Woman Arrested for Faking Son's Death

(Bethalto, Illinois) A 35-year-old Bethalto mom, Meredith A. Sharp, was arrested and charged Thursday with disorderly conduct for allegedly falsifying her son's death in a stunt created to presumably save face in her community.

Sharp falsely claimed her son was killed in a traffic accident in North Dakota and then arranged for a memorial service to be held at a funeral home in Granite City on September 17th. Sharp also listed the boy's death in an obituary in a local newspaper.

The scheme was exposed when Sharp's sister in North Dakota contacted authorities and said the boy was alive and in her custody.

Capt. Brad Wells of the Madison County Sheriff's Department said Sharp had no financial reason for the scheme but rather wanted to stop answering questions from friends and family about the boy after the sister gained custody.

Sharp was booked into custody at the Madison County Jail with bail set at $5,000.

Boy, if Sharp desired to make local interest in her circumstances to die down, creating national interest is surely the wrong way to do it. In fact, the whole world now knows she lost custody of her son and tried to hide the fact by faking his death. At least in this case, Sharp was duller than a Stone Age ax.