Man faked death to hide from drug ring
DAYTONA BEACH (AP) – Authorities say a South Carolina man who faked his own death 20 years ago while visiting Daytona Beach told police he was trying to hide from a South Carolina drug ring.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported Wednesday that a Weaverville, N.C., police officer stopped 49-year-old Bennie Harden Wint for a traffic violation on Saturday. He gave an assumed name, but when no records came up, Wint admitted his true identity.
He was charged with giving a false name and driving without a drivers license. He was later released on his own recognizance.
Authorities had believed Wint drowned when he went missing in September 1989, leaving behind a fiancee and a daughter from a previous marriage.
He hadn’t been appointed an attorney Thursday, and they didn’t believe he had hired one himself, said Sgt. Stacy Wyatt of the Weaverville police.
Wint and Patricia Lynn Hollingsworth, who was 37 at the time, left their home in McBee, S.C., a small town northeast of Columbia in 1989. They were supposed to be married while in Florida, Hollingsworth told Volusia County authorities.
The couple arrived in Daytona Beach on Sept. 24, 1989, the report states. They stayed the night at the Ocean Sands Motel and went to the beach the next day.
Hollingsworth said Wint went into the water shortly after 4 p.m. and swam out past the breakers. She last saw him near a dark-haired surfer.
Hollingsworth reported his disappearance to the nearest lifeguard, the report states. She then ran up and down the beach looking for Wint.
The lifeguard never saw Wint. Both a lifeguard boat and the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office helicopter conducted a search.