COP TAKES IN A MAN FOR TRAFFIC VIOLATION AND ENDS UP UNCOVERING A 20-YEAR-OLD SECRET
Millions of Americans travel in their cars and public transport on a daily basis. We look at them, pass across them, sometimes we pass a friendly smile looking at the stranger, but could you tell anything about the stranger just by looking at him? Obviously not. This story we have here is no fiction, it really happened. This story is full of twists that could easily be made into a movie. One day an officer stops the car and asked the driver for a license. What driver told the police officer was not in the police database. The police had to take him in but as the investigation proceeded, new and new information was revealed about the driver that shocked the whole police department. There were lies inside the lies, making the truth seem like a lie. Let’s uncover this baffling story of a man who wasn’t someone he tried to make people believe. So, who was he? You’ll find out soon.
One Wrong Move
The guy was driving in his car. He was going somewhere, but where? Nobody knew, except him. The police officer was conducting a simple and regular traffic stop and little did he know that he was going to get involved in the worst case of his life that would change everything about the way saw people around us. They might look innocent but deep down nobody can fathom what devil has made home inside their heart controlling their whole life.
Simple Routine Check
The officer stopped several cars that day. All he was doing is to stop the car and see if the driver is driving the car with a license. Some cars away there was one driver who must be cursing his life that day. The guy knew that he won’t be able to run anywhere as this could lead to more problems. So, he played cool, as if there was nothing to hide. “Your license please,” the police officer said to the driver.
What’s In The License
There are times when we think why police officers stop us unnecessarily. However, after reading this story you might be able to understand, why. But this time officer stopped the person for a genuine reason. The officer was just doing his duty which led him into the most unexpected situation. His career would soon take a sharp turn.
Rules Are Rules
The officer stopped the car for a reason which might look nonsensical to you but for the officer it was necessary. The light over the driver’s car license plate was out which by law is not allowed. Though officer might leave you with a warning if your reason is genuine, this time it was different. The officer looked at the driver for a minute then asked for the license. As Shakespeare said, “what’s in the name?” But in this case, it was all about the name.
Do You Know Why I Pulled You Over?
The officer in question had pulled over the driver because of the light on his license plate which wasn’t working properly. The officer could tell that something wasn’t right with the driver. But he didn’t give it much attention as we all go pale in front of the officers. The driver told that his name was William James Sweet, but he didn’t have his driver’s license with him.
A Little Suspicious
When the driver told the officer that he couldn’t find his driver license, the officer got a little suspicious of the guy. He asked him to step out of the car. Reluctantly and afraid, the driver tried his best to convince the police officer. The police officer didn’t listen to him and warned him to come out as soon as possible otherwise he would charge him with the obstruction of justice.
Under Arrest
The officer handcuffed Mr. Sweet, the name he told the officer. The officer then went back to his squad car and ran the man’s information. He typed the name William Sweet, but nothing showed on the screen about this name. The police officer then realized that he was into something much more sinister than a person who has just forgotten his driver license. He arrested the person and took him to the department. From there onwards, things didn’t remain the same.
To The Investigation Room
The officer took the driver to the police department for further investigation who was taken in the investigation room. The senior officer who was given the charge of the case was studying the guy from behind the glass window of the room. He could see that the guy was nervous. He was bitting his fingernails time to time and his legs were shaking due to anxiousness. Who was this guy? But first, the officer wanted to know his real name. But how?
Good Cop, Bad Cop
The senior officer and his partner went inside the room with a bulky file in their hand. Though there was nothing in the file as they had no information about the person, it was to make him more nervous so that he could come clean. They decided to use the old trick of the good cop and bad cop. With a thud sound, one of the officers placed the file on the table. He sat on the table and kept staring at the guy who was just sitting one table away from the officer. “What’s your name?” the officer-in-charge asked.
No Clean Answer
The driver who was captured because of the name he told was a fake was sitting in the investigation room with one officer sitting in front of him and the other one standing at a distance near the door. There was complete silence in the room. The driver was sweating. He could hear his heartbeats that sounded like background music as if something was about to get down. Both the officers were doing a fine job. Though nobody spoke a word, still, the officers could tell what was going on here. But they wanted to hear from the driver.
He Spoke!
