An American groom has faked his own death to avoid marrying. He even phoned his future bride, pretending to be his father, to break the news of his alleged passing.
British student Alexandra Lanchester, 23, met Tucker Blandford, also 23, in 2012 while she was studying in the US. She took a job at the University of Connecticut’s cinema where Tucker was a set painter – and it was love at first sight.
They dated for a year and, by this time, Alex was planning her return to Britain, however Tucker proposed and the couple immediately began organising their August 15, 2014 nuptials.
Alex planned the wedding from England, organising every last detail of their big day. She even bought a hand-made gown of etsy and invitations and, despite having to return home, the couple ensured they spoke every day via telephone.
During one of their loved-up calls, Tucker even claimed he’d booked a venue on campus for their reception.
Alex scraped together what little funds she had and organised for Tucker to fly to Britain for a pre-wedding holiday in the months before their scheduled nuptials, but a week before he was due to arrive, she received the chilling phone call, allegedly from Tucker’s Dad. Tucker had died in a car accident. It was suicide.
“I picked up my phone and there was a man saying he was Tucker’s dad,” Alex told London’s Daily Mail. “He told me Tucker had been deeply depressed and wanted to die, so had thrown himself in front of a car.
“The man explained that they had been trying to send Tucker off to a psychiatric unit for help. But it was too late. I couldn’t breathe. It was absolutely devastating.”
Distraught by the sudden loss of her beloved fiance, Alex put down the phone and calmed down. When she was able to speak again, she phoned his parents in America for more details and to offer her condolences – only to be told that he was alive and well.
As far as they knew, there was no wedding planned. They had been told by Tucker that he and Alex had split when she returned to England.
Alex told London’s Daily Mail, “He has shattered my trust and I’m not sure I’ll ever be in a relationship again. All I ever did was love him. I’m so sick of being messed around and I’m glad to be rid of him.
‘Looking back, maybe I was naive. But I really loved him and never thought he would go to such extreme measures to dump me. I’ve cried until I felt numb but now I’m just really angry.
‘I’ll be spending our would-be wedding day making new memories without him. He’s a liar and a coward. He had put on a different voice on the phone and pretended to be his grieving father. What sort of sick person does that to his fiancé of two years? It’s sickening.’
Alex told the Daily Mail that she has moved on. Good on her!
