In a small Ohio town still grappling with the tragic loss of a 16-year-old whose body was recovered from East Fork Lake last summer, two pranksters sparked outrage with a macabre stunt that sent shockwaves through the community. Jasen Dixen and Dustin Smith, now facing potential charges, orchestrated a hoax so disturbingly realistic that it fooled friends, alarmed the public, and drew the attention of law enforcement.
The duo posted chilling images on Facebook, claiming they had stumbled upon a human skeleton frozen in the ice at East Fork Lake. The photos, showcasing what appeared to be a severed head, hands, and feet, were accompanied by a panicked caption: “It is a foot from a human we have no idea what to do.” The post quickly ignited a firestorm of concern, with one alarmed commenter urging, “WTF? You should show the ranger. It could be someone’s loved one they are looking for.” Another user, stunned, asked, “What the hell is that?” while a third questioned, “Is this legit? That is crazy.” A friend even pleaded, “I’d definitely contact the local authorities.”
The gruesome discovery, however, was nothing more than a twisted prank. The “body parts” were, in fact, zombie-themed Halloween decorations, deliberately placed in a frozen garden pond in Sycamore, Ohio, to create the illusion of a grisly find. Dixen later admitted to Fox News, “We had a little zombie figure and threw him in the pond and we thought we needed to take a picture of it and post it on my buddy Dustin Smith’s Facebook page. He pretended he was camping at East Fork and ran across a body frozen in the ice.”
For two hours, Dixen and Smith reveled in the chaos they caused, watching as their friends and followers fell for the ruse. The prank hit a particularly raw nerve in a community still mourning the teenager’s death at the same lake just months prior. The hoax not only toyed with people’s emotions but also prompted a concerned citizen to alert the authorities, believing the images depicted a genuine crime scene.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (DNR) was not amused. Just thirty minutes after Smith confessed on Facebook that the post was a joke, he received a call from the DNR. The agency confirmed that the case is now under investigation, with a spokesperson stating, “Law enforcement is working with the local prosecutor on potential charges.” While the exact nature of the charges remains unclear, the incident has left a bitter taste in the mouths of those who saw the post and feared the worst.
What began as a tasteless bid for attention has backfired spectacularly, turning a small-town prank into a legal and moral controversy. For a community still healing from tragedy, the stunt was a cruel reminder of their loss, proving that some jokes are far too dark to see the light.