Breaking the silence in the room, the driver spoke. “Can I get some water?” the driver said. The officers looked at each other and the officer who was standing near the door went out to get some water. They were hoping to get some information after that, but the officer who went out took his time to make the person more thirsty so that he would confess his identity which could push the investigation to next step.
The Thirst
Both the sides were thirsty. The lawbreaker wanted water and the officers needed some answers. After drinking water he took a pause of relief and said that he isn’t lying. But then the officer said, “we don’t have any information with that name in their database. So either you are lying or the database, since the database doesn’t lie like us humans, it means you are the one who is lying.” William could see that he has been squared from all the corners and there was nothing he could do except stalling. “I want my lawyer!” he said to the officers.
The Officer-In-Charge
Weaverville Police Sgt. Stacy Wyatt was given the charge of the investigation which involved a driver who seemed to be telling a lie about his identity and was trying to stall the investigation. But why was he doing that? Sgt. Stacy wanted to know what was with the guy. He had to make him confess before the lawyer arrives.
The Demand
William kept asking for the lawyer every time the officers tried to question him about his identity. Somehow he knew that the officers had nothing on him and the huge file that they smashed on the table was irrelevant for the case he was being questioned for. The officers were running out of time as by law every accused has a right to ask for a lawyer and William knew that. The officers had 48 hours before he was appointed a lawyer and they had to break him before that. And they did.
A New Play
The officers decided to plan a stage in front of William. Both the officer moved out of the investigation room. They needed a plan to break William’s silence. The officer in charge came up with a plan where they would act like they have gained a breakthrough in the case. They were hoping that this act would make him more nervous than he already was. And that’s what happened. It was a good plan…
The Act Was In Order
The senior officer entered the room where William was kept for questioning. The moment the officer sat on the chair across him, the other officer entered the room in a rush and whispered something in his ears to which she responded with a shock. Obviously, it was all just an act, but to William, it looked like he was in some kind of deep trouble.
The Wait
Both the officers went out of the room as if there was some kind of emergency. It piqued William’s attention. The officers were watching him from the next room through the black glass window they have in the investigation room. William kept staring at the door of the room in the hope that it might open and somebody would come and tell him what they have found on him. The officers could see the nervousness growing inside him and as the time passed he was falling for the act. And then he confessed…
Confession
William was getting impatient. The officers were waiting for that one moment where he would just lose his patience. That’s exactly what happened. He was ready to confess. He started by saying that his name wasn’t William Sweet, but Wint. He was 49 years old. He used to live in South Carolina before he had “disappeared from Florida.” But why did he disappear?
Truth? Or Just Another Lie?
The officer heard Wint’s story where they were shocked to hear that he disappeared from Florida. They couldn’t understand what he meant by disappearance. No sane person would disappear from life as he has and then when he told the reason everybody was shocked. It seemed like they were reading the script of the movie, however, it was happening in the real world with a real person involved in it. But was he even telling the truth?
Movie Story
Weaverville Police Sgt. Stacy Wyatt, who was interviewing this “Mr.Wint” asked to tell him everything from the beginning. He wanted to know this man’s side of the story. There must have been a reason for his disappearance. He wanted to know everything, from his name to the day he decided to leave Florida and change his identity to William Sweet.
Talk Of Marriage
He told that his real name was Bennie Wint. He had a fiancée named Patricia Hollingsworth. They both lived happily in South Carolina until it was hit by Hurricane Hugo. They then decided to move to Florida in search of a new start of their life. They wanted to tie the knot as soon as possible and it was Florida where they would do it as a mark of starting new.
A Family Man
The officer was taken aback when he heard that this guy had a life before he turned into William Sweet. But the question was, why did he leave a life people desire for all their lives? And where was Patricia Hollingsworth today? Did he do something to her and that’s why he left Florida and changed his identity? The officer wanted to know more as soon as possible because she had some doubts.
Contacting The Bride To Be
Sgt. Stacy Wyatt excused himself from the room. He asked one of the officers to look for Patricia Hollingsworth. He wanted to know where was she now? He was hoping for some good news as he didn’t want to see what was going on in his mind already. He didn’t want his imagination to become reality. The officer who was given the task to look for Patricia Hollingsworth searched the name in the police database, meanwhile, Sgt. Stacy Wyatt was back in the room with Bennie Wint. He continued telling his story…
Vanished In The Sea
A romantic day at the beach soon turned to Patricia’s worst nightmare. She was along the shore of the sea in search for a lifeguard station. She ran and ran and ran even when she was out of breath. She didn’t stop until she reached the lifeguard station. She told the lifeguard personnel that her fiancé had vanished. “Vanished?” the lifeguard asked Patricia. She told him that he was surfing and with the blink of an eye, he wasn’t there. She said she saw him going down into the depth of the sea, but he never came up…
Run!
