I don't know if you have seen the movie "Genius Prilli".
Screenshot of the Genius Ripley movie
The film tells the story of an ordinary young man, Ripley, who has the talent to imitate others, and is invited by a wealthy businessman to go to Italy to persuade his son to return home. As a result, in the process of Ripley's persuasion, he fell in love with the lifestyle of the rich and wanted to replace it.
In the end, Ripley killed the rich man's son, and then began his own life of playing two roles.....
Screenshot of the Movie "Genius Raylip"
In real life, 10 years ago, there was also a "genius Raylip" type of case: the genius CEO sold his company of tens of millions to travel around the world, but in the process of sending emails to his family, he was detected by his family as something was wrong.
After the family called the police, in the course of the police investigation, it was found that the CEO did not go abroad at all, and had already been killed.....
We'll start with this story from the beginning.
Chris Smith is a young entrepreneur born in California, usa, who has been very interested in the Internet and IT industry since his student days, and has targeted Silicon Valley bigwigs, hoping to one day open a large Internet company.
Chris Smith（图源：abcnews）
After graduating from college, he also entered Silicon Valley to work as he wished. Because the work is full of enthusiasm and creativity, it was even once regarded as a talent in the field of operations.
Smith is also good at seizing opportunities. One day, a very rich friend of Smith complained to him that his garage was full of things he didn't want, but he was reluctant to throw them away, and he wanted to sell them and didn't know how to sell them....
(Source: distractify)
This incident inspired Smith to make an online second-hand trading platform so that idle items can be sold to the greatest extent. So Smith set up a website called Localprofit:
(Source: Localprofit)
After the launch of this website, it was immediately warmly welcomed. With this second-hand trading platform, everyone's idle items can also be traded to the greatest extent.
Moreover, the site was also considered an "industry unicorn" at the time, so in 2006, Localprofit's monthly profit reached 72,000 US dollars (about 500,000 yuan).
(Source: cncpunishment)
At the same time, Smith, who loved surfing, also founded Wellster, a social network for surfers.
(Source: dailymotion)
Smith's thriving Internet business has also attracted the attention of many people in the industry, treating him as a rising star.
In 2008, a man named Edward Shin approached Chris Smith and said he wanted to be his partner. After a few long conversations, the two hit it off: both had ambitions to make big money.
Edward Shin (Credit: YouTube)
In April 2009, Smith and Shin formed a joint venture called "800Xchange" to develop the advertising industry and IT technology.
With the ability and technology of two people, 800Xchange made a profit of up to $1 million in the first year of its establishment and nearly $3 million in the second year.....
However, Smith was actually selling all of his shares in the company in June 2010, when the company was making a profit.
He sent an email to his family that read:
"I feel like I've made enough money to celebrate achieving my life's dreams and achieving financial freedom." I'm going to take a girl I met in Las Vegas around the world. Don't worry, I've bought a yacht with a captain and a chef on board, and I'm going to South America now. ”
But that's no surprise to Smith's family, who grew up adventurous and loves to grasp the moment.
More than once, he told his family that he wanted to travel the world after making enough money.
(Source: gq)
Of course, every month after that, the family would receive an email from Smith to report that they were safe, and the local natural scenery and the girl who was with him would be attached.
In July 2010, he emailed his family saying he would go to 25 more islands. On August 4, Smith emailed his family again: "I really love this place to death, I don't want to go back!" Of course, this is a joke. ”
Smith didn't email her family for a long time, and in December, Smith wrote again, saying that something had changed. He had given up the yacht and the girl, and the place of the letter was in India.
(Source: MensXP)
In the email, Smith said he would continue to Turkey, Cyprus and then Egypt and Morocco.
All of Smith's experiences were the envy of his younger brother Paul, who was also a great lover of surfing and adventure. Paul emailed his brother that he would be traveling to Costa Rica in February of next year (2011) and hoped that he would come and discuss everything about surfing. Of course Smith agreed.
On December 16, Paul received another email from his brother, but this was strange, and Smith suddenly talked about a gold coin called Krugrand sold in South Africa:
"I'm going back to Rwanda and I met a guy in Rwanda who bought this gold coin and he was willing to buy it for each plus 30 percent."
Krugerrand gold coin (Source: GovMint)
This email is strange, because Smith never talks about business when he is adventurous, and the changes that happened to Smith in the middle are also worrying. What's even stranger is that after this email, Smith disappeared again.....
Then, in January 2011, Paul and his brother's "Costa Rica pact" was approaching, and several emails sent to his brother during the period went unanswered, and he began to sense that something was wrong.
He started contacting the hotel he had made an appointment with his brother to ask if Smith had made arrangements for a surf trip in February. The answer was no.
The Smith Brothers (Source: Facebook)
The family was so worried that Smith's family reported the crime to the police department in March 2011. However, when the police department investigated Smith's passport records, the family members had a chill on their backs:
According to passport records, Smith never left the United States at all!
If Smith hadn't left the U.S., wouldn't it be himself who regularly emailed his family? Where is Smith now? Why did he want to sell the company's shares and pretend to travel?
While the police are investigating, Smith's father begins to investigate.
Smith's father first approached Edward Shin, the partner mentioned earlier, to ask him if he knew what Smith had been doing before, and told Shin what had happened to the family.
(Source: getoutofdebtguy)
Shin said after listening, is it possible that Smith used a fake passport to leave the country? Shin also said smith had been in contact with a person who made a fake passport, but the specific contact information was not clear.
