Ferrari mystery
The headline read: "Man arrested in Malibu crash that destroyed rare Ferrari." So, being the inquisitive crime writing/reading reporter that I am, I clicked on the link while making my way through the Sunday morning news. The story was an Associated Press brief, so I knew there had to be more to it. In fact, there's a lot more to it, including rare cars, Scotland Yard and a gaming company whose executives apparently drained it of cash.I was soon reading a San Francisco Chronicle story that explained a lot more. Stefan Eriksson, of Sweden, was in a rare $1 million Ferrari Enzo that split in half during a 160 mph crash on Feb. 21. He was not injured in the crash, which unveiled a host of other strange questions. As Chronicle writer James Sterngold put it, "Eriksson, 44, was or was not behind the wheel of the Ferrari the morning it crashed, does or does not actually own the wrecked Enzo, is or is not connected to a loaded gun clip found the morning of the crash, and may or may not be an anti-terrorism leader with a shadowy police force."
Ironically, that article was published today, hours after Eriksson was arrested. I imagine the Chronicle reporter is more than a little frustrated at the timing, because his researched, well-written story is missing the latest, most significant development. Had the story been published Saturday (and, knowing how newspapers work, it's obvious to me that the story was ready in time), it would have been a case of beautiful, perfect timing.
But I'll get back to the story. Police, ranging from Los Angeles to Scotland Yard, have been investigating the case since February. In the meantime, they confiscated another one of Eriksson's cars last month because it had a foreign license plate, wasn't registered in the U.S. and his wife was behind the wheel but had no driver's license. Luckily for Eriksson, this was only a $400,000 Mercedez, not his other $1 million Ferrari.
Just to add icing to the cake, that act was caught on video by a 13-year-old car fan whose first name is Spyder.
So now Mr. Eriksson is sitting in jail without bail -- because he's been arrested for a crime, that automatically triggers an immigration hold -- while gamers and car enthusiasts track the story. A certain reporter, who happens to run a blog you might currently be reading, is also officially intrigued.
I'll leave you with one more link, which is quite possibly the most thorough log of the events and includes all sorts of photos. And, just in case you needed further proof of my nerdiness, I've bookmarked that site.
Posted by Layla at 10:09 AM, April 09, 2006
— Comments —