He cashed a $45K check and vanished. Did family know Coast fugitive faked his own death?
Jackson County investigators’ suspicions grew that fugitive Jacob Blair Scott had faked his own death after they showed up at his family’s home to tell them he was dead, according to a sworn statement from a U.S. Marshal.
When detectives got there, Scott’s relatives, including a stepdaughter, “already had all of Jacob Blair Scott’s medications, suicide notes and cellphones displayed as if they were waiting for detectives to arrive,” U.S. Marshal Jeremy Stilwell said in the complaint.
“All of Scott’s property was already together on the counter,” Stilwell said. “Detectives stated that (the stepdaughter) made sure investigators saw the meds and stated Jacob was sick and needed them daily.”
In addition, investigators saw an open laptop computer sitting on the kitchen table, and it appeared the family was already looking to pick “out a headstone for Jacob Scott’s grave as detectives arrived to make the (death) notification.”
The detectives had given no warning to the family that they were headed there to inform them of Scott’s suspected death on July 30, 2018.
Detectives said the family’s reaction was unusual.
That and other information came out in a federal complaint unsealed after Scott’s capture last week. A tip to U.S. Marshals led to his arrest in Antlers, Oklahoma, on a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
Oklahoma hearing
Scott, now 43, had his initial appearance on the federal charge in U.S. District Court in the eastern district of Oklahoma, where authorities found him living in an RV in a campground.
At the hearing, Scott waived his right to a preliminary detention hearing and agreed to be transferred to the Southern District of Mississippi to face prosecution here. He also asked for a court-appointed attorney.
In his financial disclosure, Scott reported he had earned $5,300 in the past year as a laborer, and said his expenses included $500 a month for food and $160 for electricity. The only asset he listed was the RV he had been staying in at the time of his arrest. He listed the RV’s value at $14,000.
Residents of Antlers commented on Pushmataha County Sheriff B.J. Hedgecock’s Facebook post of Scott’s capture, saying they recognized the man who went by “Luke.”
But Scott is now facing prosecution on federal and state charges.
In Jackson County, he is awaiting prosecution on 14 felony sex crimes charges in which he’s accused of child rape, molestation, and exploitation for allegedly filming the minor, then 14, engaged in sex acts.
Authorities and the family of the victim say Scott faked his death to avoid going to prison.
In fact, the child victim’s mother has told the Sun Herald, Scott had warned her that he’d never go to prison and that he would kill everyone involved to avoid it.
The child’s mother was among the first to suspect Scott faked his death the moment she heard his inflatable boat was found, but no body.
A trip to a bank and $45,000 in cash
The search for Scott began shortly after Orange Beach, Alabama, investigators found Scott’s abandoned dinghy along with what appeared to be a suicide note, a .380-caliber handgun tied to the boat, and small amount of blood. His 1999 Toyota 4-Runner was in parking bay nearby.
Scott had been scheduled for a hearing to enter guilty pleas in the sex crimes case.
After Scott went missing and the boat was found, Judge Kathy King Jackson issued a warrant for his arrest.
Authorities then discovered Scott had two bank accounts, one at The People’s Bank and the other at The First bank.
A search of the accounts, the complaint said, showed that on June 13, 2018, a $47,000 wire transfer was deposited into Scott’s account at The First bank.
The following day, Scott wrote a personal check to himself for $45,000 and cashed it himself, the records say.
Just 11 days before Scott’s dinghy was found on July 30, authorities learned Scott had added a stepdaughter to his bank accounts, giving her control to make withdrawals.
According to the federal records, the stepdaughter withdrew $4,300 from the accounts during the first month after Scott went missing.
A cabin trip and a stop see Elvis
Soon after his disappearance, U.S. Marshals were asking for tips on any possible sighting of Scott, and the calls started coming in.
In December 2018, records say, Crime Stoppers got a tip that Scott had been seen at an apartment complex in Denver, Colorado. Scott’s brother and sister lived in Denver, and his mother, Melody Scott, had an apartment there, though she also has a home in Moss Point.
In an interview with Scott’s brother, authorities learned Scott had signed over the title of his red 1999 Mustang to his brother, and it was parked at his brother’s home.
Scott, the brother told authorities, had signed over the car to him because he wanted to “prevent his ex-wife from getting the car in the divorce.”
On Aug. 16, 2019, marshals got a tip from one of Scott’s relatives who said that he had stayed at a cabin in the mountains in Denver with his mother, brother and sister during a trip in July 2019.
Authorities later questioned those involved, but said one of the witnesses told them they did not realize Scott was wanted by authorities.
The same tipster told authorities that Scott had also gone on a trip to Memphis, Tennessee, with his mother “to see Elvis.”
Marshals later interviewed hotel staff in Tennessee and learned that a man matching Scott’s description had come into the hotel lobby with Melody Scott on Aug. 15, 2019, and that the man had followed her in the direction of her room.
After the Memphis trip, the complaint said, the Scott family took another trip to Hawaii, something investigators said they were able to confirm.
In all, authorities said, they received seven tips from people who said Scott was alive. An eighth tip reported to crimeshop.org. said Scott had been with the tipster during a stay at New Genesis Men’s Shelter in Denver in November 2018.
In addition, authorities received anonymous tips about possible sightings in Mississippi and Nevada.
