Officials: Officer who tried to fake his own death captured

A Texas police officer who was reported missing and is believed to have tried to fake his own death has been captured in the Dallas area, two law enforcement sources said Wednesday morning.

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Austin police Officer Coleman Martin, 29, is facing a Class A misdemeanor charge of “false report” as a result. A year ago, Martin received a Life Saving Medal from the Police Department after he found and then administered CPR to a man who overdosed on heroin in February 2016 in Northwest Austin.

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According to an arrest affidavit for the missing officer, a woman who isn’t Martin’s wife shared an email with detectives, in which Martin wrote to her and said his plan for a staged death had been successful.

The affidavit doesn’t say how the woman knows Martin.

Martin’s email to the woman said he had staged the scene by parking his vehicle by a body of water near the U.S. border with Mexico, the affidavit says. He then rode a bicycle for about eight miles to a convenience store, took a taxi to the border and took a bus farther into Mexico, according to the email described in the affidavit.

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