So, I was bouncing around the Intarwebs earlier looking for more stories to add to the GoFundMe fraud tracker when I came across the curious case of Colton Harris-Moore.
If that name sounds vaguely familiar to you, it should. Colton — also known as the ‘Barefoot Bandit’ — came to fame in 2010 after stealing a plane in Indiana and fleeing to the Bahamas. Prior to being captured in the Bahamas, he spent two years on the run.
Despite an abusive upbringing Colton’s attorney likened to that “worse than a dog’s,” and although he is currently serving a 6 1/2 year prison sentence for a variety of theft and burglary charges, the young man recently took to GoFundMe in a desperate attempt to raise $230,000 to have his mother cryogenically preserved in order to beat a terminal cancer diagnosis.
He wrote:
Dear friends:
My name is Colton Harris Moore. I am the 25 year-old son of Pam Kohler. I am part of a small team of amazing people working to save Pam’s life. Pam has lung cancer and the doctors have given up on her. Now WE are the only hope Pam has to survive, and within that, the only option she has is Cryopreservation. I am writing this letter to explain why this is her only option and why Cryonics makes perfect sense.
If that reads like a far-fetched grasp at future straws yet to be determined, it should. The science is still as much of a “what if” as it was back when Rose dreamed she and the other Golden Girls had their heads frozen.
Regardless, Colton was confident Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale — the same ‘resting place’ of Red Sox great Ted Williams — could offer his beloved mother renewed life.
Sadly, in an update posted just one day ago by GoFundMe page owner Beverly Davis, it seems Pam perished before the money to suspend her indefinitely could be raised.
The fundraiser currently stands at $0.