Suicide or On the Lam?

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record ," June 11, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, HOST: Now to a bizarre story out of New York. "Suicide is painless," that was the cryptic phrase that was scrolled in the dust on the hood of Samuel Israel's SUV. The SUV was found abandoned Monday on a bridge. And Samuel Israel? That is the mystery. He wasn't there. It may sound like a textbook suicide, but the FBI does not think so. Israel was a hedge fund founder, convicted of swindling investors out of $450 million.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and he was supposed to report to prison on Monday to begin serving that 20 years. But Israel never showed up. And, of course, that same day his SUV was found on the bridge, keys still in the ignition.

Joining us live in New York is Ianthe Jeanne Dugan, reporter for "The Wall Street Journal." So what is the story--dead or alive?

Watch Greta's interview

IANTHE JEANNE DUGAN, REPORTER, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": I have spoken to a lot of his investors, and many of them say they have been defrauded for years, why should they believe this? And one of the lawyers representing them says he will believe it when he sees a body. So many of them believe he is not dead.

And the chief investigator on the case in New York looking through the river and finding the body says that over the years, over 20 or more years, he has looked into about 40 suicides from that bridge, and 39 bodies were found within a few days. So they believe if the body does not emerge within a few days that they will assume he is alive and off somewhere else.

And, as you have heard, probably, there is an international manhunt. So they are looking for him.

VAN SUSTEREN: Are there surveillance cameras on this bridge or at the toll booth leading up to the bridge? It seems like everything has surveillance cameras at these days. Is there anything that would have captured him jumping or leaving the bridge area?

DUGAN: Well, leading up to the bridge a few miles away is an EZ-pass, and they did see his car going through there. And they captured a photo of his car going over the bridge or onto the bridge, and then the surveillance footage trails off, so they do not see anything up until then. There are no witnesses that see him leaving the car, going of the bridge, so there is absolutely no evidence that he jumped. And they do not have any surveillance footage that would show the m that.

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, well, there will be a lot of publicity on this and a lot of FOX coverage on this, so maybe somebody saw something or at least some of the parking of the SUV. Thank you for joining us.

DUGAN: Thank you.

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