The Lifeguard who was on duty was on his feet the moment Patricia told him about her fiance. He ran towards the spot where Bennie was last seen. He dived into waters and searched for Bennie who was nowhere to be seen. Where did he go? The lifeguard came up and told Patricia that he couldn’t find the man. Patricia was shocked and broken. She didn’t know what to do next.
Hard To Confirm
The story Bennie told ended with his disappearance in the sea. Everybody thought he drowned that day, but he was there sitting the police station getting questioned about his second identity which he chose as William Sweet. Sgt. Wyatt didn’t believe the story Bennie told. When the officer checked his name in the database, yet again, there was nothing. Wint told that he destroyed all his previous life’s identification and every record he could get his hand on before his disappearance.
Can’t Set Him Free
Sgt. Stacy Wyatt wasn’t ready to leave the guy. There was no way to prove his story. For the officer and the department, the case was becoming more and more complex with no possible leads. They had nothing on him except the fact that he lied about his identity. But he did come clean, but then, there was no way to prove that as there were no records under the name Bennie Wint.
Book Him Anyway
Sgt. Stacy Wyatt did what was right. The confession seemed like a lie. With no other choice except booking him, the police booked him under the name of “John Doe”, at least until they could solve the mystery of his identity. But to keep a person in a lockup for a crime you need a reason, so they booked him for giving the police a fake name and Sgt. Stacy Wyatt was on the move to solve the mystery for good this time.
Never Even Saw
Sgt. Stacy Wyatt met the lifeguard who was on duty the day Bennie ‘drowned’. The lifeguard told that he was watching the sea very carefully and he didn’t see anyone go down that day. Sgt. Wyatt could tell that the lifeguard was in some kind of a doubt when he was telling about the episode. But, the truth of that day was that Bennie Wint drowned and his body was never found. Everybody believed that, even the family. After meeting with the family the story took a very sharp turn that led the mystery to some other direction entirely.
Meet The Family
Sgt. Stacy Wyatt wanted to meet the family. He wanted to confirm the incident from Bennie’s fiancée Patricia. She was the only witness who saw Bennie go down in the sea. But when Sgt. Wyatt met the family there was another mystery waiting to get solved.
Grieving Family
Bennie not only left behind his fiancée Patricia but also a 4-year-old daughter from his previous marriage. This little girl lived with Patricia for 20 years who was now a woman named Christi McKnight. She was just 4 years old when Bennie vanished from their lives for 20 long years. But then Christi told that she may have found her father…
Wint’s “Scheme”
John Doe was locked up in jail. Sgt. Stacy Wyatt and other officers were busy in solving the case. On one hand, there was a story of his disappearance and on the other hand, the police didn’t believe the story at all. What was the truth? No one had any answers. The police thought that he left his previous life to escape his fiancée and the child, but then he told something more shocking to the police.
The Master Plan
His plan was simple. He would act as if he was drowning and by the time his fiancée would look for the lifeguard he would swim to the shore and would never look back again to his previous life. Indeed his plan was a success. Success to the point that he managed to stay dead for 20 years. After running away from the shore, he hitchhiked to Alabama where he started his new life with a new name in North Carolina until he was picked up by the police during general traffic stopping.
Strange Circumstances
The disappearance of Bennie Wint was all over the town. Usually, after drowning you could find the body floating on the sea, but here there was nothing. There was no body. So, could John Doe be telling the truth all along? Sgt. Stacy Wyatt was getting tired of the case as there was nothing concrete about it. All police had was a story told by a man who faked his own death.
Really Bennie
But after some serious investigation, the police was happy to confirm that the man who was locked up in the precinct under the name of John Doe was Bennie Wint. He was telling the truth all along. The reason he told for faking his own death was literally a reason we only see in the movies. It was like he learned from the movie and applied it in his real life. His plan worked for 20 long years!
