Davidson reportedly forced his wife to help him leave the minimum-security federal prison in Colorado where he was serving time for his role in spam scams.

Thomas Claburn, Editor at Large, Enterprise Mobility

July 24, 2008

2 Min Read

Edward Davidson, the "spam king" who reportedly forced his wife to help him escape from a Colorado prison on Sunday, has killed himself, a woman, and a toddler, according to The Denver Post.

Earlier Thursday, Colorado NBC affiliate 9News.com reported that three people had been found dead in an apparent murder-suicide in the area of East Arkansas Place, near the town of Bennett, Colo.

The identities of the victims were not disclosed at the time.

Responding to an inquiry from InformationWeek, an officer with the Lakewood, Colo., police department said that he had heard that Davidson might have been involved in the incident, but that he could not confirm that.

The Denver Post and 9News.com have since reported that the victims are Davidson and his family.

An article in The Rocky Mountain News said that Davidson had forced his wife to help him leave the minimum-security federal prison in Florence, Colo., in order to return to his wife's home in Lakewood for a change of clothes.

The story said that he was last seen leaving in her 2006 silver Toyota Sequoia but did not say that anyone was with him at the time.

Reached at the crime scene, Mark Campbell, undersheriff for Arapahoe County, said he could not confirm the identities of the victims until further investigative work was done and the next of kin were notified. However, he did confirm that the vehicle at the scene is a Toyota SUV.

"At about 11:15 a.m. this morning, sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the 4300 block of East Arkansas Place, which is in unincorporated Arapahoe County, Colo.," said Campbell. "That is southwest of the town of Bennett, Colo.

"When deputies arrived on the scene, we did find a male adult, deceased, by the driver's door of a silver SUV," said Campbell. "We did find a female adult, deceased, by the passenger door of the SUV, and we did find a 7- to 8-month-old little boy in the back seat who appeared to be uninjured, but he was transported by rescue personnel as a precaution. Unfortunately, inside the car we also found a little girl who we believe was about 3 years old and she was deceased. We did find another victim who was shot and who managed to run to a neighbor's house. She's a teenage girl and she was transported with a gunshot wound, but she was coherent and talking to rescue personnel."

Davidson had served less than two months of his 21-month prison sentence when he escaped.

About the Author(s)

Thomas Claburn

Editor at Large, Enterprise Mobility

Thomas Claburn has been writing about business and technology since 1996, for publications such as New Architect, PC Computing, InformationWeek, Salon, Wired, and Ziff Davis Smart Business. Before that, he worked in film and television, having earned a not particularly useful master's degree in film production. He wrote the original treatment for 3DO's Killing Time, a short story that appeared in On Spec, and the screenplay for an independent film called The Hanged Man, which he would later direct. He's the author of a science fiction novel, Reflecting Fires, and a sadly neglected blog, Lot 49. His iPhone game, Blocfall, is available through the iTunes App Store. His wife is a talented jazz singer; he does not sing, which is for the best.

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