When police investigators found the body of restaurant executive Thomas Hickman the morning of March 15 in his North Richland Hills home, they initially thought it was homicide, judging from the duct tape that covered the man's mouth.

Early on, however, the authorities discovered something peculiar about the crime scene: six or seven white balloons entangled in a cholla cactus found some 30 feet from the body – an effort, clearly, to make the weapon float away.  The lead agent reportedly did not stop hearing about comments that the case eerily resembled a CSI episode which aired around five years ago in October 2003.

Curious, the lead detective rented the supposedly promising episode to find out for himself.  After taking ample notes, state police reported solving the case on Wednesday, July 16, finally ruling the death as suicide.

"We're not saying it's a copycat of the TV show," New Mexico state police Lt. Rick Anglada said.  "We have no way to know he actually saw the episode.  However, the lead agent kept hearing from people that there was a similar case from 'CSI."'

Investigators also discovered insurance as a possible motive for the attempted deception.  The victim held a life insurance policy that would pay his wife $388,000 or double that amount if his death was accidental, perhaps the reason why he wanted to make his death appear like homicide.  According to investigators, Hickman filled the balloons with helium, tied the balloons to the revolver, then duct-taped his own mouth and shot himself in the back of the head.

Police also noted that for Hickman's hefty 6-foot-6 built, the lack of signs of struggle was curious.

"There were no signs of a struggle, and he was a large man, not bound in any way," they said.

The CSI episode in question called “Homebodies” featured a man who killed himself and tied the gun to a bunch of balloons in order to make the death look like a suicide


-Glenn L. Diaz, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: CSI Files, ABC
(Image Courtesy of ABC)