Smith's father gave the information to the police. Smith's mother, on the other hand, also gave Smith's photo to major police departments in the United States, hoping to find Smith through the face recognition system.
The police department is also advising Smith's parents to be prepared: "If what is said in the email is true, then there is another possibility that Smith was killed while trading gold coins." ”
The Smith family, except for the elder brother (Source: Dailymail)
The investigator in charge of the investigation had a hard time understanding: "A millionaire, why should he use a fake passport to leave the country?" So the agents approached Shin again, hoping to learn more.
So Shin said Smith's escape may be related to a company called LG Technologies. Originally, Shin used to work at LG Technologies, but because of the embezzlement of public funds, LG Technologies sued Shin, who had partnered with Smith, and paid $805,000 in compensation.
Although it was not about Smith, as Shin's partner, he was included in the list of criminal accomplices and suspects, and was investigated. In the end, although the charges were dropped, Smith felt unsafe.
Shin said: "I think he ran to the other side of the world, maybe he didn't want others to find him. ”
Police also confirmed the incident when they checked the email, and in September 2010, Smith emailed a lawyer expressing concern that LG Technologies was affecting him, and concluded by saying: "If it is not an emergency, I do not plan to come back...."
All this made sense, and Smith, fearing that the case implicated him, used a fake passport to leave the country. Relax while circumnavigating the world. As long as it wasn't for the fact that the gold coin had been killed, he might be basking in the sun in some part of the world right now.
However, Smith's case has not yet been fully settled, and Shin has another problem.
In January 2011, Shin packed up the 800Xchange and ran away. However, he owed the landlord $40,000 in rent.
The landlord was so angry that he even hired a private investigator to say that he would find Smith and Shin, the two heads of 800Xchange, regardless of whether they fled to the end of the world.
Private investigator in charge of the investigation (Source: gq)
During the course of his investigation, the detective learned that Smith had not been to the company for a long time. Of course, no clues were found....
One day, the detective ran into the property manager, who asked the manager curiously, "Number 123 (where 800Xchange used to work) is still empty, right?" ”
The property manager said: "Yes, I had proposed that the police station people come and have a look, but they all said there was no need. ”
Office at the time (Source: gq)
So the private investigator decided to go inside and take a look himself, and in the dimly lit room, the private investigator looked around with a flashlight, and soon he found supplies like blood.
With years of experience, the private investigator quickly concluded that this was blood!
Soon, the police station once again sent someone to explore here. It was found that in the original 800Xchange office, there were blood stains in many places.
After the test, a result surprised everyone was obtained: this is Smith's blood!
Fast forward to May 2010, when Shin realized that his partner didn't seem to be reliable because of LG Technologies' embezzlement of public funds, and was very worried about his character.
Smith decided to exit 800Xchange, smith and Shin reached an agreement, and Shin bought Smith's stake for $1 million.
On the afternoon of June 4, 2010, it was the day two people signed their contracts. On this day, Shin sent a handful of employees home early from work.
(Source: latimesblog)
At 7:10 p.m. that night, Shin sent Smith's lawyer a buyout agreement, but the price of the purchase changed from $1 million to $15,000.
Apparently, Shin killed Smith. At 2:30 a.m. that day, Shin called for a truck, which was supposed to transport the body to the U.S.-Mexico border....
Shin then called the employee again and spent the rest of the week at home, not coming to the company so he could remove the blood. Some office building maintenance staff passed by and saw the blood in the office, he said that he accidentally cut his arm when cutting apples.....
In order to clear his guilt, he hacked into Smith's email account and began to imitate Smith's tone to send emails to his family.
He considered how he would round up the lie if the police investigated and found no exit record. Even he actually moved out of his own embezzlement, making everyone believe that Smith really started traveling the world out of fear.....
Unexpectedly, his elaborate murder scam was punctured by the landlord and private detectives.
So why would Shin kill people? It turned out that Smith's intuition was right, and Shin's personality was really unreliable.
While Shin was still at LG Technologies, he met a noble man who helped him not only in his career. He also borrowed money to help Shin buy a house when he was in financial difficulties, and eventually Shin became the president of the company, kicking the noble man out of the game.
(Source: msn)
In 2007, a magazine printing company sued Shin for $117,000 in arrears. Even, Shin owed money to the World Series of Poker champions, so much so that the champion had considered hiring a killer to kill him.
The reason why there are arrears is because Shin is a gambler who lost $140,000 in one hour. Not only is shiny gambler, But Shin is also very, and due to his generous shots in the casino, every time Shin appears, he will hug several women left and right:
And in front of outsiders, he is a very decent, successful businessman with a good marriage and three children who often goes to church...
(Source: oxygen)
The motive for the killing was also very simple: he didn't want to pay Smith $1 million because he had just paid LG more than $800,000, and presumably he should still owe the casino a six-figure debt that hadn't been repaid. Thus, during the quarrel with Smith, Smith was killed.
In December 2018, Shin was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. But Shin keeps claiming that he didn't want to kill:
"I didn't mean to kill him, but I killed him in the middle of a fight!"
(Source: abcnews)
Although the case has come to an end, Smith's body has not yet been found. On January 22, 2020, when a reporter went to his cell to interview him, Shin did not know where Smith's body was, and he said that there was a story hidden in it.
"You have to consider that there's a reason someone gives up their life to keep a secret," he said. ”
To be sure, because of his greed and gambling, Shin killed Smith and made up a story that everyone almost believed, and in the end did not escape justice.
But What Shin said at the end is also creepy, and I hope that in the end it is just Shin's alarmist.....