July 24th, 2008

Escapee ‘Spam King’ dead in apparent murder-suicide

Posted by Ryan Naraine @ 7:13 pm

Categories: Patch Watch, Hackers, Spam and Phishing, Spyware and Adware, Exploit code, Data theft, Privacy, Passwords, Arbitrary Code Execution, Malware, Social Networking Applications

Tags: U.S., Sheriff, Internal Revenue Service, Attorney, Healthcare, Ryan Naraine

Convicted spammer Eddie Davidson, who escaped from federal prison over the weekend, killed his wife and 3-year-old daughter before killing himself in what is being described as a murder-suicide.

Colorado’s 9News.com said the tragic end of the man known as the “Spam King” was confirmed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office:

At around 11:15 a.m. Thursday, the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Department received a report of shots fired in the area of East Arkansas Place.

Around the same time, according to the sheriff’s department, a female teenager arrived at a neighbor’s house with a gunshot wound to the neck. She was taken to a hospital with serious injuries.

When sheriff’s deputies arrived at the house, located in the 43000 block of East Arkansas Place, they found a dead woman and a dead man lying next to a silver Toyota Sequoia in the driveway. They also found a dead 3-year-old girl inside the SUV.

The U.S. Attorney’s office says the man, Davidson, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The U.S. Attorney’s office says Davidson’s wife and 3-year-old child were the other two who were killed and they both died from gunshot wounds.

An infant boy, about 7 to 8 months old, was found unharmed inside the back of the SUV still in a car seat. He was taken to a local hospital where he was treated for dehydration.

[ ‘Spam King’ escapes from federal prison ]

Davidson escaped from a minimum security prison over the weekend, prompting a manhunt by U.S. Marshals, FBI, IRS, and the Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force.  He reportedly escaped in a car after a visit from his wife.

The 35-year-old was sentenced in April 2008 to serve 21 months (just under 2 years) in federal prison. He was also ordered to pay $714,139 in restitution to the IRS. As part of the restitution, Davis has agreed to forfeit property he purchased, including gold coins (which the IRS is selling today), with the ill gotten proceeds of his offense.

See also CBS Video: Inmate Dies Along With Wife, Daughter