Eric Gose
Appearances
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
The Facebook post stated, quote, I have been getting a lot of private messages, so I feel it's best that I address this. The accident at Grandview yesterday involved my wife. They haven't found her yet, but I'm holding out hope that she will be found and she is okay. I am heartbroken and lost right now, but I have to have faith.
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
Please give us time to work through this and please keep us in your thoughts and prayers, quote.
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
So there was an actual reenactment to what did you see, what direction, to try to figure out what exactly happened because it wasn't adding up. Investigators were already getting clues that something was amiss. There was a strong effort to not be callous because you could find a body, but the investigator I spoke with directly, who was Stan Wilson of the National Park Service, kept repeating,
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
something doesn't add up here this isn't right it's only it's only a hundred feet to the top of the overlook it's a series of ledges there's no impact crater there's no broken branches there's no blood trail the body wouldn't have disintegrated it couldn't have hit the river from this location so there's no issue of dragging for the body Unfortunately, it's a sidebar, but it's very important.
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
The National Park Service is expert in recovering bodies. Some miles from the Grandview overlook is the New River Gorge Bridge. That is unfortunately a suicide hotspot. The National Park Service is often tasked with recovering bodies from people who choose to end their own life from that bridge or that location. They develop some expertise in terms of what you would typically see.
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
It's hard-won expertise. But they knew that something just didn't add up. There were simply no signs of her.
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
Well, it was first reported to me that she was missing and there was some concern that she may have killed herself.
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
And I spoke to the criminal chief briefly about that. That sometimes happens. It's pretty rare, but it's happened a couple of times in my career. And once the agent told me that they couldn't find a body, you're thinking, well, sentencing is coming up.
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
They're looking for the body, but the more it didn't add up, the more you were thinking this isn't just simply a missing person, that this is someone trying to go on the run, not show up for sentencing. Duck court.
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
It was a very poorly thought out plan. If she had simply not shown up in court, a warrant would have been issued for her arrest in the United States Marshal Service, who is excellent at tracking down people who don't show up for federal court or obstruct federal proceedings, would be looking for. There would be an active search.
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
I suppose the plan was if she was missing and presumed dead, then people would not look for her. But yes, that is an awfully long life to live. However, I would hesitate to speculate what was going on in her mind other than the statement she gave after saying she was just desperate to not be sentenced.
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
and hatched this plan involving her family members so that she could go into hiding and resume a new life in Florida was one of the locations that was discussed.
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
Judge Copenhaver reminded everyone that the theft from the spina bifida aspect of this case should not be overshadowed by her ruse in faking her own death, that her conduct was egregious and atrocious in stealing money that was needed by a spina bifida victim by not providing that person services. But the ancillary enhancements
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
resulted in her receiving a 42-month sentence to be followed by three years of supervised release and restitution in the amount of exactly $289,055 for the Spina Bifida health care fraud. Of course, she was also sentenced after that for the separate indictment for obstructing justice.
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
To be followed by six months of home confinement, to be followed by three years of supervised release.
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
And frankly, the juvenile's story is of some note. His statement said he was pressured a lot by his mother to come up with this scheme. He initially didn't want to go along with it, and his mother kept repeating to him, well, I guess I'll just go to jail then, and ultimately kind of guilt-tripped him into it.
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
I'll be as candid as I know how. I've never heard of a scheme like this. All of us in this business have had people who don't show up to court. That's pretty normal. I've never seen anyone go through some sort of elaborate hoax to fake their own death to get out of sentencing. I've never seen anything quite like it.
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
My name is Eric Gose. I'm an assistant United States attorney in the Southern District of West Virginia.
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
But at least part of the structure of the plea agreement was so that the defense lawyer could argue that she should receive a lesser sentence even than the guidelines suggested. And that was at least part of the strategy, as told to me by defense counsel.
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
This is a scenic overlook. There's a protective fence around the overlook, and it captures just a beautiful view of sort of a horseshoe bend of the new river. And it's a very steep drop-off, so it's nearly 1,000 feet from the overlook down to the river, and it's a series of ledges. It's ledges and deciduous trees. It's very beautiful in the fall in a very steep area.
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
She had stepped over the overlook, was sitting with her feet dangling or something to that effect, and had slipped off and fallen. And both individuals spoke to the 911 operator. But for Rodney Wheeler's point of view, he said, you know, help, my wife is missing. She's fallen off the Grandview overlook.
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
Well, that triggered a massive effort because it was later in the day, there was an initial effort to find her that was supplemented by a helicopter resources provided by the Army National Guard where they use thermal energy. imaging, but the search ultimately involved hundreds of volunteers looking. So it went into the evening and then to the very next day.
Criminal
The Bottom of the Cliff
And when I say hundreds of volunteers, I mean hundreds of volunteers, everyone from professional fast rope teams to the state police, fire departments, and they turned out in force to try to locate her.