Journal of Economic Criminology 4 (2024) 100061

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Economic Criminology

journal homepage: www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-economic-criminology

Exploring relation fraud, murder,and the Fraud Triangle☆

James W. Marquarta, , R. Alan Thompsonb
⁎ ]]
]]]]]]
]]

a
Texas Christian University, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, USA
b
The University of Southern Mississippi, School of Criminal Justice, Forensic Science, and Security, USA

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This article examines the dynamics of relation fraud resulting in the murder of a grandparent by her grandson.
Relation fraud While such instances are admittedly rare as forms of both murder and fraud more generally, this unique case
Homicide nonetheless demonstrates that relation fraud resulting in murder is a significant problem worthy of further
Victimology systematic empirical examination. In particular, Cressey’s Fraud Triangle is applied through a process of in-
Fraud Triangle
ductive analytic reasoning to explain the motivations of a grandson who defrauded and then killed his grand-
Inductive reasoning
mother for her estate money in order to pay off escort debts and make plans for a new financial start post-
murder. The paper contributes to the use of fraud typologies, relation fraud, the Fraud Triangle, elder crime
victimology, and the use of analytic induction in theory development and refinement.

On July 18, 2014, Mildred Harrington (or “Dodie” as she was called illustrate the Fraud Triangle (Cressey, 1953). While all murders necessarily
by close friends and family), an 85-year-old grandmother, was brutally involve a victim, the act as well as its underlying motivations vary widely.
murdered in her own bed in the dark of night. The crime scene was a Some offenders kill out of rage, others are predatory and like to stalk or hunt
residence in East Dundee, Illinois—a small town about 40 miles west of their victims, some kill during the commission of another felony, some for
Chicago. Police detectives arrived on the scene and discovered that hire, others kill while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and the list
nothing was stolen, nothing was moved or disturbed, and an autopsy goes on. In fact, some people even kill just for the hell of it, as Johnny Cash
revealed that she had not been sexually assaulted. The weapon used to (1968) described in the song Folsom Prison Blues where he describes having
kill Dodie was a sharp-tipped “Re-Con” knife that had been forced into “…shot a man in Reno just to watch him die.” Just as disturbing, there are
the throat, severing her jugular vein. Mercifully, death was almost in- still others who kill a member of their own family member out of lust for
stantaneous, as she bled to death in less than one minute. Investigators, money, the need to pay off debts, or support a secret and expensive lifestyle.
family, and friends all asked: Who and why would someone do this and In specific, this article examines relation fraud through the case
what was the motive? study approach as applied to a particular crime involving a grandson
As to questions regarding motive, it was neither a sexual attack nor a who murdered his grandmother for estate money to pay off growing
robbery. There were no signs of a struggle, and the bedroom was not debt fueled by an appetite for Las Vegas escorts and sexual trysts. In
disturbed. Gift cards worth hundreds of dollars laid in the open where doing so, we apply Cressey’s (1953) concept of the Fraud Triangle to
they could most certainly be observed by the killer(s). There were no explain why the murder was committed. We conclude the article by
signs of forced entry - in fact, a window above the bed was propped discussing the role and importance of analytic induction as a theoretical
open by a spent Listerine bottle, perhaps with the hope of catching a tool in the study of relation fraud, especially as it applies to those cases
summer evening breeze. Neighbors up and down the road told in- culminating in murder, which we refer to as extreme or apex crimes.
vestigators that they saw or heard nothing peculiar. Whoever com-
mitted this murder had presumably entered the house with some level 1. Research methods
of familiarity to then commit the surprise attack in silence.
This article is about relation fraud and family crime, using a brutal This article is based upon a larger scholarly project resulting in a
murder involving a defenseless elderly victim and its motivations to book entitled “Unthinkable: Who Kills their Grandmother?” (Marquart,

☆
This paper benefitted greatly from the editorial and conceptual input offered by the editor and reviewers. We thank them for the suggestions which meaningfully
improved the final manuscript.
⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: jmarquart@me.com (J.W. Marquart), alan.thompson@usm.edu (R. Alan Thompson).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconc.2024.100061
Received 18 September 2023; Received in revised form 15 March 2024; Accepted 22 March 2024
2949-7914/© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/
4.0/).
J.W. Marquart and R. Alan Thompson Journal of Economic Criminology 4 (2024) 100061

