
His Body Was Behind the Wheel for a Week Before It Was Discovered - danso
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/23/nyregion/man-found-dead-in-car-new-york.html
======
danso
Besides how unusual it is for the NYT to write about the suicide of someone
non-famous, this story struck me as being very much of this modern age:

\- The deceased was a software developer (his last job was senior director of
development at Dell) who couldn't find work in his 50s and 60s and was living
on food stamps at the time of his death. [0]

\- He changed his name late in life because it was forever connected via
online search results to an incident of disorderly conduct that made the news.
[1]

\- He bought a vial of poison from the dark web.

\- His body, at the driver seat of his car, was ignored for a week in
Manhattan because people assumed he was just a napping Uber driver.

\- Despite his car being tracked by all the city's surveillance cameras and
license plate readers -- including the geo-coordinates of his last known phone
call -- the NYPD were unable to locate him.

\- The NYPD initially ignored the missing person report because it was faxed
instead of emailed.

[0] [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/brutal-job-search-
reality-...](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/brutal-job-search-reality-for-
older-americans-out-of-work#transcript)

[1] [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/geoffrey-weglarz-conn-man-
threw...](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/geoffrey-weglarz-conn-man-threw-food-
at-pregnant-mcdonalds-worker-police-say/)

~~~
wycs
Man does this motivate me to start saving more for retirement. No one and
nothing will be able to care for you more than your past selves.

~~~
davemp
Having close relationships with family and/or friends also helps if you need a
bit of care.

~~~
elheffe80
THIS!! Community is what keeps people alive. Mentally, physically,
emotionally, and what-ever-else-ally. Even hanging out with a younger crowd is
beneficial to you.

~~~
varjag
I think financially is prominently missing in your list, the hardest part.
There are limits to how much your community can help you with that, and there
are limits to how long you want to be a burden to them.

~~~
EADGBE
Financial means is certainly a requirement for a healthy retirement, but
parent and GP are _probably_ assuming that's handled, and so a focus on
relationships and community becomes top priority (or second).

Living alone with billions in the bank is still a lonely existence when the
rest of your world has forgotten about you.

------
biohax2015
As a mediocre mid-20s developer, I fear for my future.

~~~
aswanson
Save/invest your $. Tech is Logan's Run....age is red flag. If you dont have
your own profitable startup in the next 5-10 years, you may want to start
investing in another career path that values older people more.

~~~
biohax2015
Yeah, thinking about MD school. It doesn't seem like tech is a long-term
sustainable career.

~~~
eunoia
I feel like this might be the valley monoculture in play.

Counter example: I lead a software team doing new product development for a
multi billion company NOT in the valley. Plenty of my engineering coworkers
are grandparents. They are very much comfortably employed.

My boss is 50ish, young at heart and a brilliant software architect. He still
gets actively recruited and has no end of companies approaching him for
contracting gigs outside of work.

Find a niche and stay effective. You'll probably be employable forever.

~~~
deadmetheny
I live in the Midwest - it's absolutely Valley people convinced the tech world
outside the Valley is either the same, or cavemen banging on C64s. Age isn't a
detriment here, but you do have to be willing to work for established
companies that don't operate on hipster frameworks.

~~~
WalterSear
> you do have to be willing to work for established companies that don't
> operate on hipster frameworks.

Well, one man's established company and non-hipster framework is another man's
cave and commodore 64.

I've personally experienced a glaring cultural and technical difference
between work environments in the SF/Seattle areas and ones in other technology
hotspots - even within the same company.

~~~
konradb
> I've personally experienced a glaring cultural and technical difference
> between work environments in the SF/Seattle areas and ones in other
> technology hotspots

I'd be interested to hear about these if you had the time.

------
acdanger
I guess I am naive to be surprised that NYC records each and every license
plate that enters/exits the city.

[https://www.eff.org/pages/automated-license-plate-readers-
al...](https://www.eff.org/pages/automated-license-plate-readers-alpr)

~~~
albertgoeswoof
Given it’s an island with seriously extreme wealth it does make sense.

~~~
xxpor
I hate to have to point this out, but Manhatten is not NYC

~~~
tomnipotent
Edited: misunderstood OP, not relevant.

~~~
PhasmaFelis
Read the post two levels above yours.

------
cascom
What could have have been a contributing factor in his not being discovered
for so long: “The [car] windows were tinted.” That might have been useful
information in the first 80% of the article.

~~~
JackFaker
Window tint levels in NY state are limited to a minimum of 70% light
transmittance. I do not believe this is the most restrictive requirement but
new england isn't as sunny as Arizona or Florida.
[https://drivinglaws.aaa.com/tag/glass-window-
tinting/](https://drivinglaws.aaa.com/tag/glass-window-tinting/)

~~~
trevyn
Looks like Connecticut, where the vehicle may have been registered, allows 35%
VLT tint, and NY law allows out-of-state vehicles to have tint that conforms
to their home state's laws. Also, of course, tint laws are not always strictly
enforced.

