He had connections. May he rest in peace.

He had fallen in with some questionable types throughout his life, partly due to his work. I won't get into many details here, I don't want it to be traced back to his family or anything; but due to the circumstances he found himself in, bluntly, he was worth more dead, than alive. He would only be worth anything if he died "naturally" or something, since life insurance is kind of a stickler for that sort of thing.

All I was told was that he had made arrangements for his body to be found, and around what was going to be done afterwards to ensure that insurance paid out so his family would be taken care of.

The circumstances were kinda BS too, it wasn't his fault, but he was liable and there was little he could do to change that. He knew what the outcomes were and to him, death was the better option. I'm not saying I agree with his choices. I had no real part in them, I was too young at the time to really grasp what was happening, and appropriately, I was not aware of, nor involved in any of it, and heard most of what I know through my older siblings and from my father (his brother). He apparently sent my dad a note the night before he was found dead basically summarizing what was about to happen, so it was very clearly planned. As far as I'm aware, everything went according to plan and though I don't have much contact with that part of my family, I believe they're doing just fine.

Just a touch more detail on the circumstances, it was some legal issue he found himself kind of "holding the bag" for (so to speak) so his outcomes were: (extremely unlikely) he would be found innocent, and allowed to return to his "normal" life - obviously he didn't think this was possible at all. (most likely) he would be found guilty and sentenced to many years in prison. Being a convict would ruin his chosen vocation as there's a lot of trust required in what he does and a conviction would basically exclude him from working in his field. (alternatively) he dies, insurance pays out, his family gets a big wad of cash, and he would be just as useless as if he was found guilty; but now with a pretty significant amount of money given to his family.

I don't hold it against him. I don't have any strong feelings on the matter. It's just something that happened.