2022). The research methodology employed for this article (as well as The analytical goal was threefold: (1) to identify the activities,
the book) consisted of analyzing official police and judicial documents strategies, contexts, and behaviors of relation fraud; (2) to examine the
and records, as well as direct communications with the offender, Rich relationship between behaviors and context involving the offender; and
Schmelzer, who has maintained his innocence from the point of arrest (3) to understand and explain the behavior of a murderous fraudster
through his current stay in prison. This article represents one aspect of a within an empirically grounded model (e.g., Cressey, 1953). Finally,
grounded theory approach based on the book and contributes to the detailed documentation of the data handling and the coding scheme
study of economic crime. makes it possible for future researchers to judge the transferability of
In the end, ours is a classic case-study approach in the style of Shaw the data to other populations or other situational contexts. The poten-
(1930) intended to better understand a unique criminal phenomenon—the tial transferability of the identified criteria is also supported by the fact
confluence of relation fraud and the murder of a family member. that they have been widely documented in previous research works
The impetus for the book from which this article is drawn stems (Mohottige, et al., 2018).
from the primary author’s purchase of a residential property, in sub-
urban Dallas, Texas, that he later learned was previously owned by 2. Why studying relation fraud among the elderly is important
Schmelzer. The data collection for the book project began with con-
tacting individuals involved as well as exhaustively researching media Sadly, the financial exploitation of elderly Americans is becoming
accounts of the crime. From there, further data collection involved increasingly widespread in contemporary society. In fact, financial ex-
obtaining available official investigative and judicial documents and ploitation of the elderly as a form of crime continues to increase with
records. In sum, more than half a year was spent accumulating docu- each passing year. To illustrate, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s
ments and records, followed by numerous hours and months reviewing Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 92,371 fraud-related
roughly 2000 pages of official records or data which included actual complaints from individuals over age 60 in 2021 alone. These reports,
court exhibits. Given the academic interest in better understanding the which no doubt underestimate the full extent of the problem, re-
theoretical linkages between relation fraud and murder as represented presented ∼$1.7 billion in personal financial losses with more than
by the current case study, it was deemed vitally important to rely most 3133 individuals losing more than $100,000. (United States
heavily upon official sources of data (Carter, 2021). The list below il- Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2022). Overall,
lustrates the kinds and types of data examined in this research. the estimated average loss per victim was ∼$18,246. These dollar
amounts are not insignificant considering that many older Americans
1. Official trial transcripts are living on fixed incomes. Total losses reported in 2021 also represent
2. Evidentiary documents and reports (e.g., financial transaction re- a 24% percent increase in the two-year period since 2019. As noted
cords, credit card transaction records, banking statements.) above, another disconcerting aspect of this problem is that many oc-
3. Police reports currences go unreported to or unknown by law enforcement thereby
4. Crime scene photographs escaping widely relied upon official measures of crime (Scroxton,
5. Autopsy reports and photographs 2021). A recent meta-analysis of existing literature on the topic of elder
6. Coroner reports fraud revealed that financial scams were a common problem, affecting
7. Expert witness testimony and reports approximately 1 of every 18 cognitively intact, community-dwelling
8. Arrest records and reports older adults each year (Deane, 2018). The conclusion to be taken from
9. Search warrant affidavits this finding is that the issue (regarded by some as a “virtual epidemic”),
10. Appellate court documents and records clearly warrants focused attention from researchers, clinicians, and
11. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and resulting official policymakers (Mather, 2016).
responses Why, some might reasonably ask, is research regarding fraud and
12. Direct correspondence/communications with the offender (Rich the financial exploitation of elderly citizens, as outlined in this article, a
Schmelzer) timely and important topic for empirical exploration? The answer to
13. Direct communications with the offender’s biological father. this question, in addition to the context established above, becomes
evident when one considers that an average of ∼10,000 “baby
Following initial review of several official records, a coding scheme boomers” turn 65 years old every day – a rate that is projected to
was created to assist with data collection and analysis efforts. Data continue until the year 2030. By 2030, one-in-five persons in the
coding reliability was established through generally accepted metho- country is projected to be 65 or older, with total numbers approaching
dological practices, resulting in an improved coding scheme, and sub- ∼74 million. Even more staggering is the estimate that by 2050, the
sequent understanding of the heavily qualitative information. The data elderly population in American is expected to reach ∼88 million, and
coding process focused on the elements or themes of Cressey’s Fraud by 2060 more than ∼98 million (Ortman, et al., 2014). Indeed, without
Triangle, looking for data/content guided by the three concepts of effective primary prevention strategies, the absolute scope of this pro-
“pressures,” “opportunity,” and “rationalizations.” Twenty other data blem will no doubt continue to escalate alongside the growing popu-
categories also emerged such as “possible innocence,” “arrest,” “for- lation of older adults, a phenomenon which has been referred to as the
ensics and cell phone communication,” “retained counsel,” and “cus- “greying” of the American population. This is not to suggest that a di-
todial interrogation.” These latter data categories were instrumental in rect correlation exists regarding population growth within a particular
the ability to create an entire case narrative. age demographic and crime; rather, it is to propose that an increase in
Data Analysis: The analysis process was inductive and took a targets may well to lead to an increase in victims. Only time will tell.
grounded theory approach (Schamber, 2000). Specifically, the docu- Demographic evidence aside, the consequences of financial ex-
ment trove was content analyzed for examples of “pressure,” “oppor- ploitation among older Americans arguably also represents a growing
tunity,” and “rationalizations.” Examples for each were used to create public health concern. Financial exploitation of the elderly has been
an index, like that found in a book, which noted the example category, linked to increased mortality, hospitalization rates, and poor physical
page number in the running record, and location on the record’s page and mental health (Office for Victims of Crime, 2021). Healthcare
(e.g., paragraph 1, paragraph 2 etc.). These examples or themes were professionals working with the elderly are likely to routinely encounter
then extracted from the original record and then placed in separate patients who are victims of financial fraud. The development and va-
folders for further inductive analysis and use as vignettes to illustrate lidation of instruments to screen for risk of financial exploitation for use
Cressey’s conceptual framework (Miles and Huberman, 1994; Weber, in clinical settings is an important area in need of future research. In the
1990; Glaser and Strauss, 1967). absence of such effective primary prevention strategies, the absolute

