Police Say Ala. Tax Lawyer, a Snack Food Heir, Staged Suicide to Look Like Murder
Authorities say they have solved the mystery surrounding the death of an Alabama tax lawyer and snack food heir whose body was pulled from a pond at a Birmingham, Ala., golf course March 15.
Major Bashinsky, son of the late CEO of Golden Flake Snack Foods, staged his own suicide to make it look like he had been abducted and murdered, according to Jefferson County Coroner Pat Curry. The Associated Press and the Birmingham News have stories.
Curry says Bashinsky, 63, loosely bound his mouth with duct tape and his hands and body with rope, placed a Golden Flake chips bag in his mouth, then walked into the pond and shot himself. Police believe Bashinsky is the author of angry letters about the snack food company found in his car and in a bottle attached to his body, and they were part of a ruse to suggest a murderer with a motive.
Bashinsky was a tax and estate-planning lawyer. A spokesman said the family accepted the suicide ruling but found it hard to comprehend.
