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Woman accused of faking son’s death
By Associated Press
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EDWARDSVILLE -- A Western Illinois woman was charged with disorderly conduct after Madison County prosecutors said she falsely claimed her teenage son had been killed in a car accident and staged a memorial service in his honor.

Meredith Sharp, 35, of Bethalto, was arrested Friday after the boy’s guardian in North Dakota alerted authorities to the ruse.

Prosecutors said Sharp was embarrassed to admit that her sister, who lives in Williston, N.D., was awarded legal custody of now 15-year-old Jacob Edward Sesseman.

To explain her son’s absence, authorities said Sharp fabricated the story, telling friends that the teen had been killed in an accident on Sept. 12. She arranged for an obituary in local newspapers and worked with a local funeral home to hold a memorial service several days later, even though the boy had never been injured in an accident and was alive and well.

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Reader comments on this story - 5 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Storm Chaser wrote on Oct 14, 2007 5:26 PM:

" This was probably a misunderstanding. These things happen all the time. I remember mumbling something to myself about these problems the other day. "

That is wrote on Oct 14, 2007 12:19 PM:

" BAD KARMA "

Barack Obama wrote on Oct 14, 2007 9:09 AM:

" I feel your pain. "

Mother who cares wrote on Oct 14, 2007 5:57 AM:

" My first thought was that she ought to be horsewhipped but then I felt sorry for her and her son. She obviously must be mentally disturbed to have concocted a story such as this. One never knows the anguish this child must have endured by this sick mother. I pray that she will be able to get some counseling. "

Mothman wrote on Oct 14, 2007 5:41 AM:

" Weirdo "
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