2
J.W. Marquart and R. Alan Thompson Journal of Economic Criminology 4 (2024) 100061

scope of this crime problem will no doubt also escalate alongside the Research by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau indicates
growing population of elderly adults as previously asserted. that about 25 percent of Elder Financial Exploitation (or EFE), as
The impending growth in the over-60–65 population represents a measured by Suspicious Activity Reports (SAR’s) filed with the U.S.
“target rich” environment for unscrupulous offenders to exploit into the federal government, involved family members as suspects (Bureau of
indefinite future. Fortunately, the federal as well as most state gov- Consumer Financial Protection, 2020). Most important, not only was a
ernments have begun to recognize this crime trend and are beginning to monetary loss more common when the older adult knew the suspect,
devote additional resources to the problem, mostly in the investigation but the amount of financial loss was also greater. Furthermore, the loss
and prosecution of offenders (Federal Trade Commission, 2023). In- was more common and greater when the suspect had a fiduciary role or
deed, basic research is needed to not only guide policymakers about responsibility. Along these lines, what remains unknown is the fre-
tasks such as resource allocation and the passage of criminal legislation, quency of family frauds that result in a homicide.
but to also aid in the development of awareness and prevention pro- To be sure, episodes that result in homicide represent an extreme
grams that can be used to protect vulnerable adults. We also need basic form of relation fraud. Thus, just as Ted Bundy was an “apex” sexual
research on single family fraud schemes to better understand how these killer (DiLisi, 2023) so too can relation fraud resulting in murder be
cases unfold and how these cases can better inform theoretical and/or regarded as an apex crime committed by offenders who may be referred
typological development and refinement which only enhances the re- to as “apex family abusers.”
search process. The existing body of research tends to indicate that financial abuse
is most often carried out by sons (Darzins, et al., 2009). However, what
remains unknown is how often elder fraud committed by a family
3. Relation fraud
member results in the murder of that individual. One way to arguably
obtain a glimpse into the victim/offender relationship is to examine
In the research literature, there are many “fraud typologies” or
elderly homicide victims in general. In a meta-analysis of elderly ho-
conceptual frameworks that have been created or developed to illus-
micide victim research, Rogers and Storey (2019) found that elderly
trate victim categories and forms of fraudulent activities. One such
homicide victims tend to be killed by somebody that they know, and
typology proposed by Levi (2008), although not exhaustive, illustrates
that elderly women in particular are far more likely to be killed by a
the overall complexity of contexts and settings for fraudulent activity
family member. The present case study involves a distinct form of
victimization to occur. The typology clearly illustrates that there is a
killing and represents the extreme end of the “fraud continuum” - the
wide range of frauds (e.g., lending frauds, money-making scams, em-
murder of a family member (grandmother) by another family member
bezzlement, counterfeit money, etc.) that affect individuals and busi-
(grandson) during the commission of relation fraud.
nesses. Other researchers (see Button, et al., 2000) have made or noted
This study also seeks to contribute to the Levi (2008) fraud typology
similar findings regarding the types and dynamics of fraud (Levi, 2008).
by adding a “column” with the broad label of “harm” that captures
(Table 1)
information such as: what happened to the victims? For example, such
These crimes are also perpetrated by a wide range of offenders (e.g.,
an expansion of Levi’s (2008) typology as applied to the present case
strangers, foreign nationals, friends, family members, etc.). For example,
study yields the following additional information:
romance fraud occurs when a relationship is (typically) initiated online
and develops to the point where one of the parties believes they are in a
1. Victim Sector: private (Dodie Harrington, private citizen)
serious romantic relationship with the other individual. Unfortunately, the
a. Subsector: financial services: embezzlement, payment card, theft
“other individual” is a fraudster who makes a career out of developing
2. Harm: Harm is a continuum (from no harm or financial loss up to
relationships with others online, obtaining their confidence, and then
and including murder) and involves personal and property injury or
defrauding them of their assets. While online technology is often required
loss. In our case, Rich Schmelzer (grandson) defrauded and then
in this type of fraud, it is not a necessity and can also unfold “face-to-face”
murdered his grandmother.
within the confines of a friendship network, a family, or even a business
setting (Lazarus, et al., 2023). Fraud involving family members is referred
to family fraud, and there currently seems to exist relative gaps in the 4. Murder by the numbers
research literature on the intersection of family fraud, victimology, and
offenders (Lokanan and Sharma, 2023). Eventually Dodie Harrington’s murder was reported to the Federal
Thinking about the many kinds of fraud, it is easy to assume that Bureau of Investigation for annual tabulation (Marquart, 2022). This
those who perpetrate fraud are strangers (or “scampreneurs”) lurking federal agency expends enormous resources in counting crimes in
the internet hunting the vulnerable or falsely making friends or lovers America, especially murder. We think it is important to understand how
while seeking to take advantage of a friendship or close relationship for one federal agency collects data on crime in America, as well as for you
nefarious or financial reasons (Button, et al., 2000). Family fraud, to understand the rarity of the kind of murder described in this pa-
however, is perpetrated by spouses or ex-spouses, caregivers, parents, per—murder in the family.
children, and even grandchildren against other family members. In An abundance of data regarding crime in the United States, in-
many cases, “family fraudsters” gained access to the personal in- cluding murder, can be found in the United States Department of
formation (e.g., credit card or bank accounts, medical records, wills, Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation report Crime in the United
and estate information) of other family members for criminal reasons States. In 2019, there were roughly 8 million crimes reported to the
(Cressey, 1950). police. In 2000, there were 15,586 murders reported to the police out of

