Murdered 'Spam Nazi' Linked to Buried Gold

Friends in Squamish, British Columbia, knew Jesse James as a vegan, politically progressive rock climber—which made it all the more mysterious when the 38-year-old was found dead from a gunshot wound in a burned-out pickup truck in 2017. Investigators have now determined that James was actually Davis Wolfgang Hawke, an American citizen once known as the "Spam King" or the "Spam Nazi," CTV reports. Hawke, who was active in neo-Nazi circles in the late '90s, was part of a group that made a fortune spamming products including pornography, loans, and penis enlargers. At the height of their activity in 2003, they were believed to be raking in $600,000 a month. Hawke vanished after AOL sued him for $12.8 million in 2004. After the company won the case, its investigators were unable to track him down.

Hawke changed his name from Andrew Britt Greenbaum when he turned 18. His father, Hyman Greenbaum, is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to his son's killer. He tells the CBC that he hadn't seen his son, whose mother died last year, in 15 years. "For all these years, we'd held out hope. Now it's gone," he says. Spam Kings author Brian McWilliams says there have long been rumors that Hawke converted his fortune to gold and buried it in the mountains of New Hampshire. "When Britt left and disappeared he left a book here," his father says. "It was called How to Hide Your Assets and Disappear." BC investigator Sgt. Frank Yang says the case is "shrouded in mystery." He says Hawke had been living "off the grid" and it's not clear how long he had been in Canada. (More Canada stories.)