minus his driver’s license– on the beach for her to find, leading her to assume that he drowned.

Then, on August 1^st, four days after that supposed drowning, Evana discovered the e-mails on her stepson’s computer.

She stated, “This is a terrible nightmare that I just want to wake up from. Why did he do this? I think I’m just numb.’’

Evana noted that up until she found the e-mails, she assumed that everyone believed that her husband was dead.

In another part of those e-mails Raymond stated, “I need to get to the bank for cash for the trip.”

He adds: “about the jewelry we spoke of yesterday, you need to whisper in [a relative’s] ear about it and do not worry she will get it,” and, “tell [another relative] I handed you the papers — then you JUST noticed that there was an envelope with [his] name on it (the last Will and Testemnet [sic]) then hand it to him.”

In yet another e-mail he notes, “There needs to be a way for me to find out how things are going. Call me Sunday night at 8 PM at the resort.

Raymond also allegedly warned his son that he can’t call from his own phone, stating, “Go to a pay phone or borrow your friends phone. You must call within 15 minutes of the determined call time in order to be sure I will be available.”

Evana said she immediately called Raymond’s brother after finding the e-mails. He then came over and they called the police.

Raymond was stopped for speeding on August 2^nd and then let go after he told the cops that he had gotten in a fight with his wife and left.

Long Island cops said that they’ve had contact with Raymond via the telephone and he told them he would come in to talk. They also stated that it was unclear if charges would be filed against him or anyone else.

Adding to this sad story, Evana stated that “he withdrew money from all my accounts,” as she spoke in her lawyers office.

“While I was crying and thinking he had drowned, he was vacationing in a resort and having a drink in the pool.”

Evana said her husband began acting suspiciously back in January when “he increased his life-insurance policy.” She said she didn’t know who the beneficiary was, but that he tripled its value and revised his will not long before his beach trip.

She said he also recently started getting into trouble at his work, where he was demoted and then threatened to shoot the two supervisors who had bumped him. He was fired the next day.

The threat of shooting his bosses led Nassau County cops to go to the family’s home and confiscate the licensed handgun Roth had.

Evana said the weird behavior didn’t stop there; Raymond insisted on putting the house up for sale in the coming week and started packing up all his suits.

Evana noted, “I said, ‘you haven’t even put out a résumé, and you want to sell the house? You’ll need your suits for interviews.” She also said that her husband told her he didn’t need [the clothes], that he would go back to driving a truck.

When he went out to the beach, he stated that he was going to his mother’s house. When he was asked ‘How long are you going to be? Are you going to be home for dinner?’ he replied that he’d be home in an hour.

When that didn’t happen and a few hours had gone by, her stepson, Raymond’s son, Jonathan, called and said, ‘Dad went into the water and he didn’t come out,’ ” she recalled.

Jonathan allegedly swore his dad was missing and presumed drowned, she noted.

Evana’s lawyer, Lenard Leeds stated, “If these allegations are true, this is one of the most despicable acts I have ever seen.”

Police confirmed that Jonathan Roth called 911 and report his dad missing from an area of the beach where there were no lifeguards.

A family neighbor stated that he ran into Jonathan after his dad had been missing for two days and that Jonathan told him, “My dad’s gone, my dad’s dead.” The neighbor also noted that Jonathan wasn’t crying when he said this.