Table 1
Types and Dynamics of Relation Fraud (Levi, 2008).

Victim Sector: Victim Sub-sector: Non-exhaustive examples of fraud:

Private Financial services Check fraud, counterfeit intellectual property or products sold as genuine, Insurance fraud
Non-financial services Embezzlement, procurement fraud, lending fraud
Individuals Consumer fraud, investment fraud, pension fraud
National bodies Benefit fraud, tax fraud
Public Local bodies Embezzlement, frauds on local taxes,
International bodies Procurement fraud

3
J.W. Marquart and R. Alan Thompson Journal of Economic Criminology 4 (2024) 100061

1.4 million violent crimes in total; in 2010 there were 14,722 murders Illinois prison system. His sentence was to be served day for day, and
out of 1.2 million violent crimes; and in 2019 there were 16,425 today he resides as an inmate in a downstate Illinois prison. Why did
murders out of 1.2 million total violent crimes reported to the police Schmelzer drive roundtrip from Frisco, Texas to East Dundee, Illinois,
(United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, roughly 2000 miles, in 28 hours, to kill his grandmother? The headlines
2020). The UCR data also show that the circumstances surrounding said he killed Dodie for her estate money; he committed a brutal
how murder victims are killed vary widely. Some victims are shot; murder of a family member for financial gain. Case closed; legally yes,
others are beaten to death; some are poisoned; and some killers use but there is still one lingering question and that is, “what led the de-
explosives or fire. Some victims are also drowned. Firearms are in- fendant to plan and carry out this brutal crime?” What happened be-
volved in most murders and handguns are typically the weapon of tween 1996 and that fateful day in July 2014?
choice.
The family, like any social institution, is not immune from violence, 6. Motives for murder
let alone murder. So horrific are these crimes that they are referred to as
“familicide,” a form of murder defined as the killing of one’s current or Many things lead individuals to commit murder, but in the end,
former spouse/intimate partner, and one or more children. There is also there are three general motives for this type of violent crime. The
a unique vocabulary to describe the murder of certain family members. reasons typically revolve around financial greed, sexual lust, and the
The killing of a parent is called parricide, and killing one’s father is pursuit of power. Financial obligations have a long history as a moti-
patricide, and killing your mother is matricide, and filicide is when a vation for murder. Ruth Snyder was the first woman in the United
parent kills a child. The overall incidence of familial murder is ex- States to be put to death via electrocution and on January 12, 1928, she
tremely rare, and it has been estimated that there are maybe 1–2 fa- was executed in the electric chair for the murder of her husband. Her
milicides per 10 million persons (Bourget, et al., 2007). lover, Henry Gray, was executed minutes later, in the same electric
UCR data for 2019 indicates approximately 6.9 million property chair. The prison’s reasoning here on the order of death was to execute
crimes nationally (larceny, theft, motor vehicle theft). At the same time, the most distraught first followed by the “calmer” offender (Klara,
in 2019, there were an estimated 1.2 million violent crimes reported to 2023). So, Ruth went first.
the police. Interestingly, 17% of those property crimes reported to the The pair strangled Ruth’s husband in the hopes of cashing in on an
police were cleared by arrest. By comparison, 45.5% of violent crimes insurance settlement. In another infamous crime, Truman Capote
are cleared by arrest (United States Department of Justice, Federal (1965) wrote one of the first true crime books “In Cold Blood” about
Bureau of Investigation, 2020). Getting away with stealing a car is very two down-and-out ex-cons who, in 1959, murdered a family in rural
different from killing, robbing, or sexually assaulting someone. The Kansas. They slaughtered the family members over money they thought
odds are greater that one will get caught for committing a violent act. was stashed (and quickly found out there was no cash) in the victims’
Solving violent crime is where law enforcement expends its greatest home. But how does something so ghastly like murder over money
