Suspected Cancer Hoaxer Found Dead

Fifteen-year-old brain cancer patient "Jonathan Jay White" turns out to have been a 24-year-old woman in Ammon, Idaho, who was found Wednesday in her car, dead of an apparent suicide. Melissa Ann Rice apparently committed suicide days after she was charged with grand theft by fraud. Posing as Jonathan Jay, she won the sympathies of Lance Armstrong and other celebrities and netted thousands of dollars from national cancer foundations. Little is known about the extent of the scam, and even less about Rice herself, beyond that she may have once passed some bad checks. According to KPVI News in Pocatello, Idaho, Rice had recently copped to the hoax. Sgt. Doug Metcalf: "Last week she was supposed to arrive in Arizona for actual surgery and when the charities said hey good luck on your surgery, we'll have somebody there, that's when this Melissa contacted them and said hey this is a fraud I'm sorry." That's when the sheriff's office got involved. M...