The Mystery of Marcus Schrenker

The news business loves tragedy. Stories of abducted girls or lost-in-the-woods boys are standard fare on the cable news networks and their companion web sites. Well, get ready for a new breed of tragic tales -- the distraught broker/executive/hedge fund manager who does something drastic.

The story of Marcus Schrenker, 38, seems to be everywhere today. It has all the elements that make TV news producers twitch with excitement--financial ruin, family woes, a plane crash, a staged death, and surveillance footage.

Indiana authorities were investigating Schrenker and his financial advice businesses--Heritage Wealth Management Inc., Heritage Insurance Services Inc. and Icon Wealth Management--for possible securities violations. A federal judge in Maryland issued a $533,500 judgment against one of Schrenker's businesses. And his wife filed for divorce against him.

On Sunday, Schrenker -- a pilot who liked aerial aerobatics (see video at the bottom of this post) -- took off from an airfield in Anderson, Indiana. The single-engine Piper turboprop plane crashed in a Florida swamp after Schrenker radioed that his windshield had shattered and that he was bleeding. But when authorities found the plane, there was no blood and no pilot. Authorities believe he parachuted from the plane before it crashed.

Police officers in Alabama on Monday came across a man with Schrenker's license who told them he'd been in a canoe accident. The officers took him to a hotel, which had a security camera that showed a very-much-alive Schrenker checking in. By the time officials put the pieces together, he was gone.

A neighbor of Schrenker's, Tom Britt, was a guest this morning on CBS' The Early Show. He said he got an email from Schrenker last night where his friend said the situation was a misunderstanding. "I embarrassed my family for the last time," the email said. Britt quoted Schrenker as saying, "By the time you read this I'll be gone."

A police manhunt is underway for Schrenker, while the talk on TV is whether or not the financial adviser might commit suicide. "I don't know how else to take that. I think he is threatening suicide, and I hope that he hasn't. But that was the overtone I got from the e-mail," Britt said on CBS.

Financial difficulties have been attributed to a number of suicides. Portfolio.com is keeping track of deaths attributed to economic misfortune.

by J. Jennings Moss