The Disappearing Oil Tycoon

Ed Baker ran an oil investment firm in the state of Texas. In the 1980s, he made millions and was a leader in the industry. However, Ed’s gambling addiction and reckless spending caused his profits to dry up, and soon he was taking money out of his client’s accounts. In 1985, Ed’s investors asked for their money back, and he was forced to take a loan from Jonny 'Slipper' Simpson, an enforcer for the local Texan mafia.

When he didn’t pay them back, he started getting death threats. Facing the possibility of either prison time or punishment meted out by the mafia, Ed vanished on the night of November 6, 1985. His Jaguar was found burned to a crisp with the charred remains of a person in the front passenger seat. The body could not be identified, though police believe that it belonged to Ed.

Slipper Simpson was questioned when blood was found in the boot of his car. The police could not match it to Ed Baker and as no further bodies had been discovered, he was released on bail. Two days later, the mafia enforcer was found in his bathtub having been drowned in oil.

Years passed and neither the murder of Ed Baker or Slipper Simpson had been solved.

In 1992, a young student called Sharon Strike returned from university to Briarscliff, Texas and fell into conversation with an older man in a bar. The man was drunk and claimed to be on the run for what he claimed was 'a justifiable murder of a son of a bitch.' Suitably alarmed, Sharon made her excuses and approached a patrolman on the street outside of the bar. The patrolman returned to the bar with Sharon, but the man had gone.

However, he had left behind the bottle of beer he had been drinking from. Fingerprint analysis revealed the older man was Ed Baker.

And that was the last anyone ever heard from him.

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