Woman Arrested After Faking Newspaper Obit on Son's 'Death'

By: 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.

"The story about her son being killed in a tragic car accident was to silence those people who were asking her," said Madison County Sheriff's Department Maj. John Lakin.

Sharp was released Friday on $5,000 bond after being charged with the misdemeanor. No telephone listing for her was available.

Investigators said Sharp never told relatives about the boy's supposed death, but others were alerted to alleged accident after community members called to offer condolences.

"I'm just blown away," said Sharon Sesseman, a family member who at one point thought the boy was dead. "I was really believing all this."

The published death notices asked memorial donations be made to the boy's family, although authorities said they don't believe Sharp received any donations.