Debra Ryan

According to her own statements to federal marshalls, Debra Ryan helped her boyfriend, the disgraced hedge fund manager Samuel Israel III, to fake his suicide and avoid going to prison. Israel was scheduled to start a 20-year sentence on the day of his disappearance, June 9, 2008. He was convicted of a $450 million scheme to defraud investors in the Bayou Group hedge fund.¹

Fast Facts

1. Age 45
2. Artist and decorator
3. Released on $75,000 bail
4. Believed to be 1 of 2 accomplices²
5. Boyfriend Israel believed to be driving 2007 white Coachman Freelander RV
6. New York plates: EEN-5973
7. May have blue motor scooter in tow

"Suicide Is Painless"

Israel's car was found June 9—the day his prison term was scheduled to begin—by the well-traveled Bear Mountain Bridge, spanning the Hudson River about 20 miles north of New York City. Scrawled in the grime on his hood was the phrase, "Suicide is painless," an apparent reference to the 1970 pop song later used in the film and TV show M*A*S*H. Authorities believed, however, that Israel did not jump off the bridge. On June 19, Ryan was arrested and told investigators that she had helped Israel to escape and fake his death.

Samuel Israel

Samuel Israel surrendered to police on July 2, 2008, in southwestern Massachusetts. He is in federal custody and will likely be detained at the federal prison in Ayers, Massachusetts.³

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