investigative effort and resources. Not solving violent crime puts poli- occur? What leads to the fateful decision to kill?
tical pressure on elected officials who in turn put more pressure on the
police, especially the leadership, to “do something, do anything.” 7. Analytic induction and the Fraud Triangle
The FBI data also provides useful information about murder victims.
In 2019, there were 13,927 murders. Interestingly, the data also shows Analytic induction is a formal, qualitative method for building up
that among those total victims, 85 were husbands, 482 were wives, 166 causal explanations of phenomena from a close and detailed examina-
were mothers, 178 were fathers, 259 were sons, 171 were daughters; tion of cases, typically one case or one event at a time (Katz, 2001);
115 were brothers, and 27 were sisters. In the “other” category, there documenting regularities in different forms of behavior. We employ this
were 327 victims (United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau conceptual technique to the case of Rich Schmelzer to explain how he
of Investigation, 2020). became a “fraudster” and then murdered his own grandmother. We
Doing some simple math and combining these categories, we found explain his behavior through the Fraud Triangle as developed by
that family murder victims accounted for 1810 victims or 13% of the criminologist Donald Cressey (1953).
total victims of murder reported in 2019 (United States Department of Cressey developed the “Fraud Triangle” concept in the 1940's as
Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2020). The FBI data, though doctoral student. Basically, the hypothesis states:
very detailed and well-organized, as well as used by state governments,
Trusted persons become trust violators when they perceive of
university professors, and crime analysts throughout the United States,
themselves as having a financial problem which is non-shareable
does not drill down deep enough into reporting on the murder of
[pressure], are aware that this problem can be secretly resolved by
grandparents. We suspect the “other” category may contain uni-
violation of the position of financial trust [opportunity], and are
dentified family victims and maybe even a grandparent or two. In the
able to apply to their own conduct in that situation which enable
case at hand, who would murder a grandparent, a seemingly very rare
them to adjust their conceptions of themselves as trusted persons
event? Most important why would anyone kill a grandparent?
with their conceptions of themselves as users of the trusted funds or
property [rationalization]’ (Cressey, 1953, p.30).
5. Arrest of a suspect
Cressey then tested this hypothesis in a study involving 133 con-
Back to the murder of Dodie Harrington. After some 900 hours of victed male embezzlers. His work, however, was not without chal-
investigative work, in Texas and Illinois, detectives focused on a single lenges. First, his research was conducted in the 1940’s and 1950’s,
suspect, Rich Schmelzer, who was arrested at his Frisco, Texas home in making it both culturally and historically bound. The rationalizations
August of 2014. Schmelzer, who was born in Illinois in 1973, married and dynamics of embezzlement may be very different today. Second,
his wife Jennifer in August 1996. To find greener pastures and start much of the research on embezzlers involves convicted embezzlers;
anew, the two moved to Frisco, Texas in August of 2006 where they little to no significant research has examined active embezzlers. Third,
purchased a roughly 5,000 square foot home and later put in a swim- the Fraud Triangle may have limited predictive capabilities. Fourth,
ming pool for their four children, all girls. They even hired an au-pair to organizations and businesses often use the fraud triangle in training
oversee their children. Rich was an athletic trainer at a local high programs. However, it is doubtful that these organizations or businesses
school and his wife worked at an insurance firm not far from home. have any “inside” personal knowledge about their employees as to
Following arrest and extradition, Rich was tried and convicted for whether they are experiencing financial “pressures” (Tickner and
Dodie’s murder in 2016 and subsequently sentenced to 45 years in the Button, 2021). While any theoretical model, typology, or taxonomy has