One Last Round
Bennie kept telling Sgt. Stacy Wyatt that he disappeared because he didn’t want to take the responsibility of his new life along with his old life which was a 4-year-old daughter. But that’s no reason to fake one’s own death. The officer didn’t buy it. He was hiding something. Sgt. Stacy Wyatt was an experienced officer and there was something Bennie was hiding. But what?
Last Chance
Sgt. Stacy Wyatt told Bennie that it was his last chance to come clean and if he does, there still might be some way he could get his life back. He could still carry on with his life as William Sweet with official documents. He would be able to get a job in the state and he might even find someone and could even settle down for the rest of his life. All he had to do is come clean.
Why Run?
He then said that the reason he faked his own death was not to escape from the responsibility of his future wife and daughter but because he believed that the authorities in South Carolina were on him because of his involvement in a large drug ring…
A Drug Dealer
The drug ring story caught Sgt. Stacy Wyatt’s attention. If Bennie was telling the truth then the department was looking for the case far darker than just a man living a double life. Sgt. Wyatt made some calls from the cell and asked the other person on the side of the phone to look into a possible drug dealer ring in South Carolina 20 years ago.
Another Lie?
Sgt. Stacy Wyatt looked into Bennie’s involvement in some major drug rings, but again, there was nothing. There was no evidence of a man with a name Bennie Wint involved in some drug rings. The South Carolina authorities confirmed that they never looked for a person with that name. So, why did he make up a drug story?
Not Really An Issue
Sgt. Stacy Wyatt confirmed that this man Bennie Wint was no criminal from the past but a man who was affected by mere paranoia. “He was running because of the prior life he lived,” said Sgt. Wyatt. So, he was paranoid by the previous life that made him fake his own death? The evidence was stating a simple fact, that this man was no drug dealer but a man who got scared of the reality and then created another reality for himself where he was not Bennie Wint of South Carolina but William Sweet of North Carolina.
Free Now
After all the proceedings, the department set him free. He even started his new life. His plan was to escape his previous life and starting a new life came true. So, what is he up to? What is his new life? The media caught the wind of the news and soon some news channels were running a story of a common man who faked his own death. But where is the man today?
New Life
Today, Bennie Wint has a wife and a teenage son whom he named William James Sweet Jr. He is living in Marshall, North Carolina with Sonya Tull Jones. He has been asked to keep a low profile by the authorities since his secret was out now. Only the police know the whole truth. The media couldn’t confirm the story as he never came forward to tell the story in his own words.
Real Paranoia
He ran from the world he was scared of to create a world where wouldn’t be scared. Though it might seem like he was successful in his plan, in reality, it was far from being a success. Though he managed to start a new life and family, still there was so much to be afraid of. He couldn’t move out of the house as there was media everywhere. He was still living in fear.
Living In Seclusion
Bennie has been approached by several news channels to confirm the story but he has declined the offer until they are willing to pay appropriate fiscal returns. He has said he wouldn’t waste his time if there was nothing worth getting from it as he has to support his new family. He doesn’t want to live in seclusion forever. He wants to be free and freedom comes with a cost.
The Case
When the case reached the courts even the judge was surprised to see a man who was able to fool everybody for 20 years. Our justice system works on one thing, evidence. He confessed his crime and the judge found nothing wrong in the case speaking in terms of evidence. He was set free with just one charge.
No Other Charges
He was charged with the traffic misdemeanors only. They didn’t charge him for faking his own death. He was asked to remain in seclusion for sometime and after that period of his life he came out with some interesting story about his past life which again shocked the world.
Double Life
Bennie also went back to his old life to set things right for once as his secret was out in open now. There was no need for hiding. He wanted to come clean in front of his old family so that they could breathe a new life once again. He knew how hard the past 20 years might have been for Patricia and his little daughter who wasn’t little anymore.
Finding Bennie
Currently, Bennie Wint is trying hard to set things right. He has been juggling between his old and new life. Obviously, it’s not easy. He has no real identification and it would be a tough battle to get a new Social Security card. The old family has accepted the fact their Bennie drowned in the sea 20 years ago which is understandable. You don’t always get what you desire. This is the truth about life.
Relief And Resentment
In the meantime, the team of police who went searching for Bennie’s missing corpse has said that won’t be wasting more funds on the search. “It’s been too long, I’m really happy he’s alive. I really am,” said one of the officers. As for Bennie’s daughter, she has refused to say anything about her father’s double life.
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