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It seems like there’ve been some intriguing stories in the news lately that should have those with a writerly bent salivating.
To me, it seems like these news articles are just screaming “story” and allude to things behind the scenes that you and I are not privy to.
This thread is a place to post some true-life fodder for story ideas. You can comment on them and add your own spin etc or just give a brief quote of the story (please no links without an excerpt.)
Here are a few from headlines this weekend:
Authorities are investigating mysterious claims that a man killed by Houston police after a car chase was a CIA agent.
Here's another one that intrigued me:
Police: 'D.C. madam' kills herself in Fla. coastal town
Once again, sounds like the opening hook for a thriller to me.
Anybody else have any?
To me, it seems like these news articles are just screaming “story” and allude to things behind the scenes that you and I are not privy to.
This thread is a place to post some true-life fodder for story ideas. You can comment on them and add your own spin etc or just give a brief quote of the story (please no links without an excerpt.)
Here are a few from headlines this weekend:
Authorities are investigating mysterious claims that a man killed by Houston police after a car chase was a CIA agent.
Hmmmm… C'mon, tell me that doesn’t sound like an opening for a thriller.Roland Vincent Carnaby, 52, was initially pulled over during a routine traffic stop Tuesday, but drove off when the officer discovered his concealed weapon license. A high-speed chase ensued, during which Carnaby was said to be armed.
Houston officers said they shot him as he was getting out of his Jeep SUV because he made a sudden move, according to MyFOXHouston. He died en route to the hospital, police said.
During a close inspection of Carnaby’s vehicle, police found two pistols and a rifle.
While the CIA denies that Carnaby worked there, friends insist he was a federal intelligence agent, according to The Houston Chronicle. His SUV was reportedly owned by the National Association for Intelligence Officers and he was the president of the organization's local chapter.
Friends say they witnessed Carnaby socializing with local law enforcement officials and high-level CIA bureaucrats.
Car dealer Alan Helfman told the Chronicle that he met Carnaby more than a decade ago when "a mutual friend high in law enforcement" brought him to buy a car.
Carnaby told Helfman that he was a federal officer who worked in intelligence, and the two became close.
Here's another one that intrigued me:
Police: 'D.C. madam' kills herself in Fla. coastal town
Hmmmm… so TWO different prostitutes who were involved with high-power senators and influential people in Washington DC commit “suicide” after being arrested. Hmmmm….TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) - A woman convicted two weeks ago of being the "D.C. Madam" hanged herself Thursday, apparently making good on her vow never to go to prison for running a high-end Washington prostitution ring.
The body of Deborah Jeane Palfrey was found in a shed near her mother's home about 20 miles northwest of Tampa. Police said the 52-year-old Palfrey left at least two suicide notes and other writings to her family in a notebook, but they did not disclose their contents.
Palfrey apparently hanged herself with nylon rope from the shed's ceiling. Her mother discovered the body. Officers were outside the mother's white and pink home in the community of mostly retirees.
Blanche Palfrey had no sign that her daughter was suicidal, and there was no immediate indication that alcohol or drugs were involved, police Capt. Jeffrey Young said.
A man who answered a phone listed for Palfrey's mother declined to comment.
"This is tragic news and my heart goes out to her mother," said attorney Preston Burton, who represented Deborah Jeane Palfrey in her trial.
A federal jury convicted Palfrey on April 15 of running a prostitution service that catered to members of Washington's political elite, including Sen. David Vitter, a Louisiana Republican. She was convicted of money laundering, using the mail for illegal purposes and racketeering...
One of the escort service employees was former University of Maryland, Baltimore County, professor Brandy Britton, who was arrested on prostitution charges in 2006. She committed suicide in January before she was scheduled to go to trial.
Palfrey said last year that she, too, was humiliated by her prostitution charges, but said: "I guess I'm made of something that Brandy Britton wasn't made of."
Once again, sounds like the opening hook for a thriller to me.
Anybody else have any?