4
J.W. Marquart and R. Alan Thompson Journal of Economic Criminology 4 (2024) 100061

inherent problems such as these, we believed that the Fraud Triangle with a large monthly payment, a membership at a local gun club, and
framework best suits the data, crime, and offender motivations in the expensive dining habits. The family’s finances hemorrhaged, especially
present case. with the onset of Rich’s activity with Las Vegas escorts. In fact, it was
Analytic induction involves the following steps: revealed in trial that Rich electronically wired money to two escorts for
their services ($300 per hour); one was paid roughly $25,000 and the
• Define a phenomenon that requires explanation and propose an other was paid roughly $20,000. The time frame for these payments ran
explanation. from December 2013 and ended in July 2014, right around the time of
o The murder (what) of an 83-year-old grandmother by her grandson, the murder.
Rich Schmelzer. A set of situational dynamics, involving financial From these latter facts about Rich’s finances, we can see that pres-
strains, led a family man to elaborately plan (why) his grandmother’s sures were building in his life that needed immediate attention. He
death so he could access her estate money; he needed funds to cover his needed a plan to mitigate the impending disaster of bankruptcy and the
debts and impending financial ruin and marital demise. fallout from that humiliation.
• Examine a single case to see if the explanation fits. 2. Opportunity: The second element of Cressey’s model involves op-
o The murder of Mildred “Dodie” Harrington, committed by Rich portunity. A potential financial offender must have access to someone’s
Schmelzer, on July 17, 2014. financial resources; Rich certainly had the opportunity as he was co-
• If the case does not fit, then examine another case. An explanation is executor of Dodie’s estate, a position of trust. She was extremely fond of
accepted until a new case falsifies it. Rich and trusted him completely. Rich had conversations with Dodie
o Examine additional fraud cases, especially those involving family about her finances and investments, which commenced while he was
frauds and murder, to refine and strengthen the Fraud Triangle. still in Illinois, and continued during her visits to Texas. He knew about
her credit cards, estate holdings, will and beneficiary plans, monthly
As previously mentioned, a widely known explanation for why some transactions, and spending habits. He also charged varying amounts of
people commit fraud is known as the Fraud Triangle and was developed money to her credit cards totaling more than $27,000 by the time of her
by Donald Cressey, whose research on embezzlers produced the term murder, none of which were ever disputed by Dodie. Incredibly, he
“trust violators.” Cressey suggests three factors must be present for an even used his access to Dodie’s resources to loan money to escorts for
ordinary person to commit fraud: pressure, perceived opportunity, and their own family expenses such as auto repairs, bus travel, and college
rationalization (Sykes and Matza, 1957). Most people are not career tuition. In fact, he informed one escort that he planned to leave his wife
criminals, but a pressure exists like the inability to pay one’s bills fol- and family, marry her, and start a new life. The money stopped, and like
lowed by a perceived opportunity to abuse their position of trust (e.g., compound interest, the financial pressures skyrocketed. As co-executor
executor of a family member’s estate) to solve a financial problem in of Dodie’s estate, Rich had the opportunity to pilfer his family-mem-
secret with a rationalization that the fraudster must steal money to ber’s funds.
provide for their family or “I was only borrowing the money”. 3. Rationalization: The final element of Cressey’s framework asserts
that the offender must have a ready rationalization to justify their ac-
8. The Fraud Triangle and Rich Schmelzer tions, much like a technique of neutralization (Sykes and Matza, 1957).
For Rich, there were many rationalizations to support his behavior;
The Fraud Triangle offers a robust window through which to ex- however, in our opinion, and based upon thorough analysis the relevant
plain, or least understand, Rich’s motivation and downward spiral that documents and records, the most appropriate seems to be: “I had to kill
led to murder. The situational context is critical to answering why this her so that I could get her money in order to take care of my family,
happened. mounting debts, and start a new life.”
1. Financial Pressures: As a young man, Rich started out in the fi- Perhaps the most important rationalization professed by Schmelzer
nancial sector, and he knew about trust laws, estate planning and in- himself has been his unwavering assertions of actual innocence. To this
vestment, beneficiaries and wills, the role of executors in positions of end, he pled not guilty at trial. In his final statement to the Court before
trust, and payouts. Also, he certainly felt pressure early in his marriage sentencing, he emphatically asserted his innocence. The first author
resulting from credit card debt. His first home with Jennifer burned communicated with Schmelzer during his time as an inmate at Menard
under suspicious circumstances, but he was never indicted or convicted State Prison in Illinois. In letters, emails, and through phone calls,
of arson. The financial pressure also led him to borrow sizable sums of Schmelzer vehemently denied killing his grandmother. Numerous
money in the form of “loans” from family members, and later to empty times, he held strong to this claim (Marquart, 2022).
his wife’s retirement account. He seemed to always be over-extended The three elements of Cressey’s model (financial pressure, oppor-
and was jealous of Jennifer’s earning power. tunity, and rationalizations) were well-illustrated by the unique case of
Jennifer was offered a transfer, so Rich and his family moved to Rich Schmelzer in support or validation of the Fraud Triangle.
Texas. There, they purchased a beautiful home in Frisco and, like However, this does not mean that Cressey’s Fraud Triangle is not
thousands of other borrowers, got caught up in the Countrywide without limitations. Indeed, future researchers might want to expand
mortgage whirlwind. The home cost $510,000 and the initial mortgage the “triangle” by including additional inquiry on, for example, the
was valued at $488,00 and a second loan, which functioned as a down perpetrator’s capabilities to commit fraud (Lokanan, 2015). The next
payment, was taken out for $22,000 (Marquart, 2022). No out-of- step in the process of analytic induction would be to add another family
pocket expenses were incurred. The mortgage, however, went unpaid fraud case, preferably one involving murder, look for patterns and keep
for years and a bank foreclosure was looming on the horizon. Eviction repeating this activity with additional cases. If a case does not fit, then,
and embarrassment were possible, adding further stress to their mar- under the rules of analytic induction, the alternatives are to change the
riage and family situation. Jennifer was at home the day she was served explanation to include the new case or redefine the phenomenon to
with foreclosure papers. exclude the nuisance case. Ideally, the process continues until a uni-
Jennifer was also busy with work and often travelled out of town, versal explanation for all known cases of a phenomenon is attained.
leaving Rich in charge of the family’s finances. Basically, Rich was left We think it is essential to examine family financial fraud cases
alone; a situation that paved the way for him to create a double life, (generally), and those that end in murder (specifically), one at a time
alone with his thoughts and credit cards, and a slow descent into the and employ analytic induction to continuously test the utility of
dark corners of the Internet, escort sites, chat rooms, and cybersex. Cressey’s framework and further refine fraud-related typologies.
The Schmelzer family had four children, a costly venture, and they Additional theoretical refinement is therefore needed to modify
hired a live-in nanny to help manage the kids. Rich had a nice BMW Cressey’s framework with the hope of expanding its utility to explain

