Whoa! Another news-maker with a scandalous past
By Gina Spadafori
August 14, 2008
First the missionary-abducting dog-cloner and now this. Turns out John Edward’s mistress also had an earlier turn in the news, when her dad and his accomplice had a nifty little plan to electrocute show horses for insurance money — and her horse was one of the victims.
From the Ocala Star-Banner:
Before she was former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards’ mistress, before she was Rielle Hunter, before she was the face splashed on national television networks, she was the teenage equestrienne Lisa Druck of Ocala.
[...]
Hunter’s father, James D. Druck, a successful Ocala lawyer representing insurance companies during the 1980s, was implicated in a scam that involved a local man, Tommy “The Sandman” Burns, who electrocuted horses for their owners to collect the insurance money. One of Burns’ first victims was the show horse Lisa Druck rode, Henry the Hawk.
Burns said in a 1992 Sports Illustrated interview that James Druck showed him how to electrocute Lisa’s horse using a stripped extension cord and a wall socket. Burns said Druck showed him the scam so Druck could collect $150,000 in insurance. Burns’ arrest in 1991 drew national attention. Druck died of cancer in the Tampa area in 1992.
Again, you just can’t make up stuff like this. But you can turn it into an episode of “Law and Order.”
Warning to those reading the full article - there are details of horse cruelty that may be too graphic for some.
Are we in bizarro world or what?
Comment by slt — August 14, 2008 @ 8:58 am
I’m trying to remember the name of the horse who triggered the murder investigation at the beginning of the “Law and Order” episode based on this case … Mr. Whipple? Something like that.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — August 14, 2008 @ 9:11 am
Um, I’m thinking that there should be a “can’t” in that last paragraph….
Being a regular reader of the blog - I had the impressiong that you didn’t *usually* make stuff up!
Cheers,
“The Grammar Police”
Comment by Janeen — August 14, 2008 @ 9:44 am
There was an interesting article about this yesterday I found on ESPN.com. The writer, Lester Munson, was sharing his memories of researching a piece on this many years ago.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn.....id=3533725
Comment by Neil — August 15, 2008 @ 6:56 am
All I can’t say is still, “you can’t make this stuff up … no one would believe you!”
Comment by Gina Spadafori — August 15, 2008 @ 7:33 am