Hey, What are some ways you can think of where a person would be dead but the body not found? I was thinking drowning as a possibility, maybe a boat is found at sea or washed up somewhere. Any other ideas? This also takes place in the the 1940's, so technology is not as much of a factor. Thanks for the help
I mean...it isn't murder. But somehow the character has to be presumed dead without a body turning up. So there could be a fire. But the problem there is that you'd prob find a skeleton, so I'd need to explain that somehow. Or an explosion, but i assume even back then you'd find some evidence of a body. maybe not. I'm just looking for some brainstorming here on how a person might die without you finding a body. The point is, that later in the book we find out this character is very much alive.
How long do they have to stay dead for? I take it they're near water so the boat thing is probably best. Other than that, the easiest would be a presumed hunting accident or avalanche maybe (imo)? Both are pretty common reasons for people to be presumed dead and not be found until spring
I'd say drowning is a good bet, like they fell overboard, called off the search after a few days and declared them legally dead. This suggestion is a bit more 'out there" but maybe the person could have been out mountain climbing, or something adventurous, when some sort of natural disaster occurred near where they were (e.g. an avalanche), and based on this, they were presumed dead. Or maybe, being the 40s, the character was a soldier fighting during WWII, when his unit was blown up with landmines (or something of that nature), the bodies were so mangled and since forensics wasn't what it is today, anyone in the unit not found alive was presumed dead. Just a few suggestions.
Yeah, you're right. This is probably the most logical. OP should definitely go with this. That's what I would do.
Katrina sashayed thru the snow, hips swaying like a pendulum, her breasts thrust against the fabric of her silk blouse.Her unbridled sensuality triggered the equilibrium failure, snow barrelled down the mountain with the vengence of a chat-rat scorned. Behind her lagged the degenerate Jake, fumbling with his cell phone. The woman's good looks meant as much to him as a string of pearls means to a monkey, engrossed in the Boise State water polo play by play, he did not notice the impending doom
Ah I see. Now that you've edited from the original of this: It now makes more sense in the context of this thread? Cool.
Four members of the New Orleans based band Velvet Elvis are missing and presumed dead after raging floodwaters swept three cars off a bridge near Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi, early Wednesday after the ninth night of torrential rain hammered the Bayou .
Natural disasters such as hurricanes, tsunamis, earthquakes and tornadoes regularly cause people to go missing, and if they are missing long enough then they are presumed dead. People also get lost in the wilderness fairly often and will similarly be presumed dead if they aren't found after a certain amount of time.
After ten days of marriage my character uses 9/11 to fake his own death and run away to Key West with his boyfriend
Buried in a landslide/mudslide. Fell off a cliff in the wilderness, body ends up in a bear's gut (bones in the den). Burned in a forest fire. Died of natural causes, but body never identified (identification stolen from the corpse by transients). Accidental death in an abandoned building which is later demolished. That's off the top of my head. Use your imagination!
Plane crash in a desert or sea, e.g. the bodies of Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan were never found; when Antoine de Saint-Exupéry crashed, an unidentifiable body was found. Tens or hundreds of thousands of people also "disappear" during wars. Natural disasters, speleology or diving accidents, etc.
What if the person was hiding for whatever reason and died an accidental or natural death? That could certainly make the body harder to find.