5
J.W. Marquart and R. Alan Thompson Journal of Economic Criminology 4 (2024) 100061

family financial fraud ending in murder as well as other violent fi- Declaration of Competing Interest
nancial felonies.
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
9. Conclusion interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influ-
ence the work reported in this paper.
This article addressed a complex and understudied form of criminal
behavior through a case study of one grandson’s murder of his grand- References
mother. We began with a vignette about the murder of 83-year-old
single grandmother in a Chicago, Illinois suburb. While murder is rare Bourget, D., Gagne, P., Labell, M., 2007. “Parricide: a comparative study of matricide vs. pa-
tricide. J. Acad. Psychiatry Law 35 (3), 306–312.
in terms of the overall number and variety of crimes in American so- Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection, (2020, March). Consumer Response Annual Report,
ciety, the murder of a grandparent by a family member might be among January 1 – December 31, 2019.
Button, M., Lewis, C., Tapley, J., 2000. National fraud authority. Fraud. Typol. Vict. Fraud.: Lit.
rarest of all forms of murders. We then conducted a detailed analysis of Rev. 〈https://pure.port.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/1926122/NFA_report3_16.12.09.
the criminal offender, Rich Schmelzer and his lifestyle, to include his pdf〉.
descent into debt and murder fueled by his appetite for sexual liaisons Capote, T., 1965. In Cold Blood: A True Account of Multiple Murder and Its Consequences.
Random House.
with Las Vegas escorts to the tune of at least $20,000. Rich also took Carter, E., 2021. Distort, extort, deceive, and exploit: exploring the inner workings of a romance
money from his grandmother and his wife to support his lifestyle. fraud. Br. J. Criminol. 61 (2), 283–302. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azaa072
Cash, J., 1968. Folsom Prison Blues. On Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison. Columbia Records.
He needed more money for his secret lifestyle and planned and
Cressey, D.R., 1950. The criminal violation of financial trust. Am. Sociol. Rev. 15 (6), 738–743.
carried out the murder of his grandmother—a rarity as well in fraud- Cressey, D.R., 1953. Other people's money. The Free Press.
related victimology. While shocking, it can be easily understood within Darzins, P., Lowndes, G., Wainer, J., 2009. Financial abuse of elders: A review of the evidence
(June). Monash University. 〈https://www.eapu.com.au/uploads/research_resources/VIC-
the three elements of Cressey’s model (financial pressure, opportunity, Financial_Elder_Abuse_Evidence_Review_JUN_209-Monash.pdf〉 (June).
and rationalizations). The case of relation fraud examined in this article Deane, S., 2018. Office of the Investor Advocate (June). Elder Financial Exploitation: Why it is
was well-illustrated by this case and was consistent with the Fraud a concern, what regulators are doing about it, and looking ahead. U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission. 〈https://www.sec.gov/files/elder-financial-exploitation.pdf〉
Triangle. The offender felt enormous financial pressures, and as co- (June).
executor of his grandmother’s estate he had the opportunity to seize a DiLisi, M., 2023. Ted Bundy and the Unsolved Murder Epidemic. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham,
Switzerland.
portion of proceeds upon death and use the inherited funds to offset his Federal Trade Commission (2023, October). Protecting Older Consumers 2022-2023: A Report
debts and start a new life combined with his claims of actual innocence. of the Federal Trade Commission.
The Cressey model (1953) is a powerful explanatory device for Glaser, B.G., Strauss, A.L., 1967. The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative
research. Aldine.
understanding the motivations behind relation fraud and murder. In the Johnson, K.D., 2003〈https://popcenter.asu.edu/sites/default/files/sites/default/files/
tradition of analytic induction, we presented a detailed examination of problems/pdfs/crimes_against_elderly.pdf〉Financ. Crimes Elder. U. S. Dep. Justice,
Community Oriented Polic. Serv. ..
how one family member murdered another for financial gain. The next
Katz, J., 2001. Analytic Induction. In: Smelser, N.J., Baltes, P.B. (Eds.), International
step would be to examine another such case and look for evidence in Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences. Elsevier, pp. 480.
support of the model and continue expanding the case pool. Cases not Klara, R., 2023. How a New York tabloid captured the first photo of execution by the electric
chair. January 12. Smithsonian Magazine. 〈https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/
supported by the model would be eliminated, reexamined to “fit” how-a-new-york-tabloid-captured-the-first-photograph-of-an-execution-by-the-electric-
