A Florida man has been charged with murder after strangling his wife during an argument and then posting messages on her Facebook page under her name to try to fool her friends and family about her absence, the police said.<\/p>\n
The man, George J. McShane Jr., was trying to \u201cconvince her friends and family she was still alive,\u201d according to the Orlando Police Department.<\/p>\n
Mr. McShane, 42, who a police report said worked at a resort, was arrested on Jan. 11 and charged with second-degree murder and battery by strangulation in the death of Kristen McShane, 30, the police said.<\/p>\n
For several days this month, Ms. McShane\u2019s Facebook page was updated with cheerful photographs documenting her life in Florida: a portrait of her smiling in front of an easel, paint brush in hand; and another of her enjoying an outing with friends.<\/p>\n
On Jan. 7, a Facebook message informed friends and relatives why she had not been in touch: \u201cI can\u2019t believe I dropped my phone in the toilet. I am such an idiot. Message me here, til I can get it fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Friends replied with advice (\u201cPut it in rice\u201d) or with offers to lend her a phone.<\/p>\n
This week, the police in Orlando, where the McShanes lived, revealed that the author of some of those messages was not Ms. McShane, who was 30, but her husband.<\/p>\n
Mr. McShane posted the Facebook message about her phone so that others would not become alarmed because she \u201cwas not returning their phone calls or text messages,\u201d the police said.<\/p>\n
Officers were called to the house on Jan. 10 by a relative of the couple who had been concerned about them, according to a police affidavit. They found Mr. McShane sitting in his car in the garage with the engine running. Then they found Ms. McShane\u2019s body in a bedroom.<\/p>\n
The authorities said Mr. McShane told them that he had \u201clost his temper and jumped on Kristen, using his two hands to choke her until he realized she was dead.\u201d The reason for the argument was not available on Friday.<\/p>\n
Mr. McShane had not yet been arraigned on Friday, a court official said in an email, but appeared in court on Jan. 11 to hear the charges, court records showed.<\/a><\/p>\n Robert Larr, a public defender assigned to Mr. McShane, declined to comment on the case on Friday.<\/p>\n The Florida murder case is the latest example of someone assuming the social media identity of another person to deflect suspicion from family and friends after a crime.<\/p>\n In December, Shanna Golyar of Iowa was arrested and charged with murder in the 2012 killing of Cari Farver of Nebraska, the Omaha police said.<\/a> Ms. Golyar had posted messages on Ms. Farver\u2019s Facebook account posing as the victim, a Douglas County prosecutor said on Friday.<\/p>\n