I didn't know him because I only just recently joined, but I was surprised to see this, yet not surprised.
Last year, or the year before, on another forum I post at, a well-known poster became pregnant and we all rejoiced. Everyone helped with naming the baby, who was being nicknamed something (I can't remember what) after the title of a movie, something like Surf Girl or something (something Girl, anyway). Anyhoo, at some point, she stopped posting, and her hubby came online and informed us that she had passed away, as had the baby. Everyone was upset, but secretly a couple of posters were checking up. I believe someone had tried to look for an obituary but couldn't find it, and that started the researching, and in the end, it was discovered that "Amber" was alive and well, and had concocted a whole story of her death, just to see what'd happen, I guess, and "hubby" was none other than her own lying self. So now I can't help but be suspicious over many posters, especially when things seem too good to be true, and then they suddenly stop posting. Sometimes they really do die or have circumstances that keep them from posting, but I still can't help but be suspicious. It's a terrible act of betrayal when someone does something like this.