within the model, or expand the model to accept such cases. We also chair-180981432/〉 January 12.
believe that we have contributed to Levi’s (2008) typology by focusing Lazarus, S., Whittaker, J., McGuire, M., Platt, L., 2023. What do we know about online romance
fraud studies? A systematic review of the empirical literature (2000 to 2021). J. Econ.
on family fraud and the harm done by another family member. Criminol. 2 (December)). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconc.2023.100013
The inductive Fraud Triangle analysis and findings presented here Levi, M., 2008. “Organization fraud and organizing frauds” unpacking research on networks
and organization. Criminol. Crim. Justice 8 (4), 389–419.
are not without limitation. It would be difficult for a person to “predict”
Lokanan, M.E., 2015. Challenges to the fraud triangle: questions on its usefulness. Account.
who will commit such a violent crime in the future. There is no way of Forum 39 (3), 201–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.accfor.2015.05.002
knowing who is experiencing financial pressures to the point that they Lokanan, M.E., Sharma, P., 2023. Two decades of accounting fraud research: the missing meso-
level analysis. SAGE Open 13 (3). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440231197305
will commit familicide. The focus of this analysis was also on a white Marquart, J.W., 2022. Unthinkable: who kills their grandmother. Atmosphere Press.
male, so the findings cannot be generalized to the larger population of Mather, M., 2016〈https://www.prb.org/resources/fact-sheet-aging-in-the-united-states/〉Fact.
potential relation offenders. At the same time, not every relation fraud Sheet.: Aging U. S. Popul. Ref. Bur. (January 13. January 13. ..
Miles, M., Huberman, A.M., 1994. Qualitative data analysis: an expanded sourcebook. Sage
incident may be the work of a rational offender. Setting these limita- Publications.
tions aside, we believe the findings from this analysis nonetheless help Mohottige, G., Sujeewa, M., Shukri, M., Yjid, A., Khatibi, A., Ferdous Azam, S.M., Dharmaratne,
I., 2018. The new fraud triangle theory - Integrating ethical values of employees. Int. J.
to fill an apparent and important gaps in the relation fraud literature. Bus., Econ. Law 16 (5), 52–57.
The examination of fraud cases of any type bears our close ex- Office for Victims of Crime, 2021. 2021 Report to the Nation: Fiscal Years 2019-2020. 〈https://
amination due to the increased numbers of older citizens (> 65) within ovc.ojp.gov/2021-report-nation〉.
Ortman, J.M., Velkoff, V.A., Howard Hogan, 2014. An Aging Nation: The Older Population in
the American population (Johnson, 2003). Demographic projections the United States (May). U.S. Census Bureau. 〈https://www.census.gov/library/
regarding this sub-population of citizens indicate that older Americans publications/2014/demo/p25-1140.html〉 (May).
Rogers, M.M., Storey, J.E., 2019. Elder homicide: a systematic literature review. Aggress.
represent a significantly growing population and, unfortunately, a po-
Violent Behav. 48 (September-October)), 141–151. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2019.
pulation of potential fraud targets, from both inside as well as outside of 08.008
the immediate family (Johnson, 2003). Through careful data prepara- Schamber, L., 2000. Time-line interviews and inductive content analysis: Their effectiveness for
exploring cognitive behaviors. J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci. 51 (8), 734–744.
tion, coding, and interpretation, the results of qualitative content ana- Scroxton, A., 2021. Fraud and cybercrime still vastly under-reported. Comput. Com. (February
lysis like those presented here can support the development of new 4, 2021), 11–16.
theories and models. Careful analysis can also validate existing theories Shaw, C.R., 1930. The jack-roller, a Delinquent Boy’s own story. University of Chicago Press.
Sykes, G., Matza, D., 1957. Techniques of neutralization: a theory of delinquency. Am. Sociol.
and provide deep descriptions of settings or phenomena. Finally, con- Rev. 22 (6), 664–670.
tinued research on fraud, family abuse, and the murder of family Tickner, P., Button, M., 2021. Deconstructing the origins of Cressey’s Fraud Triangle. J. Financ.
Crime. 28 (3), 722–731.
members, especially elders, is essential to our understanding of relation United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2020. Crime in the United
fraud in general and the testing and refining of the Fraud Triangle. States 2019.
Improved understanding of these dynamics informs the policymaking United States Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2022. Internet Crime
Report, 2022. Internet Crime Complaint Center. . 〈https://www.ic3.gov/Media/PDF/
process in the hopes of facilitating capable guardians and making pre- AnnualReport/2022_IC3Report.pdf〉.
vention a reality. Weber, R.P., 1990. Basic Content Analysis. Sage Publications, Newbury Park, CA.