~~~
jaxn
Tint laws are very-selectively enforced. Grossly disproportionate based on
skin color.

~~~
Spooky23
Now they are enforced during annual safety inspection.

People now buy packages where you pay annually and the tinting people will
remove your tint, inspect your car, and then re-tint the car on the same day!

------
JohnJamesRambo
>He was nearing the bottom financially. “I’ve gone through my savings. I’ve
gone through my 401(k). My unemployment last check is next week. I have about
$2,000 to my name, and after that, I don’t know.”

I don't mean to be callous but as he was spending down his 401k why didn't he
get a lower level job somewhere? A lot of this story seems to be about an
older man in tech that was too prideful to get any job he could get until he
found work at the caste level he was accustomed to in the past.

~~~
blinkingled
What about the divorce? Aren't you required to keep paying your alimony at the
same level as before or go to jail? I am no divorce settlement expert but
isn't that a reason one would want to keep up the earning levels?

~~~
cheez
Jail might have been better for this guy. 3 squares, tv, shelter.

~~~
blinkingled
Except for that pesky pride part.

------
tjf83
If anyone is curious what the surrounding area is like, I did some sleuthing
and found the exact spot on Google Maps where this occurred:
[https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7282362,-73.9792943,3a,75y,2...](https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7282362,-73.9792943,3a,75y,272.5h,64.16t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1shOr8-PGDI4ZC3e491SHulw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192)

~~~
olivermarks
...very depressing to see this profoundly banal street view

------
mjevans
This is one case where...

    
    
        * If a person is suspected as missing in an area
        * and family or other business associates
        * file a missing persons report (and they SHOULD be able to do so)
        * including contact details like a cell phone
    

They should be required to try ringing the phone number first, from a clearly
marked public services line. It would be nice if it were impossible to be
spoofed (might be the case for mobile?) and if the phone indicated it was
emergency services contacting the owner.

If there isn't a response, all of the above should be glanced at by a judge to
double check everything is in order and it isn't an attempt at violating
someone's right to privacy. Who will thus approve a warrant for the local
wireless data providers / service providers for their mobile to obtain it's
present point of connection and address. Further that if it isn't within range
at the time of checking, to get a history to see if it was since the last
known / current known.

------
at-fates-hands
I remember seeing this a while ago, but its always stuck with me:

 _For many years I worked in palliative care. My patients were those who had
gone home to die. Some incredibly special times were shared. I was with them
for the last three to twelve weeks of their lives._

 _People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt
never to underestimate someone 's capacity for growth. Some changes were
phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear,
anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient
found their peace before they departed though, every one of them._

 _When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do
differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common
five:_

[http://hospicepatients.org/five-regrets-of-the-dying-
bronnie...](http://hospicepatients.org/five-regrets-of-the-dying-bronnie-
ware.html)

------
WheelsAtLarge
There's not much to do for the poor guy now but this is really a learning
incident for techs in general. It warns that you have to think about the
future. A job is never guaranteed and as you get older it gets harder to get
one.

------
pkaye
This is a concern I have moving from a software developer to a manager role.
Companies tend to have a lot fewer managerial positions and it can be hard to
backtrack to a developer position later in life.

------
DanBC
This kind of reporting kills people. I'm always amazed at how irresponsible US
newspapers are around reporting suspected suicide.

~~~
MFLoon
I don't buy that. This is a "slice of life" (slice of death?) piece telling a
unglamorous but probably quite demographically representative about an older
American getting pushed to their limit by a confluence of social factors. It's
not a sensationalizing piece about someone jumping in public or some other
sort of "blaze of glory" style suicide. Nor is it a headline - its in the NY
region section, which people outside the region don't receive in print and
probably don't click into online.

~~~
DanBC
> I don't buy that.

We have a variety of research.

We have testimony from survivors who tells us that they were influenced by
reports that include details of method, location, speculated reasons why the
person killed themself, or details of the affect on friends and relatives.

We can see in the months and years after a particular story is released how
that influences deaths by suicide. Asphyixiation with helium became a lot more
common in the UK after Michael Portillo made a tv programme about painless
ways of capital punishment. Death by overdosing increases after tv shows
depict a character dying by that method.

> It's not a sensationalizing piece

It doesn't have to be.

~~~
MFLoon
Even given the existence of research establishing statistically significant
correlation, I don't buy that that means there should just be a blanket gag on
writing about suicide in the news. Just because there's some second order
effect of disseminating some information doesn't mean we ought to withhold
that information. Maybe there are numerous positive second order effects as
well, which just aren't as easily measured. Just because some people have a
bad reaction to some information doesn't justify taking away everyone else's
freedom to share or access said information.

