'Missing' American Faked His Disappearance: Aussies

American Kenneth Rodman was 55 when he vanished in Australia in 2010 while traveling the country on a tourist visa. He was reported missing by a friend who'd last seen him on Dec. 21 near Port Douglas, heading for a beach with his green kayak. He was later spotted on Christmas Day "heading in an unknown direction," according to a missing person report, but family and friends said they hadn't heard from him since. Though his kayak was found abandoned a month later, police had a suspicion that Rodman was living in Queensland's far north. In a lucky break, they found him unintentionally on Saturday, the Guardian reports.

While investigating an unrelated crime near Cairns, officers came across the 60-year-old, who confessed that he was a missing person, apparently believing he was already busted for faking his disappearance, police say. Rodman, who had been mentioned regularly in missing person reports since his disappearance, was detained by immigration and border protection officials and is expected to be deported. "Police would like to thank members of the public who have contacted Crime Stoppers over the past five years with information and reported sightings of him," a Queensland Police Service statement says, per ABC News Australia. (More Queensland stories.)