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Police believe a LaGrange County man faked his own death in Missouri to escape felony charges in Indiana and Michigan and are looking for information about his whereabouts.
Nathan K. Lumbard, 28, of Howe faces multiple charges in LaGrange County, including battery causing serious bodily injury and battery with a deadly weapon, according to Indiana State Police Detective Jeff Boyd.
Lumbard also faces charges in St. Joseph County, Mich., related to the burglary and arson of a restaurant in Sturgis, Mich., and the burglary of a coin-operated laundry, according to the Sturgis Journal.
He was out of jail in both LaGrange and St. Joseph counties after his grandmother, Cynthia Lumbard, posted his bond using her Howe home and a bar she owns in Sturgis, Boyd said.
She was charged in St. Joseph County with obstruction of justice this month, according to a report in the Sturgis Journal.
But on Aug. 12, along a highway in Charleston, Mo., a suitcase was found that contained some of Lumbard’s personal belongings, his Indiana driver’s license and other documents, and suicide notes telling his family goodbye, Boyd said.
Police in Mississippi County, Mo., sent river rescue teams out to search for a body but none has been found.
Local law enforcement officials remain skeptical about Lumbard’s demise, Boyd said.
The LaGrange County man has had several encounters with the legal system, with charges including state felony arson and federal firearms charges.
In a 2004 arson case, Lumbard was charged, along with New Mexico native Anthony Hood, with setting fire to Meeks’ Jewelry Store in a building Lumbard recently bought to collect the insurance money, according to court documents.
A jury acquitted Hood, and LaGrange County Prosecutor Jeff Wible dropped the charges against Lumbard.
In 2004, a federal grand jury in South Bend indicted Lumbard on charges of making a false statement to a licensed firearms dealer.
The case went to trial, and while the jury was deliberating, Lumbard fled to Mexico. A week later, according to court documents, he was found a week later with $15,000 in cash.
Lumbard was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison and was released from supervised release in August 2008, according to court documents.