------
fvargas
Based on the phrasing of the title, I half expected the "wheel" to be that
belonging to a Tesla that somehow managed to remain engaged on autopilot for a
week... would have been impressive.

That said, what's to stop a situation like that from arising as autonomous
vehicles become more sophisticated?

~~~
adrianN
I suppose manufacturers would eventually add a sensor to detect heart rate.

------
LifeIsJustOK
This is strange to read because I'm an unemployed and seemingly unemployable
software developer with dwindling savings who is seriously considering a
peaceful way off of this planet. There's a point where it goes beyond
depression and just becomes sheer pragmatism. I just don't want to starve and
lose everything.

It looks like this fellow was intelligent, talented, good-looking tbh, and yet
ended up broke somehow. It's strangely serendipitous to come upon an article
like this at this particular point in my life. Seeing this happen to someone
else certainly doesn't lift my spirits.

~~~
archibaldJ
Come to Asia mate. You can live a much more stress-free life in countries like
Thailand as a digital nomad and travel around from islands to islands and
mountains to mountains and jungles to jungles. Or settling down for a few
years & taking local dev/design/teaching/translation jobs. Your skills will be
highly appreciated here. The cost of living is much cheaper & foods are good
too.

------
jacobsimon
Sounds like an episode of black mirror

------
anjc
I don't get the point in trying to make sense of a death - he was broke,
unemployed, used up etc - when the man seems to just have had mental issues
long term. Perhaps the stress of his existence might explain throwing food at
a worker, but texting your sister about how bad poison tastes?

People shouldn't be using this as a warning-story, this guy had bigger issues
than unemployment.

~~~
danso
I agree that the reasons for suicide don’t often fit into the logical
narrative that we imagine. For example, it’s hard to blame Aaron Swartz’s
suicide completely on his fear of prison, given that he killed himself well
before trial. But it doesn’t mean that the stress of prosecution had no impact
on his state of well-being.

Likewise, I think in this case, the impact of financial distress shouldn’t be
discounted. He had been for years unhappy about being unemployed and poor. And
he ended up killing himself just hours after the bank declined to cash the
check he’d gotten from selling his possessions.

I don’t see the way he texted his sister to be particularly abnormal,
especially if he had a dramatic personality in life (being an aspiring actor
and all). What is the normal way for someone to act after just having drank
poison?

~~~
anjc
> What is the normal way for someone to act after just having drank poison?

I suppose you're right. I just don't think young people (in this thread) need
to look at him and worry for their future.

------
bobiebrown
If you know tech and know how to manage, there is always a career in crime.
Trust me on that. Best thing: You can start immediately, don't have to write
job applications anymore. Actually, I think I would have been pretty good in
law enforcement or an "agency" too. But this is not the road that was
available for me.

"Two people are lost in the desert with only one water bottle. There is not
enough water for both people to reach civilization. Who gets the water, or do
they share it (and both die)? .... Rabbi Akiva, whose opinion is the accepted
one, declared that the owner of the water is the one who should drink the
water. " Because it is my duty to live.

------
crooked-v
Just think about what the stories will be like in 50 years with self-driving
cars...

~~~
retox
That's what I thought the story was going to be about from the headline.
Someone who died at the wheel of an automated car and wasn't discovered for a
week because the car was programmed to ferry the body between locations and
automatically recharge itself at electric stations.

There's a short story in that, Mary Celeste 2.0

~~~
crooked-v
I wonder what the initial investment would be to pay for recharges for an
electric self-driving car indefinitely. Sure, the car would have to stop
_eventually_ for lack-of-maintenance reasons, but I have to imagine it could
last for quite a long time...

~~~
mjevans
Would probably be the tires first.

------
hedvig
What would be in that vial?

~~~
quotha
Pentobarbitone

~~~
cabaalis
> If you are having thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention
> Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources
> for a list of additional resources.

------
jablan
I'm so thankful for HN comments, because I simply can't read articles written
in this manner, I really don't buy this US-magazine writing style. What
happened with inverted pyramid?! If I wanted to read a novel, I'd go to a
library.

------
theonemind
I usually consider these stories focusing on a single situation or person bad
journalism. If this represents a larger trend, then at best, they could
include it as part of a larger story with data or evidence to back up showing
a rising trend.

This just comes across as sensationalist shock-value story time to me. I would
really like to see these go away in "news". This constitutes an anecdote, not
news.

~~~
danso
The story does not assert a trend or a bigger picture, so I don’t see that it
needs to justify itself with data. In any case, data is the plural of
anecdote, and even a single anecdote can hint at the contours of a bigger
system. I think most people would find it hard to believe that a dead man
could go undiscovered for a week in one of Manhattan’s most popular
neighborhoods, especially with the presumed level of surveillance in NYC. Most
people assume things are more orderly and connected — such as the city’s
license plate readers cross-referencing the missing person reports — than the
hodgepodge of systems that they usually are in reality

